How to create wok hei at home. Is it possible? 

Its called torch hei.

Thank you!

Great to hear!

When do I add the sauces please? Towards the end perhaps?

@@natedagr8zt add sauce (VERY LITTLE) at the last 10sec of the stir fry. DO NOT SIMMER your stirfry

Welcome aboard! I appreciate it. I hope that I could help you with your home cooking, which I consider to be vital for our long term health.

I use a Duxtop induction stovetop and I had to experiment to learn what my heat settings were like. For example, when Tak says to use the highest setting, there is no way I can cook in a wok at 10. Tak has another video where he demonstrates increasing the heat as you add more food, and that works for me. My canola oil smokes at setting 2, then I keep raising it as I cook, ending up at 5-6 for a dish for two people. My eyes check on the bottom of the wok for guidance - if food moisture builds up in the pan, the stove is not hot enough. I've been cooking in my wok every day for 7 months, and I'm still learning, but every meal tastes incredible. I served this broccoli dish to my "no veggies!" 11-year old granddaughter, and she said it was the best vegetables she ever ate!

@@evelaufer2380 the information you gave me is amazing! I've been searching a lot how use a wok with induction and never found anything about it!, I appreciate your comment, thank you so much!

I cook in a cast iron wok on an induction cooktop. All you have to do is practice on a few small pieces of whatever you want to cook. Write notes if you have to, and stick them to your fridge with magnets. Or download a recipe app. Put a piece or two of carrot in the wok. Not cooking much? Wok too cold, so take the carrot out until it's hot enough. I don't follow anyone's heat instructions unless they use an infrared thermometer. I absolutely recommend one until you are familiar with your wok and different foods. It's different when baking in an oven. I learned a lot of typical heat settings for my induction cooktop just by learning the best temperatures of my Nuwave for a few favorite meals. Easy to figure out that eggs require much less heat than thick steak. But every cooktop is different. I have two, but only use one for cast iron cooking. Don't hesitate to adjust the heat up or down while cooking. A lot of cooks and chefs adjust by pulling the cookware from the burner. You can do that for seconds or a minute if needed for quick adjustment. Or just keep the food moving in the wok. If you are hungry, you will learn quickly and won't waste food. Honestly, pay attention to your senses. Especially that extra one that people don't talk about enough - hungry stomach. My stomach never fails to let me know I am on the right track. But I suffer empty stomach syndrome when I fail to listen to the boss.

@@cheshkat6321 thank you!, Didn't think about taking notes nor downloading an app, I'll do it!

Hello Eve, Thank you very much for your comments on you experience with induction stove. It is valuable for me to know as well. I only cook on an induction stove occasionally, but I could see them being the future of cooking stoves. I was on a cruise and toured the ship's kitchen, and I was surprised to find that was no open fire stoves. Everything was induction! They certainly make fabulous and complex meals with induction only.

If I understand correctly after just having watched this, I suspect refraining from adding salt is in service to protecting the conditions that allow the char and maillard reaction to take place, meaning the controlling of the temperature and moisture level of the wok on a regular-powered stove. I think if the ingredients are charred and browned, it doesn't matter if the wok cools down because the main purpose of the process is complete so you can add it after you are satisfied.

Wok Hei (Hay) is Cantonese on English romanization. Hei in Mandarin is Qi. Of course, Cantonese is a more proper authentic "Chinese" language. Kei is a sound romanized in English. What Kei are you referring to?

Great explanation. Love it

I agree with you that wok hei is far more complicated than charring the food ingredients. Here is an earlier video that you might not have seen that I discussed wok hei based on my conversation with a professional chef. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gDHXJWQSr64.html. I would love to hear your comments regarding this video. My goal is to help my viewers to see the different alternatives in stir-frying in the wok. I would love to hear more about your approach in creating wok hei with your method. Please feel free to write to me with your comments at wokwithtak@gmal.com. I know that I could learn a great deal from your experiences. BTW, I always use a wok that has been seasoned to create a non-stick surface. You can take a look at this video about my spot seasoning method. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-z01LNOnldb4.html Thank you for your comments!

Please write me if you have a chance, as I would love to discuss with your more about your culinary experiences with wok hei. Thank you!

I am always looking for ways to improve my videos in providing useful information for my viewers to improve their stir-frying experiences as well as the flavor of the food that they cook. I have no training in cooking, and my primary interest is to create a home cooking system, which is my FAST Cooking System, where the word FAST is the acronym for flavor chasing, advanced prepping, stir-frying, and template-based cooking to make home cooking practical, efficient, rapid, fusion, economical, creative, and tasty. I call this the PERFECT home cooking solution. PERFECT is the acronym of these seven attributes. I will appreciate any help that I could get to become a better cook! Thank you!

If you are interested in learning more about my FAST Cooking System as well as my background and approach in this project, you can take a look at my website: www.wokwithtak.com. Than you for your interest!

You must have oil to activate flavor. There's a physics principle that applies.

To my understanding, the well-seasoned wok contributes to the wok hei in that the polymerized layer of oil that adheres to the rough surface of the steel (carbon steel said to be best) would likely partially combust/outgas in the high heat and that ‘wok hei essence’ would infiltrate into the ingredients and add the smoky flavor element. I had also heard from Jeremy Pang (UK’s School of Wok) that additional wok hei can be achieved at home by using high heat with ingredients in amounts that do not overload the wok and draw out the heat too quickly, to cook the ingredients in stages and remove/set aside until recombining near the end of the cooking, and also to deglaze the wok at the end of the ingredient cooking stages with a small amount of water drizzled down the sidewall, which will steam off the cooked-on food/fat residue from the wok’s surface and allow the flavor/aroma to be added back into the food.

The character for wok hei is 鑊氣. You are so good! You can tell my name sound Cantonese! It is in Cantonese dialect, because I grew up in Hong Hong. My name in traditional Chinese is 章厚德.

@@wokwithtak thank you so much

@@wokwithtak Well never seen a mandarin speaker write Cheung, they would usually write Chung, also never seen the name Tak with a mandarin speaker. I am still quite new to learning chinese, and sadly I only know mandarin, Nei hou is as much cantonese that I know. Well and Heung gong, but that is pritty simple.

I guess for their privacy, since I did not have a chance to ask for their permissions. For those who has agree, I would use their real names.

Hello, I tend to agree with you; it is a cross between a hint of burnt smell and the aroma of the food ingredients in a subtle interplay of odors in creating a pleasant and harsh smell at the same time. I have been experimenting in creating such an aroma in the home kitchen. I would love to hear your insight on this. Please write me at wokwithtak@gmail.com, if you would like. Thank you for your comments.

@@wokwithtak carmalizing of onions,peppers and a few other veg is what you are looking for. it brings out the sugars and carmalizes them much like molasses. not the same as "burnt" which you get with protiens,meats,nuts etc. though the 'burnt' tast can add a smokey rustic flaver too. they are very differant tastes though

It’s more of a toasted smoke smell before complete combustion occurs. Think of grill cooking or toasting bread. You use high heat to toast the food just enough to get that smoke flavor but not completely burn it to a black crisp.

Thank you! I am still learning!

@@wokwithtak I’m just teasing thanks for the great tips