Stir-frying & sautéing: Follow the order of ingredients and watch their changes in the pan. Examples include Chive scrambled eggs, Stir-fried rice noodles, Spinach and eggs. Open a full recipe for ingredients and the complete method.
Warm the pan over medium heat and add two-thirds of the oil. Add the egg; gently push with a spatula as the edges set. Transfer to a clean bowl when no raw liquid egg remains.
The eggs form soft, fully set curds.
Add the remaining third of the oil and stir-fry the chives. At the check point, see whether they have just softened; continue if needed. Start a 30 sec check-in when the chives enter the pan and you begin stirring.
The chives have just softened and remain green.
Warm about one third of the oil over medium heat. Add the egg and gently push into fully set curds, then transfer to a clean bowl. Wash raw-egg utensils before using them with cooked food.
The egg forms soft cooked curds with no liquid raw egg.
Add the remaining oil and fry scallion whites and garlic until fragrant. Add the noodles and dark soy sauce, lifting and turning gently. Work in batches if crowded instead of breaking the noodles with force.
The noodles are separated and evenly colored and the garlic is not burnt.
Add the cooked gluten, light soy sauce, sprouts, cucumber and cooked egg. Toss until everything is hot through and the noodles are tender without hard centers. Add scallion greens, toss and serve; noodle color alone does not establish doneness.
The noodles are tender and intact, with evenly mixed vegetables and egg, all hot through.
Add the remaining third of the oil, then stir-fry the drained spinach and start a 15 sec check timer. Return the cooked eggs after the spinach is hot again.
Spinach is hot again and egg curds are mixed through.
If needed, add enough oil to thinly coat the pan bottom. Add the pepper, stir and gently press with a 3 min check timer until slightly softened.
Pepper is slightly softened without scorching.
Add the fried vegetables and toss with a 20 sec check timer; continue until hot through, eggplant centers are soft, and the coating is even.
Vegetables are hot through, eggplant centers soft, and sauce coats evenly.
Warm the oil over medium-low heat, briefly cook the garlic, then add pork and stir until its surface changes color and fat renders. Color alone does not establish doneness; the center still needs checking.
Garlic is fragrant and pork renders some fat without burning.
Add chili and cauliflower, then soy sauce and sugar. Increase the heat and start a 1 min check, stirring continuously to prevent scorching.
Cauliflower is coated, with no pool of water at the bottom.
Warm oil over medium-low heat, add ginger, chili and bell pepper, and start a 30 sec check while stirring until fragrant and the pepper slightly softens; do not wait for smoke.
Aromatics are fragrant without scorching.
Leave the frying oil in its pot to cool. In a second pan, warm the finishing oil over medium-low heat and cook scallion and garlic until fragrant. Add onion and pepper until slightly softened, then tomato until juicy.
Aromatics are fragrant and tomato juicy without scorching.
Wash, dry and finely chop the chives. Devein and chop the shrimp. Lightly oil the pan, scramble the eggs until fully set and break into small pieces, then cook shrimp until pearly and opaque. Transfer to a clean bowl and cool briefly, keeping raw and cooked utensils separate.
The egg and shrimp are cooked and the chives are well drained.
Warm the pan over medium-high heat. Add half the oil and, before it smokes, spread and stir the pork until cooked. Transfer to a clean plate. Do not eat pork based on surface color alone; it will also simmer again later. Cook larger quantities in batches.
Separated pork strips with no wet coating or burnt starch.
Add the remaining oil. Briefly sauté ginger and scallion whites until fragrant, then stir-fry the bok-choy stems until just tender. Do not blacken the aromatics. Reserve leaves and scallion greens.
Fragrant aromatics and slightly translucent stems that retain bite.
Fold in bok-choy leaves and scallion greens over medium-high heat until the leaves soften and pork is piping hot throughout. Reduce excess liquid uncovered or add a small splash if dry. Aim for a moist coating, not soup or dried-out rice cakes. Before serving, use a clean thin probe to check that the thickest pork strip reaches 75°C for at least 30 seconds; surface color and elapsed time are not substitutes.
