Hey guys, a few notes: 1. Regarding passing through oil, I think it bears repeating that you don’t throw out that ¾ cup of oil after frying the shrimp. What we have is a side ‘oil pot’ next to our wok dedicated to holding our guoyou, shallow frying & deep frying oil. I know that not *everyone* has this sort of ‘oil pot’ system, which’s what I meant by ‘not everyone’s kitchen being set up for it’. 2. For the curious, usually what I like to do (1) is transfer the oil to a metal bowl after passing through oil/deep frying (2) as we’re cooking/eating dinner, letting any starch or what not settle to the bottom of the bowl (3) after dinner, dipping the clean oil to the oil pot and discarding any sludge on the bottom. The amount of oil wasted in the process will depend on how starch-heavy the thing you were frying was (for something like a pass through this will be minimal) 3. As we discussed in the Beef and Broccoli video, I think a lot of the qualities that people tend to think of as “restaurant level” re stir fries actually stems from this passing through oil process - not the powerful stove as is often commonly assumed. If you’ve never tried passing through oil before, I think you might be surprised as to just how much of a difference it makes to the end result. 4. Regarding the ingredients that’re often passed through water, besides shrimp you can also see the process done with squid, scallop, and sliced fish. That said, often you’ll see these ingredients being passed through oil *as well* after the passing through water process. That’s all I can think of for now! I’ll try to edit in a few more notes when I can think of them :)
As much as I agree with re-using the oil, its important to mention its also super unhealthy to use it more than twice in most situations, especially if you're using something more refined than those dark rapeseed oils. See the studies like: Impact of consumption of repeatedly heated cooking oils DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2017.1379470
@@pawel7055 I agree about only using it a couple to 3 times, but I thought if you keep the temp under 350F for the first couple that is doesn't hydrogenate 🤔 I also tend to be cautious with this type of oil and put it in the fridge between uses. That has more to do with the quality and freshness of the proteins in my area and not the oil itself.
@@pawel7055 I mean... restaurants - western *and* Chinese - re-use oil *way* more than twice? If you viewed that meta-analysis in isolation, and took it to its logical conclusion.... then one should simply not consume fried foods, and - from a public health perspective - regulatory bodies should take steps to significantly limit or ban the production of fried foods in restaurant contexts. The problem, I feel, is that people (especially laymen) really love to zero in and focus on *specific* ingredients and techniques, and lose sight of the bigger picture. Are fats bad for you? Is sugar bad for you? Is Erucic Acid bad for you? Are RCOs bad for you? Is glutamate bad for you? Are charred bits from grilling bad for you? Is sodium bad for you? Are seed oils bad for you? Are nitrates bad for you? And so on, and so on. While nutritional science seems to change with the wind... for (most) of these elements, you could still view the thing in isolation and make a case! You could - and some people definitely do - dutifully try to dig through all the latest research... and optimize their diet accordingly. But there's this odd thing. My home country of the United States - the country that's probably *the* most obsessed with nutritional science - is *also* continuously one of the most unhealthy. Just the other year, China *surpassed* the USA in life expectancy, and that's WITH prevalence of smoking being comparatively through the roof. So what gives? I'm not a doctor, I'm not a dietician. But I think it's clear that a lot of this... nutrition obsession... stems primarily from one thing: a profound fear of death. In the 21st century, we don't go to church, consult holy texts, and pray for health - so instead, people go online, find bloggers and scientific papers, and consume Extra Virgin Olive Oil. It's a way to find comfort - to give yourself some sort of illusion of control over this whole shindig. For me? I try not to obsess. I have two heuristics. First, an under-reported (at least compared to other so-called 'Blue Zones') is that life expectancy in Hong Kong is, like, three years higher than Sardinia (86 vs 83). So if you eat a Cantonese diet, you're probably going to be doing alright. Second, I think Michael Pollan's age-old advice is compatible and nice enough: (1) eat real food (2) not too much (3) mostly vegetables. (I probably eat too much meat) (you could also pass through oil using lard if you want)
I am always amazed at the eggplant videos that deep fry. I would have thought that the eggplant would just soak up all that oil. Definitely interested in how that all works.
@@angelad.8944 my family always salted and drained eggplant before deep frying, and Fuschia Dunlop recommends the same, though she says it's not a typical Chinese method. I'm curious how Demystified would approach it 🤘
@@angelad.8944I *think* that as it cooks, the spongy structure collapses and it releases the oil again. Salting can help bc it gives the collapsing a head start.
Something that might be part of the sliminess of the supermarket shrimp is a preservative they use called Sodium Tripolyphosphate. It also prevents the shrimp from becoming dark, but it can also add a bit of a more unpleasant, fishy taste to it. Thankfully it's easy to spot on the ingredient list, so hope it helps out. (I learned about this from America's Test Kitchen!)
I have to say the pass-through oil has become 80% of my frying and with my round bottom wok I simply refuse to fry another way because it is just so easy. 90% of the mess is eliminated, way less oil is used, it is faster unless you are cooking for 8 or more people, precise oil temperature. It is all very nice.
also keep reusing the oil. It gets seasoned over time and your next stir fries will become more flavorful. Chinese restaurants always uses this method.
@@cpcxgsr I think people avoid this because of an inbuilt cleanliness bias. Used oil is considered dirty a putting food in something dirty is bad. It’s not true but it sounds true so people trust it for whatever reason it’s just accepted as truth when you have doubtlessly eaten food made the same way.
