In Chinese cooking, often we would find someone raving or reminising over food that had been cooked in extremely high heat over a wok, which we term as food imbide with “wok hei” (in cantonese). It literally meant “wok aroma” whereby you can taste the infusion of the red hot wok and burnt elements in your food. Siok!
However, do we even stop to think about it, whether is it really healthy. Of course, even I would say, who cares, as long as it is tasty and I do not eat it everyday. Yes, I do pine for the “wok hei” food at times. But I think we should sometimes, at least ponder over things, at least, those that affect us. We cannot expect the government to think everything for us, right? We should not waste our resources chasing ghosts when we can’t even look after our present and next generation properly.
This evening, over dinner, I asked my two sons why “wok hei” is mostly found in the hawker or restaurant. Without waiting for their reply (which is bad), I said it probably started because they have to cook the food very fast or lose businesses. That’s is why the cook had to use very high heat to reduce cooking time, and in itself, sort of create the classic “burnt” taste and aroma in the red hot wok. However, the worst part is probably when the cook throws in a cup of water, to (not gently) lift the “burnt” debris stuck whilst creating the steam to “cook” and dilute the “burnt” taste. Thus different wok will have different taste, mostly from made of cast iron, and sometime, it is not really the cook but rather the wok.
The use of very high heat, is also for the very reason of melting the lards (animal fats) to coat the “stir-fried” food, enhancing the taste and much to our delight. We would have difficulty achieving this technique at home. Thank goodness for that. By the way, lard do contains alot of toxic elements like pesticide residue etc.
At least, it is heartening to know the various ministries had taken some pain to educate us about the importance of using vegetable oil and other healthier way of cooking techniques etc
Can great tasting Chinese food can be achieve without the “wok hei” and the thick coating of lard? Of course, it can be done, silly of me, to say so.
So we must sort of cherish the simple and humble home-cook food, how our wives and mothers, who sloughed long hours in the kitchen, while we wait impatiently for the food to simmer over low heat, and yet we grumble or think “why can’t you cook like those chef” with the “wok hei” ?
Think again.
Mikey
Shananarocks Again! 
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