Ideas for New Oriental Meals
For a change of pace, we will look at a couple of oriental recipes this week. The key to stir frying is to cook the ingredients quickly over very high heat. This will not only sear the moisture into meats, but also leave the vegetables crisp and tender. An additional benefit of this method of cooking is that ingredients can be prepared before guests arrive. The meal then can be cooked quickly and served allowing your guests to observe your culinary skills in action. At least this is the theory ...
Allen was introduced to oriental cooking during the late 1970s while he was in California. He decided that he would try out the new cuisine when he was invited to prepare a dish for the gourmet group. Since the host for the evening lived only a mile away, Allen decided that he would be able to stir-fry the meal at home, place the lid on the wok and serve the dish to guests upon his arrival. So, half an hour before dinner was to be served, he sliced the vegetables and marinated beef and prepared the dish. Unfortunately, once the guests gathered, he realized that each person had been assigned one part of a multi-course meal. The stir-fry was to be served at the end of the meal -- about an hour and one-half after it had been cooked. Needless to say, the vegetables were a wilted, discolored mass. The only comment made was by a native Japanese who observed that oriental vegetables were supposed to be a little crisper when cooked. Timing really is everything in cooking.