@@n0etic_f0x I believe it. Western thinking vs eastern thinking are always opposite. Look how long it took "westerners" to appreciate sushi? The first few japanese chefs had to "dumb" down sushi in order for Americans to consume it... Finally, only after 40 years there are some decent authentic nigiri sushi restaurants in the US. Same goes with the "pass through" oil method. Once that method gets "destigmatized" people will appreciate it more. Heck, people reuse bacon grease all the time. What makes the chinese method any different? But I don't really care. Because I am not the one that is missing out on some delicious stir fry!
My husband has totally embraced my love of Asian cuisines. When we remodel our outdoor space, I get a proper gas fuels wok station...I'm so exited, can't wait to make this dish!
I got outdoor gas burners set up a couple of weeks ago, and tried them for the first time today for stir fried vegetables and bean thread vermicelli. It turned out like it does in the videos, and was so quick, so ideal.
I just made this and it is incredible. I didn’t use any of the shortcuts to prepping the shrimp. Talk about that ‘pop’. It’s too bad we can’t post pictures from the TH-cam mobile app because I wanted to show you. I passed the shrimp through oil and boy did this taste like I ordered it from a restaurant. I used the shrimp as directed for the shrimp and celery stir fry. Really enjoyed it. ❤❤
Thank you for this focused topic. I rarely follow recipes closely, but it is really useful to learn various techniques and the rationale behind them. Learning such methods creates skills that can be applied widely to many goals and ingredients.
I'd apperciate clarification on what a lot of these steps actually do: Like, i'm not sure what the pre-frying vs the marination step vs not doing either actually results in for the final taste or texture of the shrimp. it'd be easier for me to make judgement calls on what to do or skip if I knew what the difference was and what they contribute vs just fying/sauting the shrimp after peeling/deveining.
The thoroughness of this video about making a shrimp stir fry is kinda mind boggling compared to any other cooking channel. Really enjoyed this video. Thank you!
I just want to say you guys inspired me to not only get a round bottom wok, but an outdoor wok burner that puts out a stupid amount of heat. I love applying the techniques you guys show to my own cooking! Plus once I learned the basics, it's awesome to make western chinese restaurant food with less sugar. It's like the main ingredient over here. I hope you keep making videos!
this helps a lot. As someone going on a diet, stir frying is a quick and easy way of cooking. Take some food, heat up some oil, and then fry. Put left overs in the fridge, reheat, then eat again.
Pardon my expiative but, THIS, is a great freaking channel. 6 minutes in and knew I was gonna like it. It's all about the alternatives, and doing your very very best. Thank you. Subbed.
I can’t believe that anyone who has watched your channel, for more than a minute, would have gaul to leave angry comments. You two are so thorough and precise that if an error is made in making a recipe, it’s mine. 😂
wow. WOW. I had NO IDEA about preparing shrimp this way! I had been planning to make shrimp stir-fry tomorrow and saw this so I wanted to give it a try real quick so I whipped up some Tom Yum ramen, and prepared the shrimp as you suggested (including frying and the sodium carbonate I had from something else) before adding them at the last minute. Not many times have I said "what the ****** have I been doing to X." while cooking, but this was certainly one of these times. I subbed mirin since its what I had, and added a pinch of MSG. but HOLY COW that sodium carbonate trick makes SOOOO MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE WHAT. Bagged frozen deveined raw shrimp, and they are EASILY the best shrimp I've ever had. You are seriously selling it short with "(probably)" in the title. Insane. Glad I subbed to this channel seriously.
Would love one on eggplant for sure. Also my favorite way to stirfry shrimp is with head and shell attached in super hot oil to make the shell on the tail section crispy and delicious itself. Salt pepper msg, yum
Mushrooms please! Also your technique of peeling the outer layer off celery (taken from the celery salad recipe in the chilli tofu video) has revolutionsised celery for me. I make that salad all the time now it is absolutely incredible. What a difference a quick peel and blanche can make!
remove the bud of the mushroom, leave them in whole dont cut them, oil your pan and turn on the fire to medium low, drop the mushrooms let he "hole" side facing up, let it slowly cook until you see juice coming out in the "hole", a pinch of salt+pepper and your preferred herbs (chopped). add a spoon of butter, melt, mix and serve :)
I'd love a how to on stir frying fish! I never been able to successfully do that, the fish chunks always end up disintegrating (I don't pass through oil/water) or overcooking 😞
I can’t believe that you didn’t cook up the shells and heads in the oil before you cooked the shrimp! Fry up the heads and shells until they turn bright, and then you can pass the shrimp through. The shrimp I was will infuse into the oil, and make them even better!! I know that making/using “shrimp fat” to cook with is more Thai, but you should check it out!!
As someone who loves their Prawn (Shrimp) Fried Rice when I can get to a nice little hole-in-wall Chinese restaurant (the best kind I've found here in Australia tend to be solely family-owned, not chains like Panda Express) to go with a nice Chicken & Corn Soup - this has helped give me idea for how to try and handle making my own Prawn Fried Rice at home and respect for those small family-owned stores.
Loving this series. I'm fascinated by how to make shrimp more flavourful, because, as correctly noted in the video, most cuisines, including my own tend to just cook it. My argument is that that approach only works if your shrimp is already flavourful, which i have personally found to hardly be the case. I'm trying to develop a technique for making shrimp more flavourful by marinating, etc. and the chinese way has always been fascinating so thank you for this!
I didn't catch it when I watched for the first time when the video came out, but thank you for clearly stating that what you did at the beginning with the thawed shrimp was a kind of processing. Some people are way over their heads thinking that processing is bad when it's just something so ubiquitous, even in home kitchens.
