The Breath of the Wok Recipe Schedule

We’ve only got one recipe left to cook in Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge, can you believe it! When we began this journey in 2012 the idea of finishing was far off in the distance, and yet here we are.

Once we switch over to The Breath of the Wok (read more about our transition here) I will redo the Recipe Schedule page, but for now I’ve got the first few recipes listed below. Remember, we’re changing the format of Wok Wednesdays a bit – this time around it will be one or two recipes a month to do at your leisure.

September:

• Liang Nian Xiu’s Snow Peas, Tomatoes, and Chilies, page 132
• Jean Yueh’s Beef with Onions and Peppers, page 94

October:

• Uncle Sherman’s Home-Style Chicken and Vegetables, page 69
• Susanna Foo’s Tofu, Eggplant, Mushrooms, and Sun Dried Tomatoes, page 143

November:

• Jean Yueh’s Shanghai Shrimp, page 106
• Sweet and Sour Cabbage, page 146

December:

• Florence Line’s Slow Stir-Fried Red Peppers, page 143

Don’t forget to join our Facebook Group – we’re giving away signed copies of The Breath of the Wok to kick us off!

Wok Wednesdays Moves On

Welcome new stir-fryers and seasoned wok warriors to Wok Wednesdays!

For the past four-plus years we have been cooking our way through Grace Young’s “Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge”, the authoritative cookbook on the art of stir-frying.

This fall we will come to end of our journey through “Sky” and set off on a new journey through another one of Grace’s cookbooks, “The Breath of the Wok”. We’ll continue to hone our stir-fry skills while also exploring 8 different cooking techniques – pan-frying, deep-fat frying, boiling, poaching, smoking, steaming, and braising in our woks.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Most of the discussion will still take place on our Facebook page.
• The recipe schedule will continue to be hosted on this blog.
• We will switch from cooking one recipe every other week to cooking two recipes each month, to be done at your own pace. Spread them out or do them both at once, its your choice!

To celebrate our growth and the switch to “Breath” we’ll be hosting tons of giveaways, including autographed copies of the cookbook! You can find the book at most local independent booksellers (shop local first!), but if you need to have your book shipped internationally you can use this link.

Make sure to join the Facebook group for day-to-day discussion and updates, and feel free to e-mail matt@eatwritego.com with any questions!

Happy wokking!

Welcome!

Hi there! Welcome to Wok Wednesdays! If you want to join in on the stir-fry adventure here’s what you need to know:

• We make one recipe every other Wednesday from Grace Young’s Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge.
• You can find the recipe schedule here. Scroll to the bottom for the most recent recipes.
• We have some easy-to-follow rules, you can see them here.
• You can learn more about Grace and Wok Wednesdays founder Matt Lardie here.

You’ll notice this blog is pretty quiet – most of our activity happens on our Facebook page, so join in the fun!

Thanksgiving Stir-Fry Sides – Charleen Chu

We held another giveaway on our Facebook page before Thanksgiving, and the winner was Wok Wendesdays member Charleen Chu, who served up three stir-fried sides with her turkey day feast! Check out these mouth-watering dishes! Congratulations Charleen, I hope you enjoy your Chinese cleaver from The Wok Shop.

 

Quinoa-Bacon-Squash stir-fried stuffing

 

The stuffing put back into their respective squash vessels – what a great serving idea!

 

Andouille Sausage, Roasted Turnip, Kale, and Brown Rice Stir-Fry

 

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Butternut Squash, wok-tossed with Maple Syrup, Pecans, Cinnamon, and Dried Cranberries

 

What We’ve Been Up To

Hi there! While this blog has been pretty quiet lately, we’ve been stir-frying away and documenting our progress over on our Facebook page – almost 1400 strong! You can join in the fun by joining up on Facebook and seeing where we are in the recipe schedule, but in the meantime here are some photos of what our members have been up to:

Kung Pao Pork from Jennifer Portnoy

 

