Preface a Stir Fry with Flavor Infusion

Today, I want to talk about a nifty little trick I learned as a college student under my mother's culinary tutelage.  This trick is a simple method (I would even call it a poor man's method) to add sophisticated dimensions of flavor to many dishes.  That is, the infusion of flavor into cooking oil, which is actually well-documented¹ by food blogs² and journals³ online⁴.  What makes this a personal topic of interest is that, not only does this technique enhance culinary traditions all over the world, it also lends itself naturally and quite conveniently as the preface to a mind-blowing stir-fry.

To be sure, I had no aspirations to blow minds when I batch-cooked my lunch for the work week.  Still, the technique does not care if you are cooking for yourself or for royalty--extra flavor dimensions it will add.  For my lunch, I started off by mincing garlic to a very fine state.  I would have done the same to a chunk of ginger if I had not finished that off as a dumpling ingredient.

Afterward, the key was to heat up vegetable oil to a fairly high temperature but not quite as high as I would use to cook.  Because I intended to use the oil immediately, I also sprinkled salt to taste.  I stirred in garlic at that point and let it brown slightly in the wok.  This stage is actually critical because due to the small size of the garlic, the pleasantly golden-brown pieces will quickly transform into charred, bits of bitter ruin and despair.

If I were making and storing infused oil for future use, I would cool it down at this point, decant the oil, and store it in a jar.  (Also, I would use a lot more oil in that case, not to mention more vivacious herbs or spices.)  Instead, after letting the garlic brown slightly, I added ground chicken.  A few steps later, my bento was ready for the next day.  Clearly, I have a ways to go before I am able to throw down with the best anime characters who make bento for their crushes.  And yes, I can clearly separate reality from the hyperbolic themes that Japanese animators use to poke fun at life.

Other authors have discussed to great length all the different herbs and spices that one can infuse into oil.  After slogging through Organic Chemistry 1 and 2 with lab, the process actually makes a lot of sense.  My very capable cooking instructor makes an alluring and pleasantly jarring peppercorn oil that is then used to make dishes like 蚂蚁上树 (Ants Climbing a Tree...look, don't ask me why...ask the Confucian scholar who was definitely baked when he named this dish) and 水煮鱼 (Sichuan-style boiled fish).  Sadly, my Chinese cooking proficiency is not quite high enough to make these restaurant-level dishes.  Thanks anyway to Google and the original photographers for these appetizing photos.

^1,2,3,4These superscript numbers were not meant to reference a footnote, ironically. Instead, I used them to distinguish the hyperlinks to different websites. If you are one of my former English/Language Arts teachers, please ignore what I just did. :P