Heat control: Watch the heat changes described in each cooking step. Examples include Dry-pot cauliflower, Lettuce in oyster sauce, Soy-braised winter melon. Open a full recipe for ingredients and the complete method.
Use a thermometer suitable for thin food to check the center of the thickest pork slice for at least 63°C. If a reliable center reading is not possible, follow trusted thin-pork cooking guidance; do not rely on color. Once verified, turn off the heat, plate and start a 3 min rest reminder; rest at least 3 minutes before eating.
Lightly browned cauliflower and curled pork slices with a thin coating and no excess water.
Warm the sauce oil in a small pan over medium-low heat and cook garlic until fragrant without browning. Add the sauce and stir until it bubbles, then turn off the heat.
Garlic is fragrant and sauce bubbling without scorching.
Briefly take the pan off heat to lower its temperature. Cook ginger in the remaining oil, then gently mix in light soy and oyster sauce. Return the melon and carefully add hot water around the edge to just cover the food; never pour water into a pan containing only hot oil.
Melon sits in sauce with liquid just covering it.
Heat the oil in a small pan until clearly shimmering but not smoking. Turn off the heat and test a little on the chili: it should sizzle gently without instantly blackening. Slowly pour the rest once suitable, keeping hands and face clear; cool smoking oil off the heat first.
The aromatics smell fragrant and the chili stays red without burning.
Probe the thickest meat away from bone with a clean thermometer; it must reach at least 63°C and be tender. Continue steaming if needed rather than relying only on color or a chopstick touching cartilage.
Ribs have evenly cooked-looking surfaces and softened meat in black-bean juices.
Add oil and, if using ginger and peppercorns, gently fry over low heat until ginger edges are pale golden and fragrant. Remove with a metal strainer. Without these aromatics, simply warm the oil without smoking.
The pan holds fragrant oil with any whole aromatics removed.
Probe the thickest pork slice sideways to at least 63°C. Rice coating should be moist with no hard grains, potato should yield easily to a fork and pork should be tender. Continue steaming if any condition is unmet.
Rice coating is moist and swollen, pork tender and potato easily broken with a fork.
Set the toasted peanuts aside without prolonged microwaving. Cut dried chilies and gently toast with peppercorns in a dry pan over low heat until fragrant, then remove before blackening. Mix slurry starch and its measured water.
Chilies and peppercorns are fragrant but unblackened, peanuts dry and slurry mixed.
In a clean pan, gently heat oil and rock sugar over low heat, stirring until pale amber. Carefully add dry wings and turn to coat. Do not burn sugar until smoking or black, and guard against hot caramel splashes.
Wings have a thin amber coating without blackened sugar.
Lightly oil the pan and add sugar before heating. Stir over low heat until melted and pale amber rather than dark and smoking. Have dry chicken ready first and stay beside the pan.
Sugar is melted to pale amber without blackened particles.
Finely mince ginger and slice scallion. Warm dressing oil in a small pan over medium-low heat, gently cook ginger and scallion until fragrant, then turn off heat and mix in salt and sugar. This version cooks aromatics in the pan rather than pouring hot oil into a wet bowl.
Ginger and scallion are fragrant without burning.
Warm oil over low heat with remaining scallions, peppercorns and half the garlic until fragrant. Turn off heat, remove scallions and peppercorns and cool slightly before stirring in chili powder; do not pour very hot oil into a bowl. Mix in soy, vinegar, sugar, MSG, ground pepper and remaining garlic. Bring broth from the fully cooked chicken back to a boil, then use a little to thin the dressing.
Chili dressing flows and smells fragrant without blackening.
Continue until noodles have no hard center and the minced-meat dish reaches 71°C in the center. Stop when most sauce is absorbed but noodles remain moist, before the base scorches.
Noodles are tender and moist, minced-meat dish reaches 71°C, and the base is unburnt.
Check the thickest chicken piece away from bone for at least 74°C; continue if needed rather than stopping at the two-minute reminder. Once verified, reduce until sauce coats, then add sesame oil and scallion greens.
Chicken centers reach at least 74°C, mushrooms are tender and sauce thick but flowing.
Cover, heat over medium and start a 1 min first check. Once steam forms, reduce to low. If the bottom dries early, add a little hot water to prevent the onion burning.
Steam forms without scorching the bottom.
Check the largest shrimp with tongs and, if needed, cut open its thickest part. Flesh should be pearly white and opaque; steam longer if still translucent. Neither three minutes nor red shells proves doneness.
Thickest flesh is opaque and garlic sauce hot through.
Lightly coat the pan with oil and gently cook peppercorns, scallions and ginger slices over low heat. When scallions are just pale golden, turn off heat and remove aromatics with a slotted spoon, leaving oil; do not let it smoke.
Oil is aromatic without blackened ingredients.
After turning, continue with a 3 min check. Gradually add the listed salt and any optional fresh chili, oyster sauce or MSG; start sparingly and do not force in all seasoning. Probe thickest flesh away from bone for at least 63°C, continuing and topping up hot water if needed.
Thickest fish flesh reaches at least 63°C with sauce remaining.
Heat over medium-high while staying at the stove. Lower heat as soon as boiling and rising foam begin, rather than waiting for a fixed minute count. Leave the lid ajar if needed to prevent overflow.
Porridge gently bubbles without overflowing.
When the program finishes and opening is safe, check rice has no hard center. Use a suitable thermometer for at least 63°C in the thickest pork center; continue an appropriate cooking program if needed.
Rice is soft and pork center reaches at least 63°C.
Warm oil over medium-low heat without waiting for smoke. Add aromatics and stir with a 30 sec check; add tomato once fragrant and unburnt.
Aromatics are fragrant without blackening.
Start a 1 min first check only after all meatballs in this batch float. Probe the largest center for at least 71°C and continue gently cooking if needed; floating and one minute are not proof.
Largest meatball centers reach at least 71°C and hold their shape.
Drain taro on a rack and leave frying oil in its pot to cool. In a separate clean pan, dissolve sugar in the syrup water over low heat and cook to fine bubbles without browning. Never put the syrup water into the frying-oil pot.
The syrup is clear with fine even bubbles and no caramel color.
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