shredded chicken with pickled onions and carrots
J. Kenji López-Alt
Another rousing success from Kenji's book, The Wok. I was excited to try a recipe that uses doubanjiang (Sichuan broad bean chile paste). It was salty and funky, just as I'd hoped.
This was the first recipe where I tried Kenji's velveting method, where you begin cooking the meat by lightly poaching it. I skipped the egg white (these days, eggs are precious), but otherwise followed his velveting instructions. In some ways, velveting makes the cooking process easier. More poaching means less stir-frying, and too much stir-frying can lead to (a) accidentally burning things on the bottom of the wok, and (b) setting off the smoke alarm. On the other hand, if you water-velvet in this way, you don't get nearly as much char on the meat. So, in conclusion, there are advantages to poaching, and advantages to not.