Serving Multiple Stir-Frys - How do you do it??

jfm0830 · December 2012

My initial success wokking has had its cost too. My family typically gets together in the mid afternoon of New Years Eve day (12/31). If it is at my house I usually do something nice on the grill: Beef Tenderloin, Beef Wellington etc. If it is at my brother's house he usually gets a bunch of Chinese food from a high end Chinese restaurant. This year was to be at my brother's house. I got a call from him last night. He was talking to my dad who told him he shouldn't send out for Chinese food when I can make better Chinese food than any restaurant he's ever been too. Thanks dad! - I guess.

So here's the deal. My brother asked about doing it at my house instead and he would pay for the ingredients. That part doesn't worry me. What worries me is making enough food for 8-10 people. I am guessing I would need at least 3 main entrees and where I have one wok and one Egg and one me, therein lies the problem.

I"ve had good luck holding my rice in a covered bowl for 10 minutes or so in a 200 degree oven with apparently no ill effects. But what about the main dishes? I would have to make each one and then hold it while I make the next one. Have any of the stir-fry eggsperts around here done something like this and pulled it off? What methods did you use to hold one dish while you prepared another and how did it turn out?

I still have the option of bailing if I don't think I can pull it off. But as my brother pointed out: My father isn't normally that outspoken (impolite) - so he must really like what I am doing. TIA for any suggestions you may have.

Jim

Village Idiot · December 2012

Jim,

You can do it. I had the same situation at Christmas last year. My herd was 8 people. I bought a three pot Crock Pot at Bad Breath & Beyond. I made my fried rice early and kept it in the oven (like you do), then I pre-cut each dish, made the sauces, and arranged them mis en place (as the Cajuns say)..

As you know, each cook goes fast, so the actual cooking doesn't take all that long. I also made cheat notes in large type to keep at the Egg, for the dishes I hadn't memorized. When you finish with one, put it in a crock, and go to the next.

Here is what I bought.

http://www.crock-pot.com/product.aspx?pid=11066 (It makes a good serving tray also). I had it all on the counter, and people dished it up themselves. It went over well.

jfm0830 · December 2012

Thanks VI, that looks perfect. It looks like a really nice unit that I would get some use out of other times of year too. I take it the food doesn't lose too much of its crispy consistency when saved that way? For me the consistency of food is as important as it's taste. One of the things I like about doing my own stirfries is the soft but crispy veggies that you turn out. I assume you use the warming temperature setting to hold it right?

I planned to do exactly as you described for everything else. That is why I have lots of glass and stainless steel bowls in various sizes. I also have a ton of full, half and quarter sheet pans for when I do multi item cooks like this. I get organized in the house, so I don't have to do much thinking on-the-fly at the grill. I always put a recipe I'm going to cook into my recipe software, YummySoup! and I always can have a printout of it at the grill with me or view it on my iPad. We seem to think a lot alike in terms of our prep.

Village Idiot · December 2012

Jim,

I don't recall having any loss of texture by keeping it at the warm setting in the crockpot. Also, I started the cooks about 30 or 40 minutes before we ate (as I recall).. I think I had made some hor d'oeuvres for my wife to serve while I cooked.

You'll do great, as usual.

Richard Fl · December 2012

The crock pot is a good holding container for this event IMHO.
When doing the main dishes with veggies, be sure to undercook them as they will gather heat from the dish as they sit and get softer.

All so a few recipe ideas that will work.

These ribs will keep for a couple of hours or so under foil and/or in the oven low 200.

http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=1238448&catid=1

http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=1205528&catid=1

Some more appetizers

http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=1248397&catid=1

jfm0830 · December 2012

Thanks for the links Richard, I will definitely check them out! Thanks again VI. I'm confident I can pull off cooking these dishes because I have made them before with no problems. My concern was having them ruined after I got done with them. I'm feeling much better about it now and I'd say bring on the whole famdamnily! Jim

Village Idiot · December 2012

Jim,

Here are a couple of ideas that might work well, since you are in a time crunch. Make wonton soup, using your own wontons and the broth made from your own chicken stock. It can be made well ahead of time, and it's better than restaurant quality (which is a requirement in your household).

Here are a couple of links. It's not hard if you buy the wrappers.

http://chinesefood.about.com/od/chinesesouprecipes/r/wontonsoup.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGsFDKw38Bo

I make wontons and dumplings and freeze them for later use. You can steam the dumplings and serve with dipping sauce.

Here is a link. It's Japanese, but who'd know ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8MBX-SXnmg (I wish this lady was my grandma).

fishlessman · December 2012

i have never done multiple wok cooks but have done the whole dinner thing. chinese ribs and sliced red pork go on first around 300 degrees, when finishing start the rice, into a warming tray in the oven while the fire is increased for the wok cook. wok away. take wok off grill and cook the ribs briefly again over the hot fire just to crisp them up, then on goes the terriaki strips on skewers, takes only a minute tops. after the wok cooks done your looking at 3 to 4 minutes tops for the ribs basting away and a nother minute for the steaks, then slice the redpork loin

Griffin · December 2012

I never would have thought of that 3 pot crock pot, but that sounds like the way to go, Jim. For the first dish you wok, I'd under cook the veggies a bit as they will stay warm the longest and continue to cook a bit, 2nd batch cook them a bit more, etc, etc.

vb4677 · September 2016

@jfm0830
How did this actually end up going?
I'm facing a similar thing, but my thought was to have each person (6 or 8 guests) assemble their stir fry in a couple of bowls (protein, hard veg, soft veg) and have the aromatics and pre-made sauces EGGside... Then I could either add some soaked rice noodles or they could go back inside and scoop out some fried rice...

vb4677 · September 2016

@Village Idiot
Have you ever done something similar to what I just described?

Mattman3969 · September 2016

If VI doesn't respond I know @tarheelmatt has wok'd for the masses before. Maybe he will chime in on is approach.

jfm0830 · September 2016

All in all it went well. I picked up a 3 well food warmer at B,B & B which was on sale for X-Mas. I made the rice first and the things I felt were more fragile towards the end of the cook. As V.I. mentioned I pre-measured and precut the ingredients and had them arranged on one tray per recipe and in the sequence I would use them out at the Egg. As I brought the finished food in from one cook, I poured it into the food warmer and, cleaned the wok and grabbed the next tray and headed back out to the Egg. It was hectic, but I was happy with the results.

The food did lose a little being held in the warmers compared to when I've had it fresh off the wok. But was it still better than take-out Chinese? That is a big yes.

Good luck
Jim

JMCXL · September 2016

why not buy 2 more eggs and woks to match. Am I missing something here. Your Brother could help with the cook - good family time.

jfm0830 · September 2016

JMCXL said:

why not buy 2 more eggs and woks to match. Am I missing something here. Your Brother could help with the cook - good family time.

Funny thing is I actually have 3 Eggs, but I think I am the only one in the family willing to go outside and grill when it was -2 degrees. There is something surreal about being out in that type of cold and worrying about not letting the temps rise beyond 650 degrees when I opened the lid to cook.

JMCXL · September 2016

jfm0830 said:
Funny thing is I actually have 3 Eggs, but I think I am the only one in the family willing to go outside and grill when it was -2 degrees. There is something surreal about being out in that type of cold and worrying about not letting the temps rise beyond 650 degrees when I opened the lid to cook.

Understand... just thought it would be a good excuse to add to the egg family

Serving Multiple Stir-Frys - How do you do it??

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