Common Chinese Food Cooking Oils
For stir-frying, authentic Chinese recipes specify peanut oil, with corn oil or vegetable oil recommended as a substitute. Peanut oil has dominated Chinese home cooking since the 16th century introduction of the groundnut to the mainland, where it replaced rapeseed as an oil source. Restaurants may use instead a blended vegetable oil that comes in 20-liter jerrycans. By contrast, olive oil doesn’t see use in the Chinese kitchen.
Marinades
-
Sesame oil serves as a marinade, rather than a stir-fry oil, typically mixed with chopsticks along with a small amount of cornstarch to coat meats cut for stir-frying 30 minutes ahead of cooking time. Look for toasted sesame oil rather than cold-pressed for the desired flavor for Chinese food. You may also add tiny amounts to completed dishes.
Flavored Oils
-
You can purchase ready-made chili oil or make flavored oils yourself with pepper flakes and chili. Professional kitchens flavor cooking oil with bits of ginger, garlic and scallion in advance, which you can emulate by cooking your flavorings and straining the resulting golden oil.
Chinese Food
- How to Cook 'Chow Mein' Noodles (6 Steps)
- Common Chinese Food Cooking Oils
- What is the ingredients in rice?
- Do people eat freshly picked - harvested rice?
- What is a fish and rice dish called?
- Did the Chinese invent fork?
- What kind if cake does Chinese people eat during mid-autumn festival?
- Were Chinese fortune cookies first intoduced at a restaurant in California?
- Does cooked rice go bad over night if not refrigerated?
- How do you say dumpling in Chinese?
Chinese Food
- African Food
- Asian Food
- Chinese Food
- European Food
- French Food
- Greek Food
- Indian Food
- Italian Food
- Japanese Food
- Kosher Food
- Latin American Food
- Mexican Food
- Middle Eastern Food
- Soul Food
- Southern US Food
- Spanish Food
- Thai Food
- World & Regional Food