I love learning these tips! I have a full-size outdoor wok burner that I built and use it several times a week for delicious Asian style, lunch and dinners! My family loves it as well!
I can't think of any specific ingredients to add to this series, but I'm totally down for it! I don't know about most other proteins, I feel like you've covered so many of them so well in other recipes. How about a home cook's approach to steamed fish? I remember one of my NaiNai's signature dishes was steamed ginger scallion sea bass like you might find in a restaurant, but what she never let on was that she microwaved it and finished it off with a light drizzle of scalding oil for busy weeknights. It took something fairly extravagant and made it very approachable.
If it falls under the umbrella of requests, I'd love to see something on coconut shrimp. I know it's not traditional, but, I love it as a fusion dish. I've seen many kinds, but the one I'd most like to learn to replicate is the lightly battered one that I believe is marinated with coconut cream.
As a kid I went through a phase when I really liked shrimp stir fried with broccoli. Then my mom n grandma just kept feeding me that until I was absolutely sick of it 😅 Ah memories
Again, an amazing detail rich instructional complete with lots of visuals showing proper technique. I have learned SO much from your channel. Thank you for your time and energy in putting things together.
Thank you for sharing. My grandmother used to make a stirfry lily bud vegetarian dish that was savory and not sweet. I wish I could learn to cook lilybuds good and maybe some other chinese ingredients such as the fresh bamboo shoot. I try to steam and soak the fresh bamboo shoot overnight but still has the bitter taste. Thank you again :)
Seconding that request for a home approach to steamed fish. I guess a wok with a steamer insert and a fish on a plate works but for some reason it seems like it would be an intimidating amount of work
I have to say. I learned lots and lots from you two. I have to say if there is a fry able land, sea and air, ingredient I would love to see it. Thanks you both for the great videos and please keep them coming. Me and my mother that is 14 hours away bond over this kind of stuff and the wife is enjoys when I cook anyway LOL.
I'd like to see how to prepare squid and stir fry with it. Also the shortcuts are a great addition to speed up the process so it's nice to have them if you don't have the time.
I lack the time & inclination to clean my own shrimp so it's shortcut #7 for me. AND even frozen shrimp can be marinated. OFC it's not going to take as well as it does to fresh shrimp but still a flavor addition.
I tried that water replacement for gouyou while making sweet and sour chicken. My girlfriend loved it (as she devoured half of my portion too), and I hated it so much, even thinking about it makes me sick. So be aware, with that method, your mileage might vary.
I'd love to know how to stir fry those frozen squid (small and large ones) one finds abundantly in Asian grocery stores. Is there a way to marinate them that they not turn out rubbery (marinating in milk f. e.? ) , shall I fry them shortly - like passing through oil?. I really appreciate your videos, thx for sharing such knowledge!!!
would the addition of kan sui or sodium carbonate to the shortcut 7 method help to produce a better stir fry sticky shrimp? Understandably at that point you're not really shrimping, but I feel like that may not be a bad idea? Personally Pre-cooked is much more US available, but this has helped to increase confidence in being able to do the more complex methods, thank you!
I'm excited. I love having this kind of understanding. You guys will get a million subs in no time!! ☺ The one thing I struggle with is matching chili varieties in the context of the flavours, etc they add to each dish. Like, I see millet pepper as a translation. It seems to be an everyday general red chili but I have no idea if it is sweet and spicy, smoky or citrus hints, etc. Sometimes I just give it a go with what I have grown and I can tell you that sometimes I end up with, Oh, that doesn't taste right together! lol Does it matter? How does it matter? Are there categories of acceptable chilis? Like sweet, smoky, mild heat, killing heat, citrus undertones, etc. Then at least we would know what group of chilis to pull from. Hopefully you understand my meaning. I do understand that everyone's heat tolerance is different and that there are so many local varieties through out China, so that is why I am trying to understand the choices of which type of chili to use. ☺
Would you be so kind as to show your method of stir frying shredded pork in garlic sauce. I love that from restaurants, but can't seem to prep pork properly ( and sauce can use some help )
I live in Zhengzhou and I regularly order a kind of sweet and sour shrimp (not batter fried) from a restauran (48 Yuan gets you a good carton of shrimp). But they always leave the shells on! And the heads. Unless it's deep fried shrimp the restaurants in my neighborhood serve shrimp with the shells. I'd rather they didn't, but it still tastes good.
I love so many Asian dishes from all over central and east Asia and Japan and India but I have a deadly shellfish allergy so things like this are a no go for me however yes videos like this are a welcome treat.
In terms of ingredients, I think pumpkin or zucchini would be interesting; I've recently had good experiences with cucumber, but I think you already covered that (?)
I love your idea for the series - maybe you could refer one or two more recipes to try out with the technique. Please, cover tofu and noodles soon. My go-to method for tofu is to just stir-fry in oil but I like to improve on it. One tip I got but did not try out is to marinate with soy sauce, cover with starch and then shallow fry. For noodles, I gave up since they oftentimes came out too mushy and/or bland.
I use a scissor to cut through the (meaty side) of the shrimp and de-vein them, the knife side slicing method usually mean the shrimp are still somewhat firm/iced/frozen.