Stephen Goldberg with Wok Wednesdays “angel” and owner of The Wok Shop, Tane Chan

 

Hong Kong Silky Beef from Karen Kerr

 

A beauitful stir-fry mise en place from Lillian Magidow

Giveaway – Melissa’s Produce

It’s time for another great giveaway! Our friends at Melissa’s Produce have generously agreed to giveaway a package of assorted Asian products to TWO lucky Wok Wednesdays members. Melissa’s is fantastic online source for a huge variety of fruits, vegetables, spices, sauces, and more. It’s especially great for those Wok Wednesdays members who don’t leave within an easy commute to an Asian grocery store – they have an entire section of Asian vegetables full of varieties like Chinese Long Beans, Bitter Melon, and Enoki Mushrooms.

Here’s how to enter the giveaway – leave a comment on this post telling us about your favorite vegetable to stir-fry, and how you like to prepare it. Two winners will be chosen at random from the entries. The giveaway will run until 11:59pm EST Monday, August 3rd. Good luck!

Many thanks to the great folks at Melissa’s for helping us with this giveaway! Make sure you check out their website! You can also like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter (@MelissasProduce) and Instagram (melissasproduce).

Note – due to the complications of shipping fresh produce, the winners must reside within the continental United States.

WW Third Anniversary Giveaway!

A little over three years ago Wok Wednesdays took its very first steps. We had a couple dozen members and started off with making Stir-Fried Garlic Spinach from Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge. Three years later we’ve grown to more than 1200 members, have learned about dry-frying and velveting, and have cooked our way through more than half of the recipes in what has become our stir-fry bible!

In honor of our third year we have a very special giveaway to announce. Wok Wednesdays member extraodinaire Jennifer Thomas has sourced for us (directly from Shanghai) a hand-hammered carbon-steel pow wok and a traditional Chinese Kitchen God to keep watch over your stir-fries.

These woks have been handmade in Shanghai for centuries by a long line of expert wok craftsman. As modern manufacturing technology has advanced, the wok men have begun to disappear. Mr Cen is one of the few left who still practice this ancient craft, and his woks are legendary. He has been featured on CNN Travel and one of his woks is on the cover of Grace’s cookbook The Breath of a Wok. He can be a bit tricky to find, but Jennifer tracked him down and procured one of his beautiful woks just for us!

WW member Jennifer Thomas with Mr. Cen

Jennifer has also donated a Kitchen God as part of the giveaway. Keep your Kitchen God in your kitchen and ply him with sweet fruits and alcohol. Every year, on the Chinese New Year, he ascends to heaven to report on your doings, and if you’ve kept him happy (and a little drunk) he’ll only have good things to say! My Kitchen God lives above my stove and watches over all that I cook.

Here is what Jennifer has to say about these Kitchen Gods:

Inspired by Grace Young and her knowledge and history of the Kitchen God, we went in search of a statue for our home altar during our recent two-year stay in Hong Kong and China. This turned out to be a difficult task.  Honoring the Kitchen God is a dying practice, and there is very little memory left in current society. We managed to resurrect the statues from a ceramic factory in Guangzhou, China and had some made in a traditional version as well as a modern Chinese golden statue created.

Here is how you can win this very special Third Anniversary Giveaway:

1. Prepare and photograph your favorite recipe from Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge.
2. Post your photo to the Wok Wednesdays Facebook Group – make sure to include “#entry” in the description.

The giveaway will run through 11:59pm EST on June 10th, at which point a winner will be chosen from the entries. 

Many, many thanks to Jennifer Thomas for the incredibly generous donation for this giveaway. You can follow Jennifer’s stir-fry and travel adventures on her blog, Western Chopsticks. She  also has a limited number of the hand-hammered pow woks available for purchase. If you don’t win the giveaway and are interested in purchasing one, send her an e-mail at sjkthomas[at]msn[dot]com.

Thanks for cooking along with us at Wok Wednesdays, and good luck!