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Equipment
Appears in
By Ken Hom
Published 1981
One of the beauties of the chinese kitchen is its simplicity. With very few implements, Chinese cooks can turn out elaborate multicourse banquets. All it takes is a few cleavers, a cutting board, a wok and its four utensils (long chopsticks, a ladle, a spatula, and a frying strainer), a bamboo steamer, and a source of heat.
None of these pieces of equipment is expensive. In fact, the three cleavers we recommend can be purchased for less than half the price of a good French chef’s knife. The best wok costs less than a good skillet, and the equipment is built to last several lifetimes, if properly maintained. You will be surprised how quickly you feel comfortable with the wok, not only for stir-frying or deep-frying Chinese dishes, but also for such non-Chinese procedures as stir-frying spinach in olive oil and garlic, or making pommes soufflés.