While there are places along our San Francisco Food Tour of Chinatown that are great places to get a wok

While there are places along our San Francisco Food Tour of Chinatown that are great places to get a wok, you may not have one right now.  The good news is that while a wok is great to have for cooking certain dishes, you can great results if you don??t have one.  The first thing is a grab a skillet with as high as sides, as possible. Next, heat the skillet to about to high, or just below it.  Pour in some oil, anything except for olive oil, which will break down under high.  Start with only a tablespoon or two. If the recipe calls for more oil than that, add a little less than you think you need.   After the oil heats, it will spread out and you can tell if you have enough oil, you can always add more oil, if you need to. 

Before you start anything, get the oil very hot.  I can usually tell because the oil starts to shimmer. If you are using a recipe that calls for the oil to be a certain temperature and you don??t have a thermometer, when you think the oil is hot enough, put some a little food in oil and make it cooks quickly.

As you??ll notice on our San Francisco Food Tours, when you start to fry or saut? anything in oil, be very careful when you put the ingredients in. Hot oil can burn you very quickly and be very painful.  I do a couple things to stay safe. Without touching the oil, put the ingredients in the oil, do not drop them in.  Also, put it in, so it is facing away from you.  After it goes into the oil, pull your hand back quickly, in case it unexpectedly splatters.  Don??t assume that it won??t, assume that it will splatter, so you don??t get burnt.

When your food is done, carefully take the food out of the oil. Again, assume that will splatter. Then, either store on a plate or if you need to keep it warm, put it in a warm oven.  When you are done, let the skillet and oil is completely cook before cleaning the skillet.  Again, keep in mind that everything is very hot.