In a previous video (I want to say the guobaorou one, but I'm not 100% sure, I couldn't find it on a quick skim just now, maybe it was in the reddit thread), you mentioned that the thick potato starch batter was one of some number (I don't remember how many) of basic batters in Chinese cooking. It'd be cool to get an overview of several different batters/starch coatings and what they'd each be good for
looks like the exact opposite of how shrimp is usually prepared here where i live (Italy), we just season with salt and grill them whole with olive oil, add more olive oil raw after cooking them and eat them with the shell and head, which is very delicious, especially the eggs you find in some female shrimps (the "Coral"). I'd say this way of cooking shrimp is unbeatable
I'd love to see a how-to for stir frying tofu or seitan! My partner is vegetarian so I cook vegetarian only at home, and I'd love to see more veg-friendly stir fry ideas for us. :)
This is such a funny coincidence! I got a set of gas burners a couple of weeks ago and put them through their paces today, with a stir fry, no less. I grilled the shrimp, but I was asked to add a stirfry to the list of things. So I did, and it was very nice. I was shocked at how well my wok was seasoned after use.
When you say squirrelfish I thought you were talking about member of Holocentridae family. But what the heck was that fried fish? Looked like pineapple or pinecone (not to be confused with actual pinecone fish) EDIT: Also, yes I would love a cooking technique series much like this. Feels so on-point with your approach of... demystifying.
Ha, 松鼠鱼! Classic dish that you can find throughout China - usually served with a sweet and sour sauce. We were mulling over covering it, but we honestly don't have much that we could add to Wang Gang's recipe: th-cam.com/video/2aqTiQ8dY6k/w-d-xo.html Fun dish to make though
After this ingredient stir-fry series, I'd be interested to see a series detailing as many stir-fry flavour profiles as you can with generalised recipes that we can use on all of our deliciously pre-prepared ingredients.
That technique of flushing the shrimp under running water does an incredible job. In cantonese it's called 啤水, restaurants often plug taps with rags to keep a rapid flow of water (th-cam.com/video/4LjqjZPp7Bo/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=chowloming) to literally flush out gaminess/existing water in the protein and fill it up with 'fresh water' - at least that is my understanding. It really works wonders for shrimp and steamed pork ribs. Wonder how it contributes to that color change?
I do everything except the sodium carbonate soak. I just do your shortcut #1, rinse with water and add baking soda to the shrimp marinade instead. Regarding other topics, I would like to see string beans. It is one of the ingredients that I've had trouble replicating the proper texture from restaurants.
Hi, thanks for the fantastic videos! Would you please feature a video on Moo Goo Gaipan (white garlic sauce) with chicken? Thanks. Oh, and maximally delicious method, please?!
NOOOO thats actually a sad loss. one of our nice pyrex measuring cup got dropped and none of the replacements have been even close to as good. :( how hard is it to find a 2C MC that starts at 1/4 cup >:(
I'd love some more videos about tofu and eggplant, they're both pretty common, but I feel like Chinese cooking uses it in such unfamiliar ways I'd love to expand my cooking repertoire with them.
One thing you could've also adressed is the fact that most often, people buy shrimp frozen. Thawing takes quite a long time, and planning in advance. What's the ideal way to work around this, in your opinion? I usually blanch the shrimp for a couple of mins in a pot I just took off the stove, lid on and then dry, pre-stir fry
Those shrimp really cleaned up. As I got older I lost my taste for shrimp. I do like it in combination fried rice but never in isolation. But I love the way the small curled up meat goes with the texture of everything in the rice.
I would love to know more about stir frying onions! I can't eat undercooked onions, they give me terrible gas. How can i get them cooked enough in a stir-fry?
Hey guys, a few notes:
1. Regarding passing through oil, I think it bears repeating that you don’t throw out that ¾ cup of oil after frying the shrimp. What we have is a side ‘oil pot’ next to our wok dedicated to holding our guoyou, shallow frying & deep frying oil. I know that not *everyone* has this sort of ‘oil pot’ system, which’s what I meant by ‘not everyone’s kitchen being set up for it’.
2. For the curious, usually what I like to do (1) is transfer the oil to a metal bowl after passing through oil/deep frying (2) as we’re cooking/eating dinner, letting any starch or what not settle to the bottom of the bowl (3) after dinner, dipping the clean oil to the oil pot and discarding any sludge on the bottom. The amount of oil wasted in the process will depend on how starch-heavy the thing you were frying was (for something like a pass through this will be minimal)
3. As we discussed in the Beef and Broccoli video, I think a lot of the qualities that people tend to think of as “restaurant level” re stir fries actually stems from this passing through oil process - not the powerful stove as is often commonly assumed. If you’ve never tried passing through oil before, I think you might be surprised as to just how much of a difference it makes to the end result.
4. Regarding the ingredients that’re often passed through water, besides shrimp you can also see the process done with squid, scallop, and sliced fish. That said, often you’ll see these ingredients being passed through oil *as well* after the passing through water process.
That’s all I can think of for now! I’ll try to edit in a few more notes when I can think of them :)
As much as I agree with re-using the oil, its important to mention its also super unhealthy to use it more than twice in most situations, especially if you're using something more refined than those dark rapeseed oils.
See the studies like: Impact of consumption of repeatedly heated cooking oils DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2017.1379470
@@pawel7055 I agree about only using it a couple to 3 times, but I thought if you keep the temp under 350F for the first couple that is doesn't hydrogenate 🤔 I also tend to be cautious with this type of oil and put it in the fridge between uses. That has more to do with the quality and freshness of the proteins in my area and not the oil itself.
@@pawel7055 I mean... restaurants - western *and* Chinese - re-use oil *way* more than twice?
If you viewed that meta-analysis in isolation, and took it to its logical conclusion.... then one should simply not consume fried foods, and - from a public health perspective - regulatory bodies should take steps to significantly limit or ban the production of fried foods in restaurant contexts.
