Wok Cooking Techniques

Stir-frying makes for the quintessential weeknight supper. It's my go-to method when I have a fridge full of ingredients and a half hour to put dinner on the table. Because the actual cooking is so fast, it's an ideal summer meal—no heating up the apartment with a hot oven or a long-simmering pot. Since ingredients cook so fast and retain so much crunch, it's also the ideal way to showcase all the beautiful spring and summer produce that's around these days—there's no reason that stir-fries have to stick to traditional Chinese ingredients! Asparagus, corn, summer squashes, string beans, peas, fava beans, all of them make for wonderful stir-fries.
Tags: @homecarousel,equipment,wok,Wok Skills 101

A wok is good for so much more than stir-frying. Learn how to use this versatile pan to smoke, steam, and deep-fry, too.

Looking for a fun, fast way to get dinner on the table? Break out your wok! In minutes you can stir-fry a family favorite, like pasta primavera. Our step-by-step guide will show you how.

If you want to know how to stir-fry with a wok, talk to Grace Young. After an afternoon in the kitchen with this passionate wok evangelist, we came away with our heads stuffed just as full with tips and techniques as our bellies were with the stir-fry itself. We've given you some specific tutorials and recipes from our visit, but we also wanted to revisit the basics that apply to any stir-fry. If you want to master this quick, healthy, seasonally-focused style of cooking, learn these essentials.