Restaurant DNA
High-heat searing and wok hei
Professional burners deliver far more heat than home hobs, so restaurants can brown fast; home cooks compensate with preheating, small batches and heavy pans.
Searing
Browning needs a dry surface well above 100 °C. Restaurants get there with very hot pans, flat-tops and powerful burners. Food is patted dry and the pan is not crowded, because crowded food releases water that drops the pan temperature and makes it steam.
- Dry the surface; salt meat in advance or just before cooking
- Preheat the pan, then add oil with a high smoke point
- Leave food undisturbed until it releases
- Searing does not 'seal in juices'; it adds flavour through the Maillard reaction
Wok hei
Wok hei (Cantonese, often translated as 'breath of the wok') is the smoky, charred aroma of restaurant stir-fries. It is generally explained by intense heat causing rapid Maillard browning and caramelisation, plus tiny droplets of oil vaporising and catching fire as food is tossed through the flame at the wok's edge. Commercial wok burners are many times more powerful than domestic hobs, which is why the effect is hard to reproduce at home.
Tadka is high-heat cooking too
A tadka is heated fat with spices bloomed in it. The fat must be hot enough for seeds to crackle within seconds but not so hot that they burn; spices go in in order of how long they need.
Bring it home
- Preheat a carbon-steel wok or cast-iron pan until it just starts to smoke before adding oil.
- Cook in small batches (about 200–250 g at a time for a stir-fry) and combine at the end.
- Prep everything first; a stir-fry takes a few minutes.
- Some home cooks use a kitchen blowtorch over food tossed in the wok to imitate wok hei; this is an experimental trick, so keep it away from oil and flammable surfaces.
- Use a high-smoke-point oil (groundnut, rice bran, sunflower) for searing.
Related techniques
These lessons describe widely used professional practice. They are not any restaurant’s proprietary recipes or methods.