The problem, I feel, is that people (especially laymen) really love to zero in and focus on *specific* ingredients and techniques, and lose sight of the bigger picture. Are fats bad for you? Is sugar bad for you? Is Erucic Acid bad for you? Are RCOs bad for you? Is glutamate bad for you? Are charred bits from grilling bad for you? Is sodium bad for you? Are seed oils bad for you? Are nitrates bad for you? And so on, and so on.
While nutritional science seems to change with the wind... for (most) of these elements, you could still view the thing in isolation and make a case! You could - and some people definitely do - dutifully try to dig through all the latest research... and optimize their diet accordingly. But there's this odd thing. My home country of the United States - the country that's probably *the* most obsessed with nutritional science - is *also* continuously one of the most unhealthy. Just the other year, China *surpassed* the USA in life expectancy, and that's WITH prevalence of smoking being comparatively through the roof. So what gives?
I'm not a doctor, I'm not a dietician. But I think it's clear that a lot of this... nutrition obsession... stems primarily from one thing: a profound fear of death. In the 21st century, we don't go to church, consult holy texts, and pray for health - so instead, people go online, find bloggers and scientific papers, and consume Extra Virgin Olive Oil. It's a way to find comfort - to give yourself some sort of illusion of control over this whole shindig.
For me? I try not to obsess. I have two heuristics. First, an under-reported (at least compared to other so-called 'Blue Zones') is that life expectancy in Hong Kong is, like, three years higher than Sardinia (86 vs 83). So if you eat a Cantonese diet, you're probably going to be doing alright. Second, I think Michael Pollan's age-old advice is compatible and nice enough: (1) eat real food (2) not too much (3) mostly vegetables.
(I probably eat too much meat)
(you could also pass through oil using lard if you want)
@@ChineseCookingDemystified Very well put. ☺
@@ChineseCookingDemystifiedthat was a lovely unpacking, thank you.
I'd be interested in eggplants, any beans or legumes, and any variety of bok choy or choy sum. Thanks for great content always.
One more vote for eggplants!
+1
I am always amazed at the eggplant videos that deep fry. I would have thought that the eggplant would just soak up all that oil. Definitely interested in how that all works.
@@angelad.8944 my family always salted and drained eggplant before deep frying, and Fuschia Dunlop recommends the same, though she says it's not a typical Chinese method. I'm curious how Demystified would approach it 🤘
@@angelad.8944I *think* that as it cooks, the spongy structure collapses and it releases the oil again. Salting can help bc it gives the collapsing a head start.
Something that might be part of the sliminess of the supermarket shrimp is a preservative they use called Sodium Tripolyphosphate. It also prevents the shrimp from becoming dark, but it can also add a bit of a more unpleasant, fishy taste to it. Thankfully it's easy to spot on the ingredient list, so hope it helps out. (I learned about this from America's Test Kitchen!)
Best crossover - I do like me some ATK! Legit group of folks, solid tips like this channel :)
I have to say the pass-through oil has become 80% of my frying and with my round bottom wok I simply refuse to fry another way because it is just so easy. 90% of the mess is eliminated, way less oil is used, it is faster unless you are cooking for 8 or more people, precise oil temperature. It is all very nice.
Pass-trough frying beef with soy sauce + starch marinade (from one of CCD videos) is the only way I make my beef these days.
also keep reusing the oil. It gets seasoned over time and your next stir fries will become more flavorful. Chinese restaurants always uses this method.
@@cpcxgsr I think people avoid this because of an inbuilt cleanliness bias. Used oil is considered dirty a putting food in something dirty is bad.
It’s not true but it sounds true so people trust it for whatever reason it’s just accepted as truth when you have doubtlessly eaten food made the same way.
@@n0etic_f0x I believe it. Western thinking vs eastern thinking are always opposite. Look how long it took "westerners" to appreciate sushi? The first few japanese chefs had to "dumb" down sushi in order for Americans to consume it... Finally, only after 40 years there are some decent authentic nigiri sushi restaurants in the US.
Same goes with the "pass through" oil method. Once that method gets "destigmatized" people will appreciate it more. Heck, people reuse bacon grease all the time. What makes the chinese method any different? But I don't really care. Because I am not the one that is missing out on some delicious stir fry!
My husband has totally embraced my love of Asian cuisines. When we remodel our outdoor space, I get a proper gas fuels wok station...I'm so exited, can't wait to make this dish!
I got outdoor gas burners set up a couple of weeks ago, and tried them for the first time today for stir fried vegetables and bean thread vermicelli. It turned out like it does in the videos, and was so quick, so ideal.
I am so Jelly!! 😝
the option 7 shortcut is my go-to for most recipes tbh lmao
The ultimate strategy
love this concept for a series
I just made this and it is incredible. I didn’t use any of the shortcuts to prepping the shrimp. Talk about that ‘pop’. It’s too bad we can’t post pictures from the TH-cam mobile app because I wanted to show you. I passed the shrimp through oil and boy did this taste like I ordered it from a restaurant. I used the shrimp as directed for the shrimp and celery stir fry. Really enjoyed it. ❤❤
I'd love to know more about stir frying mushrooms!!
Thank you for this focused topic. I rarely follow recipes closely, but it is really useful to learn various techniques and the rationale behind them. Learning such methods creates skills that can be applied widely to many goals and ingredients.
I'd apperciate clarification on what a lot of these steps actually do: Like, i'm not sure what the pre-frying vs the marination step vs not doing either actually results in for the final taste or texture of the shrimp. it'd be easier for me to make judgement calls on what to do or skip if I knew what the difference was and what they contribute vs just fying/sauting the shrimp after peeling/deveining.