Cooked green leaves, thoroughly cooked pork and lightly coated rice cakes.
Warm oil over medium heat and fry scallion and ginger. Add and separate pork slices. When the surfaces change color, mix in both soy sauces, oyster sauce, salt, bouillon and spice, then the cooked beans. Color is only a progress cue; cooking continues next.
The pork is separated and seasoning coats the meat and beans.
Warm the remaining cooking oil over medium heat and separate the pork slices. Add scallion, ginger, garlic and wine, then toss with scapes, both soy sauces, oyster sauce, salt, bouillon and spice.
Pork and vegetables are evenly seasoned without scorching.
Drain the shoots and chop the garlic. Dry-fry the shoots over medium heat to remove surface moisture, then add oil, garlic, fermented beans and optional chili. Stir until fragrant without burning the garlic.
The shoots no longer release surface water and the aromatics are fragrant.
Warm about three quarters of the oil over medium heat, add the egg and gently form curds. Transfer to a clean bowl when fully set; do not test the hot pan with a hand above it.
The egg is fully set but still soft.
Warm the oil over medium heat, fry scallion briefly and break up the pork. Cook until a food thermometer reads at least 71°C; absence of red color is insufficient.
The pork is separated and reaches 71°C with no large raw clumps.
Fry pork over medium-low heat in about two thirds of the lard, add optional wine and sugar, then the stems. Follow the pork’s cooking requirements and use a thermometer; further heating follows in the rice cooker, and translucency alone is not proof.
The pork and stems are evenly coated and fragrant.
Cook the leaves in the remaining lard until fully wilted and hot. When rice finishes, check for no hard grains and measure the thickest cured-pork center for at least 63°C; follow a higher package requirement if given. Continue a proper cooking cycle if needed rather than using keep-warm to cook raw rice or meat.
The leaves are cooked, rice has no hard centers and pork doneness is checked.
Use about two thirds of the oil to scramble eggs until fully set, then remove. In the remaining pan oil, heat luncheon meat, cooked vegetables and shrimp and transfer to a clean plate. Do not rinse a hot oily pan with water.
The egg is set and hot toppings are in a clean container.
Fry scallion whites in the remaining oil. Add rice and gently press apart with a spatula instead of pounding. Toss in egg and toppings, working in batches if crowded, and set a 1 min first check.
The rice grains separate and egg and toppings mix evenly.
Warm the oil over medium heat and stir-fry pork until it changes color and starts rendering fat. Add about two sevenths of the rice wine, then shallots and garlic and fry until fragrant without blackening.
The pork is colored outside and the shallots and garlic are fragrant.
Lightly oil the pan, fry garlic briefly and break up the pork. Cook to at least 71°C, transfer to a clean bowl, cool briefly and fold into the batter rather than adding raw meat to a short-cooking pancake.
The pork is fully cooked and evenly dispersed in the batter.
Heat oil in another pan over medium-low heat, add ginger, garlic and chili and set a 30 sec check. Stir and remove from heat once fragrant with no blackened garlic; do not let the oil smoke.
Garlic is pale golden and ginger and chili are distributed in the oil.
Heat oil over medium and sauté garlic until fragrant without blackening. Add drained cauliflower, raise to medium-high and set a 2 min check, tossing to prevent scorched spots.
Cauliflower is evenly coated with oil and garlic is pale golden, not burnt.
Lightly oil the pan and gently sauté scallion, ginger and garlic until fragrant, then add the broth water carefully. There is no need to pour out and replace hot oil.
The aromatics are fragrant without blackening in a light broth base.
Heat half the oil over medium-high and stir-fry cabbage in batches with the cooking salt, setting a 3 min check. Transfer to a clean bowl when just wilted with a few browned edges.
Cabbage leaves are wilted while the ribs retain some firmness.
Add the remaining oil and pork, separating slices until the surfaces change color. Add ginger, garlic, chili and green garlic and cook until fragrant. Insert a thermometer sideways into the thickest slice; continue cooking until its center reaches 63°C.
Pork slices are separated with lightly curled edges and unburnt aromatics.
