I often being asked by readers as to why their stir-fry sometimes did not come out as crisp as it should and my first response is “Do you know the BTU of your cooking range?” Most of the times, we are still using a 5000 or 7000 BTU cooking range, which requires a bit of tweaking in order to accommodate this stir fry technique.

So here's what you need to do to prepare for a perfect stir fry :

• ingredients must be cut small with no excess water : any excess water will bring down the heat of your wok, so your food will be more like blench than stir fry. Also the water will create a big splash when it hits the hot wok, which might come directly to your face or hand. Please be careful. Stand on the side or away from the wok when you throw your food into the wok.

• if you have a low BTU cooking range*, then you need to fire up your wok at least 1 minutes ahead, wait till you see smoke coming out before you pour in the oil. Once your oil is in the wok, swivel the oil around the wok to give it a coat. Wait again for the smoke to come up before you put in your ingredients. BE CAREFUL – THE WOK IS EXTREMELY HOT AND MIGHT CAUSE A SPLASH OF HOT OIL, SO STAY ON THE SIDE OF THE WOK TO CONTINUE TO COOK.

• Do Not Cover The Wok during stir frying. Cover your wok will turn your green vegetable to dull, yellowish color; your meat/seafood soggy and watery.

• When stir frying green vegetable, add in ½ to 1 teaspoon of cold water to your stir fry after cooking for a minute, or when you see the vegetable color becomes a very “oily” looking green, splash the cold water will shock the veggie and stop it from turning yellow, and stay green no matter how long you cook them.

If you are using non-stick wok, just add a teaspoon of oil to coat the wok before you stir fry, as most non-stick wok has a temperature tolerance, too hot will remove the non-stick substance, so you need to check your wok manufacturer's warning.

*BTU means British Thermal Unit – the higher number means it has bigger heat. Most household range is about 5000-9000 BTU. Suggested BTU for cooking Chinese food will be in the 12000 and above range. When using such high BTU cooking range, make sure your cookware can handle the heat especially if you are using the non-stick type. Most Chinese carbon steel or cast iron should have no problem handling the heat, in fact they would be perfect.

If you are getting a higher BTU cooking range, you might want to consider getting a high CFM range hood to exhaust the fume. It sounds a lot of money to spend, but consider that as an investment that add value to your house.

For years, higher BTU cooking range are only available for the professional, though there has been a few brand name one that has 15000 BTU, but they are very much on the pricey side. Thanks to the popularity of cooking shows, lately, I found there are a few more household consumer grade cooking range that has over 10,000 BTU available, however, they are in the $1000 range. I tested a couple at my friends but I was not too impressed, either their range design did not fit a wok too well or they used lower grade metal grate. Those with better quality are easily in the $1500 range which I hope will come down as time goes by.