Most Taiwanese people love cooked foods, especially foods cooked under high heat, such as stir-fry (熱炒). Stir-fry is a cuisine which involves chaoing (炒) and baoing (爆) at the same time. Stir-fry dishes can be found almost everywhere in Taiwan, including restaurants, night markets, small eateries, and even people’s own home. People in Taiwan truly enjoy the happiness stir-fry brings to them.



     The life style in Taiwan is very fast-paced. Taiwanese people are as busy as bees and tend to do everything quickly and precisely. This has influenced how Taiwanese people prepare their food, and among all the cooking methods, stir-fry is considered the most time-saving. As a result, people cook stir-fry at home and as well as when eating out because the dishes are the freshest, hottest, and of course, the fastest.

     It is said that stir-fry originated from seafood stands. At the stand, there are different types of fresh seafood available. A cook can whip up a variety of dishes based on the special requests customers make and the ingredients they choose. In order to preserve the freshness and flavor of seafood, the cook always uses the simplest way to cook, such as steaming, boiling, and, of course, stir-frying.

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     After knowing how popular stir-fries are, let’s take a look at the special equipment used for cooking them. In Taiwan the most commonly used cooking equipment is a wok, which is totally different from a frying pan used in western countries. A wok is a half hollow sphere with a heat insulated handle. Apart from the wok, a turning shovel plays an important role while cooking. The turning shovel consists of two parts. One is the heat insulation handle which prevents cooks from getting hurt, and the other is the ladder-shaped metal which makes the food heat easily. Believe it or not, when the wok and the turning shovel collide with each other while stir-fry dishes are being made, the sound is like music to many Taiwanese people’s ears!