Stir Things Up

Stir frying is a Chinese cooking technique that involves frying ingredients in a small amount of hot oil while being stirred in a wok. The technique originated in China and has spread to other parts of Asia and the West. Scholars suggest that the technique was used as early as the Han dynasty for drying grain, but it was not until the Ming dynasty that it took its modern shape. The technique is similar to sautéing in Western cooking. The term "stir-fry" was coined in 1945 by Yuen Ren Chao in Buwei Yang Chao's book How to Cook and Eat in Chinese. Stir frying spread from Chinese family and restaurant kitchens to general use in the West. There are two primary techniques for stir-frying: chao and bao. The chao technique is similar to sautéing, while bao involves stir-frying on high heat with minimal seasoning to highlight natural tastes. Stir frying has been promoted as a healthy and nutritious method of cooking, as it retains color, texture, and nutritional value. However, recent studies show that stir-frying meat at very high temperatures may cause DNA changes that contribute to an increased risk of cancer. The process of stir-frying is used in the preparation of some Chinese herbal medicines under the term 'dry-frying.' Stir frying in vinegar is typically used whenever one wants to direct the properties of an herb more to the liver based on the principle that the sour taste belongs to the liver.