by Arlene Wright-Correll

Created on: October 16, 2006   Last Updated: August 09, 2008

Deep Frying the Chinese Way

Stir-frying is the most colorful and well-known Chinese cooking technique. However, many Chinese dishes call for the food to be deep-fried. In fact, the use of deep-frying, or Chau, in Chinese cooking predates stir-frying, which was developed mainly to cope with a shortage of cooking oil.

Exactly what is deep-frying? Basically, it's a technique in which food is cooked by submerging it in a bath of hot liquid fat. As with all aspects of cooking, the Chinese are quite creative in their use of deep-frying. In the west we tend to think of deep fried foods as having been dipped in batter prior to cooking. The Chinese employ this method to prepare certain dishes, such as Ginger Beef. However, deep-frying may also be a way of adding crispness to a dish that has already been cooked by another method, such as Tea Smoked Duck. On the other hand, some recipes call for an item to be deep-fried in the initial stages of cooking, as when a fish is deep-fried and then steamed.

Deep-frying has gotten a bad reputation in recent years. In today's health conscious society, people associate it with clogged arteries, not to mention a stove decorated with unwanted oil splatters. We have invested in two good cooking items. One is a wok I purchased from a TV commercial in 1987. The best $15.00 bargain I ever made. This wok made in China has stood me well and it has gone from shiny iron to being totally black over the years which is exactly how it should be. The other item is a purchase I made in 2003 and that is GE commercial type deep fat fryer that I found in Wal-mart on sale for $39.00 and worth every penny of that and more.

Here are some questions and answers about deep frying

Is it essential to use a wok for deep-frying? No. Some people feel safer sticking with a deep-fat fryer. If you do use a wok make sure it is securely in place - flat-bottomed woks work best for electric ranges; round bottomed for gas stoves. (Make sure the round bottomed wok is securely in place in the wok stand).
What is the best way to put the food into the wok? Be careful to slide foods in to prevent splattering. Also, add ingredients in small amounts and don't overcrowd the wok. Overcrowding will lower the temperature and may lead to splattering or spillage.

What is the best temperature for deep-frying? It depends on the recipe, but most suggest you heat the oil to somewhere between 350 degrees and 375 degrees Fahrenheit. (Partly this depends on the size of the food being cooked,

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>