Love shrimp. Also love squid, so please share with us your best tips to stir fry squid. Thank you!!
The thoroughness of this video about making a shrimp stir fry is kinda mind boggling compared to any other cooking channel. Really enjoyed this video. Thank you!
I just want to say you guys inspired me to not only get a round bottom wok, but an outdoor wok burner that puts out a stupid amount of heat. I love applying the techniques you guys show to my own cooking! Plus once I learned the basics, it's awesome to make western chinese restaurant food with less sugar. It's like the main ingredient over here. I hope you keep making videos!
Really love these simple "master recipe/technique" demonstrations that can used as the basis of hundreds of dishes
this helps a lot.
As someone going on a diet, stir frying is a quick and easy way of cooking.
Take some food, heat up some oil, and then fry.
Put left overs in the fridge, reheat, then eat again.
Pardon my expiative but, THIS, is a great freaking channel. 6 minutes in and knew I was gonna like it. It's all about the alternatives, and doing your very very best.
Thank you.
Subbed.
I can’t believe that anyone who has watched your channel, for more than a minute, would have gaul to leave angry comments. You two are so thorough and precise that if an error is made in making a recipe, it’s mine. 😂
That slide at the start - tofu! eggplant! seitan! So many of my favorite things all to come, I can't wait to see more from this series!
wow. WOW. I had NO IDEA about preparing shrimp this way! I had been planning to make shrimp stir-fry tomorrow and saw this so I wanted to give it a try real quick so I whipped up some Tom Yum ramen, and prepared the shrimp as you suggested (including frying and the sodium carbonate I had from something else) before adding them at the last minute.
Not many times have I said "what the ****** have I been doing to X." while cooking, but this was certainly one of these times. I subbed mirin since its what I had, and added a pinch of MSG. but HOLY COW that sodium carbonate trick makes SOOOO MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE WHAT. Bagged frozen deveined raw shrimp, and they are EASILY the best shrimp I've ever had. You are seriously selling it short with "(probably)" in the title. Insane. Glad I subbed to this channel seriously.
Yeah, It was excellent in the actual stir fry as well. I see myself prepping all my shrimp like this from now on!
Would love one on eggplant for sure. Also my favorite way to stirfry shrimp is with head and shell attached in super hot oil to make the shell on the tail section crispy and delicious itself. Salt pepper msg, yum
Mushrooms please! Also your technique of peeling the outer layer off celery (taken from the celery salad recipe in the chilli tofu video) has revolutionsised celery for me. I make that salad all the time now it is absolutely incredible. What a difference a quick peel and blanche can make!
remove the bud of the mushroom, leave them in whole dont cut them, oil your pan and turn on the fire to medium low, drop the mushrooms let he "hole" side facing up, let it slowly cook until you see juice coming out in the "hole", a pinch of salt+pepper and your preferred herbs (chopped). add a spoon of butter, melt, mix and serve :)
I'd love a how to on stir frying fish! I never been able to successfully do that, the fish chunks always end up disintegrating (I don't pass through oil/water) or overcooking 😞
I can’t believe that you didn’t cook up the shells and heads in the oil before you cooked the shrimp! Fry up the heads and shells until they turn bright, and then you can pass the shrimp through. The shrimp I was will infuse into the oil, and make them even better!! I know that making/using “shrimp fat” to cook with is more Thai, but you should check it out!!
The passing through oil technique is a critical part of great Chinese cooking. Well done - great technique
As someone who loves their Prawn (Shrimp) Fried Rice when I can get to a nice little hole-in-wall Chinese restaurant (the best kind I've found here in Australia tend to be solely family-owned, not chains like Panda Express) to go with a nice Chicken & Corn Soup - this has helped give me idea for how to try and handle making my own Prawn Fried Rice at home and respect for those small family-owned stores.
Loving this series. I'm fascinated by how to make shrimp more flavourful, because, as correctly noted in the video, most cuisines, including my own tend to just cook it. My argument is that that approach only works if your shrimp is already flavourful, which i have personally found to hardly be the case. I'm trying to develop a technique for making shrimp more flavourful by marinating, etc. and the chinese way has always been fascinating so thank you for this!
I didn't catch it when I watched for the first time when the video came out, but thank you for clearly stating that what you did at the beginning with the thawed shrimp was a kind of processing. Some people are way over their heads thinking that processing is bad when it's just something so ubiquitous, even in home kitchens.
I love learning these tips! I have a full-size outdoor wok burner that I built and use it several times a week for delicious Asian style, lunch and dinners! My family loves it as well!
I can't think of any specific ingredients to add to this series, but I'm totally down for it! I don't know about most other proteins, I feel like you've covered so many of them so well in other recipes. How about a home cook's approach to steamed fish? I remember one of my NaiNai's signature dishes was steamed ginger scallion sea bass like you might find in a restaurant, but what she never let on was that she microwaved it and finished it off with a light drizzle of scalding oil for busy weeknights. It took something fairly extravagant and made it very approachable.
If it falls under the umbrella of requests, I'd love to see something on coconut shrimp. I know it's not traditional, but, I love it as a fusion dish. I've seen many kinds, but the one I'd most like to learn to replicate is the lightly battered one that I believe is marinated with coconut cream.
As a kid I went through a phase when I really liked shrimp stir fried with broccoli. Then my mom n grandma just kept feeding me that until I was absolutely sick of it 😅
Ah memories
Again, an amazing detail rich instructional complete with lots of visuals showing proper technique. I have learned SO much from your channel. Thank you for your time and energy in putting things together.
