Chinese Kitchenware - Wok, Soup Pot And Bamboo Steamer


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Chinese Kitchenware
Wok, Soup Pot And Bamboo Steamer

Chinese Kitchenware included wok, soup pot and bamboo steamer.

Wok is the most important cooking equipment in the Chinese kitchen. Traditionally wok is made of heavy iron or steel and equipped with two handles.

For soup pots, there are three types of soup pots that Chinese cooking will most likely need, they are soup pot, clay pot and pressure cooker. All of them provide similar but slightly different usage in Chinese Cooking.

Bamboo steamer is best as a serving tray for the steamed foods, especially when you like to cook homemade dim sum.

Wok

Wok is used for stir-frying, deep-frying steaming, and stewing. Its ancient design has been adapted for modern use with a metal ring, which the pan sits in on the burner. Even more contemporary nowadays are the stainless steel woks with the flat copper bottoms that rest directly on the burner. These usually have a single long handle similar to that on a skillet and are lighter and easier to use than the classic two – handled wok.

Soup Pots

Handy for almost all kind of soups. Usually made of stainless steel or anodized aluminum, this is the most commonly used type of pot. Its greatest feature is its large capacity, you can also choose from the several materials and sizes available, depending on how you want to cook the soup and how much soup you need.

Bamboo Steamer

The bamboo steamer has the additional asset of allowing more than one layer of food to be steamed at the same time, just stack a second basket on top of the first. These steamers are placed above hot water in a wok.

Clay Pot

An ideal choice for simmering. As its name suggests, the clay pot is made of kaolin or clay. This popular earthenware pot has a high degree of heat resistance, which makes it especially suitable for stews and soups that require long periods of simmering. The process of heating a clay pot will also cause it to emit infrared rays that help to release the full flavour of the ingredients inside the pot. As the clay pot retains heat well, it helps result in a thicker, tastier soup while preserving the flavour and the nutrients of the ingredients. The clay pot, however, is a rather poor heat conductor and may crack easily, thus requiring special care.

	Handling techniques:
	1.	try to cook porridge or noodles when using the clay pot for the first time. After dishing out the contents, heat up the clay pot on the stovetop. When the rice or noodles that had been stuck to the bottom of the pot have become dry, wash the pot with water. This process will help fill up the hairline cracks in the pot, thus delaying the appearance of larger cracks.
	2.	When using a clay pot, avoid sudden changes in temperature. The pot will easily crack if it is heated up too quickly. Therefore, warm up the pot slowly over low heat before using.
	3.	If water needs to be added into the clay pot while cooking, make sure it is warm water. The sudden introduction of cold water into a hot clay pot can also cause the latter to crack.
	4.	When transferring the clay pot from the stovetop to the tabletop, rest the clay pot on a piece of cloth or a wad of newspaper. This will protect both the tabletop and the clay pot from damage.

Pressure Cooker

Making quick work of tough ingredients. The greatest feature of the pressure cookers is its ability to cook food in the shortest amount of time without resulting in the loss of nutrients. It is also suitable for cooking tougher ingredients such as beef tripe and pig trotters, just put them in the cooker, add seasoning and you can expect to dish out delicious soup in no time. As its name suggests, the pressure cooker works by building up pressure and heat from the enclosed steam inside. All pressure cookers have a safety catch and a pressure indicator. These are important parts that serve to prevent the cover from springing open when the pressure is too high, and to automatically regulate the emission of steam from the cooker. It is also important to refer to the user manual of your pressure cooker for more specific instruction.

	To shop smart:
	When shopping for pressure cookers, choose one made of a high-density metal alloy. Its cover should fit perfectly, otherwise the pressure and the heat for cooking the ingredients will be lost. You can choose from the top-open or side-open styles according to your usage preference. However, the cover and the body of the pressure cooker should be of a uniform width so that the pressure and the heat can be distributed quickly and evenly.
	Handling techniques:
	1.	The food should not exceed the maximum height indication; otherwise there will be insufficient pressure to cook the food quickly.
	2.	Clean the steam release opening with a needle after use to prevent blockage. Apply some neutral detergent onto a dish-sponge to scrub the pot clean while it is still warm. This will prolong its durability.