I've been known to cook from time to time with varying results (mostly poor). One of my favorite preparation methods is Asian style grilling, like teppanyaki or Mongolian grill. Now I've tried to replicate the cooking style on a stove top using similar ingredients, but I always run into the same problem: the food sticks. How can I prepare pan-fried noodles and teppanyaki-style cuisine without the food sticking to the pan? Is there a problem with the pan? Maybe the heat is too low? Not enough/wrong kind of oil? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
In general, if you're not using a non-stick, you need to use an oil with a very high smoking temp. Refined oils are different from unrefined oils. If you're going with refined oils, peanut oil is good, which makes it ideal for frying. Canola is pretty good and a little better for you. Safflower oil has a really high smoking temp... higher than just about anything else commonly available. Unrefined oils, sesame seed oil is really good, and then virgin or extra virgin olive oil. The difference between a refined safflower oil and extra virgin olive oil is about 510F to 320F. The reason for this is that you should be cooking at a serious heat... hot as you can get it. If you're not using the right kind of oil, it will begin to smoke and won't be as good. Even at a mongolian grill, they'll have stuff stick from time to time. It's not a huge deal. This seems to be especially true at newer grills where they're not well seasoned. Which is another thing. If you're using iron, a well seasoned pan is essential. not sure about anodized aluminum. Personally, I use a really cheap paella pan. Non-stick, so I don't need to use a lot of oil and I can really get that sucker hot. I like the shape better than a wok. The other thing is that if you do a lot of this kind of cooking, you should consider a good vent/fan. Or have an assistant ready under the smoke alarms.
Hi Sandini, Yes pan fried noodles are tricky. Even at my place they are the single toughest thing to get done - even for our Chinese chefs. The number of times I've tried this one and blown it... the Singaporeans are famous for these type of noodles. Get rid of the stainless steel. It's useless for this purpose. It doesn't hold heat well and the surface of most of them are rubbish anyhow. What you want is cured cast iron. Yes it's heavier.. but that's the point.. the thickness will do wonders for holding the heat. Failing a good old cast iron pan you could also use an iron wok. This is what we have in our shop. But bear in mind... the hardest thing for you to reproduce is the temperature. It simpy can't be done at home. Our woks basically sit on a custom made jet afterburners. I kid you not.. they have massive fans built on the bottom of them to feel oxy to the fire. The woked lifted out of it's cradle/hub has the sound of a jet... it's damn loud and damn hot. You can't get a home stove that hot... nor would you want to... all sorts of fire and smoke issues. Most home also dont have a smoke hood to deal with the fumes and smoke. At any rate... get a wok or cast iron pan... make sure you never was them with soap and water... simply wipe them out... and rub them down with oil... don't use soap. The first time with a new pan... coat it with oil and bang it in the oven for a bit to aid the curing process. The oil most commonly used here in Asia is peanut oil. You want to ladle a bit in... just enough to coat the wok and then drain off the rest.. we never drain any off but then again we've got it worked out just how much of a ladle full per serving of noodles. You'll get it, it just takes repeated effort. The whole point of the oil is just enough to keep the noodle from sticking but no enough to make them oily. No small task as you have to balance the heat and timing. A second too long and they're ruined. Get everything in place first... even the dish your serving them into. Even when you turn off the fire the pan should be hot enough to keeep cooking them. Which you don't want so you need to get them out of the pan and onto the plate ASAP.
Awesome advice, Slip! So, do you own a restaraunt? That's really cool. You're right about home burners. I have a dual ring 15000 btu burner for cooking, and it still doesn't do it like the restaurants, although that doesn't keep me from trying it. I'd like to say again, though, that this is still fun to try at home... just remember. Have someone ready with a dish towel near the smoke alarm unless you have a really nice kitchen fan that pulls at least 850 cfm.
Slip, you forgot to mention how to seaspn (cure) that pan. First you'll need an outside place away from the house and a gas grill. Get a good wok oil and slather the pan in the oil. Put the pan in the grill with the lid down. Then start it up and put it on high. When it starts to smoke like a burning house set the timer for two minutes. Pull off the pan and let it cool on it's own. Wipe off the ashes with warm water, NO SOAP!!!! For more information PM me.
