Name some essential Chinese ingredients...

[Drdogface]

Here's a good source for ingredients you may not be able to find if you live in a smaller town. Also some good cooking woks and other utensils. One of their pages has videos of Thai street vendors making selected dishes. Pretty helpful... We have tried many recipes and they are great !

Thai Food, Groceries, Cookware and Asian recipes at ImportFood.com

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by javadog

One more ingredient, perhaps the most important...
HEAT
You want all you can get. 100-125,000 btus. This will be as much as ten times what a residential stove can do. Start working on the turkey fryer idea. Some companies make a similar thing designed for a wok.

JR

Yes. I don't think you can cook decent Chinese food on electricity alone. Not hot enough. You need gas. And if you have gas, there are lots of companies selling high BTU wok burners.

We have a Miele:

[Rick Lee]

We have one of those portable gas stoves for doing hotpot. It even comes in a handsome carrying case. My wife made some fish last night like the one in the top photos I posted. She did it on our electric stove and it was still pretty good. I know it's gonna be a good meal when I come home and see a bowl of fish chunks marinating in the fridge, covered in ground up chili pepper and hua jiao.

[Drdogface]

Just googled that Miele burner ! Holy crap... $1000

[jyl]

Originally Posted by Dottore

We have a Miele:

What is the model # and BTU of that? Interesting.

Never mind, I found it. KM 406. 16K BTU.

I have been thinking about a commercial single-pot work range like http://www.acitydiscount.com/Imperial-Range-18-Natural-Gas-Tempura-Wok-Range-w-16-Wok-Opening-ISP-18-W.0.77963.1.1.htm

$1100, 90K BTU.

But now I'm looking into induction wok ranges, like http://www.instawares.com/apogee-countertop-induction-wok.coo-mw3500g.0.7.htm

$2000, 25K BTU equivalent (1.0 kW = 7185 BTU/hr, including adjustment for efficiency).

Still too pricey, but worth watching because would be a lot more practical/safe for the home.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Drdogface

Just googled that Miele burner ! Holy crap... $1000

I have one of these for the garage. Shouldn't be too difficult to modify for cooking.

[Drdogface]

That's funny Shaun

I'm thinking that a regular gas cook top could be modded on one burner to produce higher BTU ? Any ideas on that ? Different burner and gas jet to allow more gas flow..

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by jyl

What is the model # and BTU of that? Interesting.

Model KM 406

16,000 BTU

Pricey—but Miele is the Porsche of the appliance world.

In our former home we had a similar wok burner made by Gaggenau (also German).

Lots of different brands around in the appliance shops here.

[Dottore]

I have to say these things are a slippery slope.

Once you have the Wok Burner, you will want to have a very powerful restaurant grade exhaust. And ideally you would have all of this separated from the rest of the kitchen. That's why many Chinese homes have "dry" and "wet" kitchens (or "hot" and "cold" kitchens as they are sometimes called).

The pic below is from our former house. The main stove etc. is on the left (out of the picture). Behind the glass partition in the centre is a separate wet kitchen with wok burner, and lava grill for indoor grilling—plus the restaurant caliber exhaust and glass door to contain the smoke and smell.

Most homes sold to Chinese immigrants (of which there are many) in this town, have a similar arrangement.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by Drdogface

I'm thinking that a regular gas cook top could be modded on one burner to produce higher BTU ? Any ideas on that ? Different burner and gas jet to allow more gas flow..

Yes, those exist. You don't get enough BTU's, in my opinion. I'd buy the outdoor style of wok burner that is similar in concept to a turkey fryer. Use it outside...

Remember, you're looking for 100,000 BTU's...

JR

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by Drdogface

That's funny Shaun

I'm thinking that a regular gas cook top could be modded on one burner to produce higher BTU ? Any ideas on that ? Different burner and gas jet to allow more gas flow..

hmmm, I wasn't really trying to be funny.

Seriously, I am quite sure this could be dismantled and refashioned with a little ingenuity. You would need appropriate ventilation.

[javadog]

Dude,

that's way too much work. Google up something like this:

Outdoor Stir Fry Stove - Products for Propane Gas Outdoor Cooking PF13 series.

do a little point and click with the mouse and in a few days the big brown truck arrives at your door.


Then you get to set your backyard on fire...

JR

[Shaun @ Tru6]

can't argue with that.

[vash]

WOW! what a beautiful kitchen!! what does the current one look like?

i use my burner from my turkey fryer to heat my wok...i dont have sufficient venting anyways, so i just taint the entire neighborhood instead.

i want one of those old school charcoal wok burners. havent found one. but it looks like a terracota pot with one side shorter. quick burn some briquets in my chimney starter, dump, and wok away!

[Dottore]

Originally Posted by vash

WOW! what a beautiful kitchen!!

Actually the kitchen had one big flaw. See if you can spot it.

[jyl]

Uh - not enough drawers in the base cabinets? No upper cabinets for glassware storage?

[924slover]

msg

[gprsh924]

Originally Posted by jyl

Uh - not enough drawers in the base cabinets? No upper cabinets for glassware storage?

This is what I see, unless the wall we can't see is covered in them.

I'm not a huge fan of that color of granite it either, but that's just my humble opinion

[ODDJOB UNO]

well guys the most important item was left out.................. a bonifide chinese cook. aka..................

HOP SING from the Cartwright Ranch(Bonanza)! he knew how to make some damn good kitty won tons.

[mjohnson]

You need lots of spices,


a badass blown coal fired wok burner and genuine Chinese cook,


hot peppers,


all of the animal (not just the boring parts),


and most of all PORK!