Article: This is the most essential cooking technique you will need to know, so learn it as thoroughly as possible. You will heat a little oil in a wok or similar pan and cook food quickly over high heat. You will usually need to slice the food or shred it into small pieces. Small pieces cook faster and more evenly, which is why they are suitable for this technique. The oil is added to the preheated wok. Fragrant ingredients are cooked after that, followed by the main ingredients. Add the sauce and spices immediately before the meat browns, then remove the meat and cook any vegetables. Even though stir-frying is the cooking technique most commonly associated with Chinese foods, if you want to master Chinese cuisine, you should also learn a few other frying techniques. Quick stir-frying is similar to standard stir-frying, but you use a basic sauce to cook the ingredients instead of an oil. Flash-frying is also similar to stir-frying, but you use even higher heat to cook the food almost instantaneously. Meat is usually coated in eggs and starches to help contain the juices. Deep-frying is done in a heavy pot with a large amount of oil. This oil needs to be kept close to the smoke point throughout the cooking process, and the foods must be dry when submerged in the oil. The foods should also be cooked a little at a time and completely submerged. Paper wrapped deep-frying is similar to standard deep-frying, but small pieces of fish or meat are wrapped in cellophane before being submerged in the hot oil. Pan-frying or shallow frying is done with a small amount of oil and a low to moderate heat. Steaming is a fairly common technique and is often used when preparing lighter dishes without oil or sauce. For instance, you might prepare filled dumplings with a steamer. During the cooking process, the food must never come into direct contact with the boiling water below the steaming rack. Red cooking is fairly exclusive to Chinese cuisine. You would usually use it with large cuts of meat or poultry. During this method, you add dark soy sauce to the meat as it cooks, giving it a dark red tint. Usually, the dark soy sauce is added right after you add any water or stock to the wok. There are a handful of different cooking techniques used in Chinese cuisine that involve some form of boiling or simmering liquid. Stews are fairly common, but most Chinese stews only have meat in them instead of meat and vegetables. Traditionally, these stews would be cooked in an earthenware pot over a slow charcoal fire, and the result is a thick stew with meat that is nearly like jelly in terms of tenderness. You may blanch or poach food. During this process, food is quickly cooked in boiling water or boiling stock. Blanched foods are only in the liquid for a few brief moments, while poached foods are cooked until done. Boiled foods are cooked in boiling water, as would be expected. Multiple-item boils involve several different ingredients being boiled together. Quick-stewing is a cross between stewing and boiling. Foods are quickly cooked in boiling water or stock. A thickener is then mixed in and the contents of the pot are brought to a boil until thickened. In addition to the actual cooking techniques used when preparing Chinese food, you should also be aware of various pre-cooking practices you might expect to run across. Marinating is the most important to know. Standard marinating is used for fruits and vegetables in Chinese cuisine, and involves soaking these ingredients in wine, soy sauce, vinegar, and various seasonings. Wine-steeping is a specific type of marinating that uses some form of wine. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/1\/10\/Cook-Chinese-Food-Step-18Bullet1.jpg\/v4-460px-Cook-Chinese-Food-Step-18Bullet1.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/1\/10\/Cook-Chinese-Food-Step-18Bullet1.jpg\/aid4005955-v4-728px-Cook-Chinese-Food-Step-18Bullet1.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"<div class="mw-parser-output"><p>License: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fair_use">Fair Use<\/a> (screenshot)<br>
<\/p><\/div>"} Dry-marinating is usually done with meats. Dry spices and seasonings are rubbed onto the ingredients and left to bleed into the food before cooking. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/5\/59\/Cook-Chinese-Food-Step-18Bullet2.jpg\/v4-460px-Cook-Chinese-Food-Step-18Bullet2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/5\/59\/Cook-Chinese-Food-Step-18Bullet2.jpg\/aid4005955-v4-728px-Cook-Chinese-Food-Step-18Bullet2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"<div class="mw-parser-output"><p>License: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fair_use">Fair Use<\/a> (screenshot)<br>
<\/p><\/div>"} Marinate-in-mash is a special type of marinating that involves placing the ingredients into a fermented grain mash leftover from the wine-making process. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/1\/1a\/Cook-Chinese-Food-Step-18Bullet3.jpg\/v4-460px-Cook-Chinese-Food-Step-18Bullet3.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/1\/1a\/Cook-Chinese-Food-Step-18Bullet3.jpg\/aid4005955-v4-728px-Cook-Chinese-Food-Step-18Bullet3.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"<div class="mw-parser-output"><p>License: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fair_use">Fair Use<\/a> (screenshot)<br>
<\/p><\/div>"} Pounding refers to the process of pounding meat with the flat side of a cleaver or with the end of the cleaver. This tenderizes the meat before you cook it. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/6\/67\/Cook-Chinese-Food-Step-18Bullet4.jpg\/v4-460px-Cook-Chinese-Food-Step-18Bullet4.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/6\/67\/Cook-Chinese-Food-Step-18Bullet4.jpg\/aid4005955-v4-728px-Cook-Chinese-Food-Step-18Bullet4.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"<div class="mw-parser-output"><p>License: <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fair_use">Fair Use<\/a> (screenshot)<br>
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What is a summary?
Master the art of stir-frying. Familiarize yourself with other forms of frying. Steam your meals. Learn about red cooking. Know how to boil and stew. Practice key pre-cooking techniques, as well.