Quote:
Originally Posted by siduri  Thanks, phatch, i was wondering why my stir fry tastes good but i have such a problem with the meat sticking all over the wok and not coming out even. I probably won;t deep fry the meat first,anyway, but at least i know it;s not my bad technique. |
Passing is one way to solve that problem, but you're probably experiencing a different one.
While we think of stir fry as a lot of action in the pan, this is only true if you have a powerful heat source. On a standard home stove, stir fry changes quite a bit.
The biggest one is that you have to let things sit a while to pick up a seared outside that will self release from the pan. So put the items in the pan, spread into a single layer and let them sit for a minute or two. Then stir fry to finish. How long depends on the item of course. Shrimp probably only 30-45 seconds. Chicken probably closer to two minutes. Same for vegetables and starches.
Related to that is you have to work in small enough batches that the temperature doesn't drop too much. Big batches lead to lots of released liquid that steams the food, not stir fry.
This is true whether you use a flat wok or skillet for your stirfrying.