Stir-Frying · FFET10490
Chao (stir-frying)
Stir ingredients quickly in a little hot oil, paying attention to the heat and the amount in each batch.
Cooking small pieces in a little oil over high heat, tossed quickly in the wok.
Stir-frying cooks ingredients in a little hot oil while they are stirred or tossed quickly. Variations include plain stir-frying, soft stir-frying, dry stir-frying and bao, or quick-frying. An early agricultural text describes eggs stir-fried in sesame oil, but it also uses chao for briefly heating milk curd, so these uses cannot all be equated with stir-frying today.
What
Stir-frying cooks ingredients in a little hot oil in a pan or wok, with quick stirring or tossing. The ingredients are kept moving as they cook.1,3
When
An early agricultural text describes eggs stir-fried with sesame oil, scallion whites, salt and fermented beans; it also calls brief pan-heating of milk curd chao. Song-era accounts of urban food list stir-fried hare, clams, crab and eel. These records do not establish the origin of modern stir-frying or demonstrate that it began in either the Han or Song dynasty.2,4,5,6
Where
Stir-frying is used throughout China. Historical food accounts list stir-fried eel, white shrimp and noodles in Hangzhou shops, and a stir-fried egg dish called tan huang cai in the capital.6,8
How
The basic method is to heat the pan, add a little oil, then add the ingredients and stir or toss quickly. Traditional cooking guidance emphasizes strong heat, an iron pan and avoiding overly large batches. Names such as plain, soft, dry and bao stir-frying reflect variations in the method.1,3,7
Why
Heat and batch size are closely related. Traditional cooking guidance holds that weak heat makes food lose its liveliness, while too much food at once prevents heat from penetrating, hence its emphasis on strong heat and small batches.7
Impact and influence
Historical menus apply stir-frying to eggs, meat, seafood and noodles; Qing-era all-lamb banquets also included stir-fried lamb. Older uses of chao also cover dry-heat preparations such as roasted chestnuts and ginkgo nuts, a distinction to keep in mind when reading historical menus.4,8