I am Chinese, family from the Canton province, whose cuisine forms the basis of many popular overseas Chinese-inspired dishes, I can explain the “why” on this.
In Cantonese cuisine there is a concept called “锅气” or “wokhei”. It translates to “breath of the wok”. It refers to the distinct flavours and textures that come with an extremely hot flame, because as soon as the food touches the surface of a wok which has been heated to nearly (or past) the smoke point of oil, it cauterises it and causes some interesting chemical reactions. That really means food cooks extremely quickly in that wok and by the time the outside of meat is beginning to overcook, the inside is barely done. That’s also why many Cantonese dishes cooked in this manner have thin-sliced meat and not large slabs, because it would be impossible to have good wokhei and also fully cook the meat.
While it is theoretically possible to get good wokhei on an induction or electric burner, in practice it’s quite difficult to do so because the cooking technique requires smacking the wok around the stove (which would damage induction and electric stoves) and it also requires the entire wok be hot which is difficult to do on induction and electric burners. That’s why they have insane gas burners.
The amount of heat required to sustain the temperature needed for good wokhei is higher than what is commonly possible on home cooking ranges. While typical home methane ranges can output a respectable 5 kW or so of heat output, restaurant-grade wok burners can hit 10-12 kW easily.
This explanation is making me hungry :L
Thank you for teaching me what “wokhei” means, “cauterized” is a fantastic description of how I like my sear!
I like to cook steak Sous-Vide for that very reason, so I only have to worry about cooking the outermost layer on a screaming hot cast iron.
I’ll have to look more into wokhei to properly apply it it, but this sounds genuinely beyond delicious, thanks again for sharing :)
Great explanation! Thanks for that. I have tried replicating it, but I don’t want to smash my ceramic stove top. But this really does explain a lot. Perhaps I can still replicate it by putting the heat to an ungodly temperature (well, as high as it will go anyway) and cooking small quantities at a time. Might try it next time I make a wok.
Yeah the restaurant burners can hit 30KW (100,000 BTU).
But reminder gas appliances are generously only ~50% efficient, so this performance is matched with a 10-15kW induction wok, which is a hefty electrical load, but doable.
Induction isn’t 100% efficient either.
In any case, 15kw > 60 amps on a 240V circuit. That means you need a 75-80 amp breaker. It’s pretty rare to find that in a residential setting. Even hefty car chargers use a 60 amp breaker.
restaurant burners can hit 30KW
It’s pretty rare to find that in a residential setting
Apple, meet orange.
While they’re still not ideal, I have seen countertop induction burners designed for use with a wok.
I’m not saying that those don’t work, but I haven’t seen any models (even in China) that would survive several hours a day with a Cantonese chef armed with a 2 kg carbon steel wok for more than a week or so.
Smoking uncle from Guangdong doesn’t even speak chinese.
He makes bomb ass fried rice tho
I’d sell an appendage to have a proper wok burner in my kitchen (appropriate ventilation and fire protection included)
Not sure what your living situation is, but if you have the space for a grill, you can get an outdoor wok stand + propane burner for not a lot of money.
Haha, for real, I remember watching the cooks and seeing those burners… no surprise I can’t fry that rice at home when they are working with a small rocket engine!
High heat fried food – sounds carcinogen.
To some degree, yes, but if a bit of char gets people to eat more calories from vegetables instead of highly processed foods, the cancer risk is pretty much always offset by decreased diabetes, liver disease, etc.
I’m assuming that the fried rice here has vegetables, of course. I know some people who don’t…
Carcinogenoliscious!
Look, I’m not saying don’t eat healthy… But something has gotta kill you. My friend died in a car wreck a few months ago, just a young healthy dude in the prime of life taken in seconds. Sure, fried food has a cancer risk, so does going outside and playing sports. If I go from eating fried rice, so be it.
Outside in the sun - sounds carcinogen
Yes, WHO says so too.
Stubbing my toe, sounds carcinogenic
the cancer gives it flavor
Why?
Char contains a variety of compounds that can be carcinogenic. It’s usually worse with meats than veggies, though veggies still produce at small amount. However, if some char or smoke gets you to eat more otherwise unprocessed vegetables, don’t worry about it; the health benefits pretty much always outweigh the additional risk.
Is she ashing into her wok???
I don’t think the wok is there yet, otherwise fire would look different.
Oh cool centuriichan has a community! Subscribing
They do make induction models that are curved specifically for woks. Don’t know the right places to search to see if restaurant power level models exist but don’t see any electrical reason it couldn’t be done.
Cantonese person here—electrical equipment is too fragile since Cantonese cooking techniques involve a lot of smacking the wok around.