Return the cabbage and add soy sauce, vinegar, cooking wine and bouillon. Toss and set a 2 min check. Finish when evenly hot without making the leaves release excessive liquid.
Cabbage and pork are evenly mixed with little liquid at the base.
Heat oil over medium, add drained vegetables and toss with sugar and salt until evenly glossy, without a pool of water.
The corn kernels remain separate and evenly glossy.
Add oil to the pan and warm gently over low heat. Add garlic and set a 15 sec check. Proceed when fragrant but still pale; the oil must not smoke.
The garlic gently bubbles in the oil and remains pale, not burnt.
Toss thicker stems first, then add leaves and raise to medium-high. Use a spatula and long chopsticks to turn the greens evenly. Work in batches if crowded, until leaves wilt and tender stems bite through easily.
The leaves are wilted and green while tender stems retain their shape.
Heat half the oil over medium, add the eggs and push into curds with a spatula. Cook until fully set with no liquid egg and transfer to a clean bowl.
The egg forms soft curds without liquid raw egg.
Return the eggs and gently toss over medium until evenly hot. The center of the egg-and-vegetable mixture should reach 71°C; a very brief finishing toss is not a doneness test.
Golden egg curds and softened zucchini are evenly combined and retain their shapes.
Heat oil over medium and separate the pork slices until surfaces change color, then coat with dark soy. Add cabbage stems, light soy and a little salt. If sticking, add a little braising water; reserve the remaining salt for tasting after cooking.
Pork slices are evenly colored and cabbage stems coated in sauce.
Lightly oil a deep pot, sauté remaining ginger and garlic over medium, then add beef and toss until the surface is drier. Coat with the mixed sauce, add optional dark soy for color and carefully add hot water to just cover.
Beef is evenly coated in sauce and just covered by braising liquid.
Carefully add chicken and turn to coat, raising to medium until surfaces change color. Add cooking wine, ginger, dried chilies and soy and stir without allowing the sugar coating to blacken on the base.
Chicken has a thin golden-brown coating with aromatics dispersed through it.
Lightly oil the pan and render pork over medium heat until edges curl and fat turns translucent. Add mixed sauce, MSG, optional peppers, remaining ginger and bean paste; stir briskly without scorching.
Pork curls slightly and is coated without burnt sauce.
Add green garlic and start a 1 min check, stirring until just softened and everything is hot through, then turn off the heat.
Green garlic is just soft and pork hot through.
Warm oil over medium heat, cook ginger and garlic until fragrant, then separate pork slices in the pan with a 2 min first check. Continue and use a thin-food thermometer to check at least 63°C in the thickest center; pale color alone is not enough.
Pork slices are separated and hot through with a verified center temperature.
Warm oil over low heat and cook ginger, garlic, optional chili, peppercorns, egg white and chili sauce until fragrant. Add pork over medium heat, separate it and start a 1 min first check. Pale color is only an intermediate cue; it still needs cooking through with the tofu.
Pork is separated and aromatics unburnt.
Warm oil over medium heat, cook ginger and garlic until fragrant, and break up the pork in the pan. Once its color changes evenly, add bean paste and cook until fragrant; final doneness still needs checking.
Pork is separated and bean paste fragrant without burning.
Stir-fry tomato with a 1 min check. Once soft and juicy, carefully add water around the edge until a little above the tomato with boiling headroom, then bring to a boil.
Tomato releases juice and soup reaches a boil.
Lightly oil the pan, fry scallion over medium heat and add beef, separating slices. Work in batches if crowded to avoid stewing. Surface color change is only a cooking-progress cue.
The beef is separated and colored outside but still needs a center check.
Add cumin and optional chili, then green pepper and salt. Set a 1 min first check and keep tossing until peppers soften slightly and the thickest beef reaches 63°C. Use a thin-food thermometer and continue if needed.
Peppers soften slightly, beef reaches 63°C and cumin coats the meat evenly.
Warm oil over low heat, fry garlic briefly and add bean paste until fragrant. Keep both from blackening; remove the pan from heat if it becomes too hot.
The bean-paste oil is fragrant and garlic unburnt.
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