Thank you for sharing. My grandmother used to make a stirfry lily bud vegetarian dish that was savory and not sweet. I wish I could learn to cook lilybuds good and maybe some other chinese ingredients such as the fresh bamboo shoot. I try to steam and soak the fresh bamboo shoot overnight but still has the bitter taste. Thank you again :)
Seconding that request for a home approach to steamed fish. I guess a wok with a steamer insert and a fish on a plate works but for some reason it seems like it would be an intimidating amount of work
Always wondered how that distinctive shape for shrimp was made. Thanks for the lesson.
Fabulous, comprehensive straight to the point. Thanks.
Hope this will be an ongoing series. Loving it so far!
Very helpful demo and narration. Thank you.
I have to say. I learned lots and lots from you two. I have to say if there is a fry able land, sea and air, ingredient I would love to see it. Thanks you both for the great videos and please keep them coming. Me and my mother that is 14 hours away bond over this kind of stuff and the wife is enjoys when I cook anyway LOL.
thank you! this is new, I didn't know I have to peel the celery. thanks.
Thanks for another clear and helpful video, greatly appreciated 👍
I'd like to see how to prepare squid and stir fry with it. Also the shortcuts are a great addition to speed up the process so it's nice to have them if you don't have the time.
I lack the time & inclination to clean my own shrimp so it's shortcut #7 for me. AND even frozen shrimp can be marinated. OFC it's not going to take as well as it does to fresh shrimp but still a flavor addition.
I tried that water replacement for gouyou while making sweet and sour chicken. My girlfriend loved it (as she devoured half of my portion too), and I hated it so much, even thinking about it makes me sick. So be aware, with that method, your mileage might vary.
Great series!
Gonna look for all the ingredients you're going to post!
Sauce 101 would be gret!
Would love to know more about stir frying bitter melon.
egg, lots of it, and slice them thinner helps
just did a slightly uruguayan version of this with some chickpeas, mushrooms, grean beans and a fried egg on top and I might have landed on heaven
I'd love to know how to stir fry those frozen squid (small and large ones) one finds abundantly in Asian grocery stores. Is there a way to marinate them that they not turn out rubbery (marinating in milk f. e.? ) , shall I fry them shortly - like passing through oil?. I really appreciate your videos, thx for sharing such knowledge!!!
would the addition of kan sui or sodium carbonate to the shortcut 7 method help to produce a better stir fry sticky shrimp?
Understandably at that point you're not really shrimping, but I feel like that may not be a bad idea?
Personally Pre-cooked is much more US available, but this has helped to increase confidence in being able to do the more complex methods, thank you!
Very informative video! Thank you guys so much.
Great channel, thanks for the information!!!
I'm excited. I love having this kind of understanding. You guys will get a million subs in no time!! ☺
The one thing I struggle with is matching chili varieties in the context of the flavours, etc they add to each dish. Like, I see millet pepper as a translation. It seems to be an everyday general red chili but I have no idea if it is sweet and spicy, smoky or citrus hints, etc. Sometimes I just give it a go with what I have grown and I can tell you that sometimes I end up with, Oh, that doesn't taste right together! lol Does it matter? How does it matter? Are there categories of acceptable chilis? Like sweet, smoky, mild heat, killing heat, citrus undertones, etc. Then at least we would know what group of chilis to pull from. Hopefully you understand my meaning. I do understand that everyone's heat tolerance is different and that there are so many local varieties through out China, so that is why I am trying to understand the choices of which type of chili to use. ☺
Perfect timing-we just got shrimp and I thought about adding them to some Chinese stir fry dishes!
Any suggestions for quick-cooking/stir-frying duck? I love the stuff, but it seems like every recipe takes at least half a day.
th-cam.com/video/maVK7y17VvA/w-d-xo.html Here is a quick stir fry duck recipe from China which may take less than 30 minutes to prepare.
Would you be so kind as to show your method of stir frying shredded pork in garlic sauce. I love that from restaurants, but can't seem to prep pork properly ( and sauce can use some help )
This is definitely some of the best content on youtube! I love you!
I live in Zhengzhou and I regularly order a kind of sweet and sour shrimp (not batter fried) from a restauran (48 Yuan gets you a good carton of shrimp). But they always leave the shells on! And the heads. Unless it's deep fried shrimp the restaurants in my neighborhood serve shrimp with the shells. I'd rather they didn't, but it still tastes good.
I eagerly await your tofu episode!
I'd love to see some more recipes using Douchi. Because I am "that" close to just eating them with a spoon right from the bag.
Liaojiu refers 料酒 which may be any kind or any brand of cooking wine. An example would be 绍兴酒.
Eggplant pleaseeeeeee. We have enough meat dishes at home, but more veg is awesome
I love so many Asian dishes from all over central and east Asia and Japan and India but I have a deadly shellfish allergy so things like this are a no go for me however yes videos like this are a welcome treat.
Always love your videos, you two are the best!
In terms of ingredients, I think pumpkin or zucchini would be interesting; I've recently had good experiences with cucumber, but I think you already covered that (?)
Squash would be a really interesting one to do. So many cool methods out there. ☺
I love your idea for the series - maybe you could refer one or two more recipes to try out with the technique.
Please, cover tofu and noodles soon. My go-to method for tofu is to just stir-fry in oil but I like to improve on it. One tip I got but did not try out is to marinate with soy sauce, cover with starch and then shallow fry. For noodles, I gave up since they oftentimes came out too mushy and/or bland.
