Double Frying & Double Cooking

Much like all other Chinese cuisines, stir-frying, steaming and deep-frying formulate the basis of Hong Kong cuisine, in addition to our love of roast meats. Pre-blanching of meats or vegetables, whether in hot oil or hot water, speeds up the cooking process by creating an immediate seal around whatever ingredient is being cooked. This initial seal and ‘first cook’ not only keeps the meat or vegetables nice and tender, but it also caramelizes any natural sugars around the edges of the meat if fried, and brings out any fatty impurities if blanched in water. It is also a less ‘faffy’ way of sealing every side of the meat in a frying pan, which requires having to turn every piece over time and time again to get the same effect. Once placed back in the wok the second time round to finish off a dish, the ingredients will then soak up the sauce for a stir-fry, with more of a caramelized finesse. This double cooking technique in Chinese cuisine is also used as a tool to speed up the finishing of dishes. For example: if you blanch sliced asparagus, green beans or broccoli for 1–2 minutes in advance, then cool them immediately in cold water, the vegetables will cook much quicker when flash-fried into a steaming hot sauce later on, enabling you to turn a stir-fried vegetable dish out in seconds rather than minutes, while maintaining a fresh and natural crunch.