A Word on Recipes

Regarding recipes, Eleanor Hoh of Wok Star (http://eleanorhoh.com/) says that “A Wok Star is someone who develops their own cooking style and thinks outside the box”. She goes on to say “I approach wok cooking as a process illustrated in a simple-to-follow visual “stir-fry crib sheet”. Once you get this BIG PICTURE, you’ll find creating your own wok dishes is as easy as making a sandwich!”

The first time I ventured into her web site I instantly felt at home with her approach, as it is so similar to my own philosophy for “following” recipes. I find that rather than blindly following recipes, I prefer to make changes as I see fit and use the recipes more as a guide. Some of these modified “recipes” result in less than stunning results (or disasters), but more often than not, this mindset results in a better dish than I could have hoped for, or even a stepping stone to a more successful incarnation on a subsequent attempt. Using recipes as "guides" allows for much greater flexibility. If you don’t like ingredient x then simply substitute it with ingredient y. If you have a fresh ingredient in your fridge, then why not modify an existing recipe to accommodate that. You’ll have far more fun and you’ll probably enjoy your creation far more by customizing it to your unique taste.

As Eleanor Hoh says, “The beauty of stir-frying without recipes is that it allows you to make the best use of fresh, seasonal vegetables or foods that are on special sale. This also means you can use up whatever food are available in your fridge without them going to waste. “

While we’re talking about recipes, more often then not these will involve stir frying. So I may as well mention now (again, inspired by Eleanor Hoh) that there are 3 essential elements for a successful stir-fry:

• High Heat- if you can, use a gas flame. You will have better heat control. Your results will be better, and easier to achieve.
• Fresh Ingredients- modify your “recipes” to take advantage of fresh, seasonal, or available foods. Don’t settle for frozen or canned foods if you don’t have to just to meet requirements of some recipe. It will make for a more fresh and diverse menu and leave more room for experimentation with new ingredients.
• A good Wok- this doesn’t mean an expensive wok. It just means a good wok. Try for a carbon steel wok if you can. Its lighter than cast iron, but produces great results and is easy to work with, clean and care for. The size of the wok you choose should depend upon how many mouths you usually feed. If you are alone, a smaller wok will do. If you’re feeding a family of 4, you’ll need a larger wok (remember, you don’t want to overcrowd your wok…so when feeding more people, use a larger wok)

Dietary considerations

Health considerations:

Another reason that you may wish to make recipes “your own” may have to do with dietary restrictions. These may include restrictions based upon either health considerations, or religious ones. For example, I must restrict my salt intake. Products like soy sauce and oyster sauce must be very limited in my dishes. Even in the products that I do include, I look for those containing the least sodium. This sucks, as I do love soy sauce, but oh well.

Kosher considerations:

Don’t be put off from exploring a recipe because it may feature a food that you can’t eat for religious reasons. Pork fried rice can easily be reincarnated into chicken fried rice, beef fried rice, or vegetable fried rice for example. for that reason, I encourage you to look at recipes like that, that may at first glance seem taboo. They may inspire you to make your own variations of them through substitutions that make sense for you. I don’t eat pork but I’ve heard that ground turkey is a good substitute. So I fill my dumplings with a ground turkey mixture rather than with ground pork. So far that’s worked for me! But you get my meaning, look at recipes for the inspiration more than for the directions and you’ll do well.