I use a scissor to cut through the (meaty side) of the shrimp and de-vein them, the knife side slicing method usually mean the shrimp are still somewhat firm/iced/frozen.
In a previous video (I want to say the guobaorou one, but I'm not 100% sure, I couldn't find it on a quick skim just now, maybe it was in the reddit thread), you mentioned that the thick potato starch batter was one of some number (I don't remember how many) of basic batters in Chinese cooking. It'd be cool to get an overview of several different batters/starch coatings and what they'd each be good for
looks like the exact opposite of how shrimp is usually prepared here where i live (Italy), we just season with salt and grill them whole with olive oil, add more olive oil raw after cooking them and eat them with the shell and head, which is very delicious, especially the eggs you find in some female shrimps (the "Coral"). I'd say this way of cooking shrimp is unbeatable
Thank you so much for this new series.
I'd love to see a how-to for stir frying tofu or seitan! My partner is vegetarian so I cook vegetarian only at home, and I'd love to see more veg-friendly stir fry ideas for us. :)
They've definitely done a mapo tofu video already, and though that isn't a veggie dish, it has pointers about cooking tofu.
This is such a funny coincidence! I got a set of gas burners a couple of weeks ago and put them through their paces today, with a stir fry, no less. I grilled the shrimp, but I was asked to add a stirfry to the list of things. So I did, and it was very nice. I was shocked at how well my wok was seasoned after use.
this is really appreciated guys.... more like this...
When you say squirrelfish I thought you were talking about member of Holocentridae family. But what the heck was that fried fish? Looked like pineapple or pinecone (not to be confused with actual pinecone fish)
EDIT: Also, yes I would love a cooking technique series much like this. Feels so on-point with your approach of... demystifying.
Ha, 松鼠鱼! Classic dish that you can find throughout China - usually served with a sweet and sour sauce. We were mulling over covering it, but we honestly don't have much that we could add to Wang Gang's recipe: th-cam.com/video/2aqTiQ8dY6k/w-d-xo.html
Fun dish to make though
@@ChineseCookingDemystified just watched Chef Wang's video. That's... quite a skill, I am not sure I can do that kind of knifework.
Great technique - from a Chinese chef.
After this ingredient stir-fry series, I'd be interested to see a series detailing as many stir-fry flavour profiles as you can with generalised recipes that we can use on all of our deliciously pre-prepared ingredients.
I would be interested in learning some methods for sea vegetables and bamboo shoots.
Heheh, I do the minimum-prep method, but this is all good info for if I want to treat myself or someone else.
classic dish of stir fry potato and vinegar would be nice. What type of potato would be optimum for the dish
I would absolutely love to see seitan covered sometime soon, but really anything is bound to be interesting
Excited for the stir fry series!
Absolutely yes more of this
A tofu video adding to your previous one would be excellent! Something like a "advanced tofu techniques" video would be much appreciated.
Thank you for the thorough lesson!
That technique of flushing the shrimp under running water does an incredible job. In cantonese it's called 啤水, restaurants often plug taps with rags to keep a rapid flow of water (th-cam.com/video/4LjqjZPp7Bo/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=chowloming) to literally flush out gaminess/existing water in the protein and fill it up with 'fresh water' - at least that is my understanding. It really works wonders for shrimp and steamed pork ribs. Wonder how it contributes to that color change?
That color change may be due to the alkalinity of the soak, similar to how you get protein denaturation from acid in ceviche.
Boom!..this one was the holy grail we all needed!
Could you please make a video with tips for stir frying ground meat (I know you prefer grinding your own with a cleaver).
I do everything except the sodium carbonate soak. I just do your shortcut #1, rinse with water and add baking soda to the shrimp marinade instead.
Regarding other topics, I would like to see string beans. It is one of the ingredients that I've had trouble replicating the proper texture from restaurants.
Very educational! Thank you.
Can you do a video on how to wash wok for typical home use and heavy stinky use?(like deep fried fish in wok)
Hi, thanks for the fantastic videos! Would you please feature a video on Moo Goo Gaipan (white garlic sauce) with chicken? Thanks. Oh, and maximally delicious method, please?!
This technique has worked well for me since I learned it from you. Mahalo!. If using lye water...how much?
@4:02 That Pyrex measuring cup is now an antique! Pyrex parent company Instant Brands (Instant Pot) has closed down :(
NOOOO thats actually a sad loss. one of our nice pyrex measuring cup got dropped and none of the replacements have been even close to as good. :(
how hard is it to find a 2C MC that starts at 1/4 cup >:(
I'd love some more videos about tofu and eggplant, they're both pretty common, but I feel like Chinese cooking uses it in such unfamiliar ways I'd love to expand my cooking repertoire with them.
One thing you could've also adressed is the fact that most often, people buy shrimp frozen. Thawing takes quite a long time, and planning in advance. What's the ideal way to work around this, in your opinion? I usually blanch the shrimp for a couple of mins in a pot I just took off the stove, lid on and then dry, pre-stir fry
I just let it soak in cool water. It’ll defrost pretty quickly.
Those shrimp really cleaned up. As I got older I lost my taste for shrimp. I do like it in combination fried rice but never in isolation.
But I love the way the small curled up meat goes with the texture of everything in the rice.
I would really like to see you cover how to prepare bamboo shoots, as i (and probably most other non asians) have no experience with them
Great as always, still luv your puppy! Bryan from Canada.
Prepping smaller fish, like sardines, would be awesome to learn.
I would love to know more about stir frying onions! I can't eat undercooked onions, they give me terrible gas. How can i get them cooked enough in a stir-fry?