Tim Chin is a professional cook and writer who has contributed to Serious Eats and America’s Test Kitchen. A graduate of The International Culinary Center, Tim has cooked at restaurants in New York and Boston, working at Rouge Tomate, Northern Spy, and BiSq.

Tim Chin

Fried rice is one of the most misunderstood dishes. For many, it’s a humble afterthought: a simple way to use up the leftovers in your fridge or a cheap add-on for takeout, a supporting character to the “main dishes” at a Chinese restaurant. But proper fried rice is anything but simple. In Chinese professional kitchens, fried rice is often considered the greatest measure of a wok chef’s skill, the culmination of years of practicing technical proficiency in execution and precise cooking. At the highest level, it’s a high-wire balancing act in which an enormous amount of heat is tamed by the cook’s timing, resulting in perfect fried rice—perfectly separated grains of rice that are both silky and dry, imbued with ample amounts of <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/science-of-wok-hei">wok hei</a> without any traces of burnt flavor, every bite evenly seasoned in a way that allows the rice itself to be the star. This guide covers how to make exceptional Chinese fried rice, with a focus on Cantonese-style preparations made in a wok. It explores the principles and techniques that inform the process as well as general styles, with representative dishes that you&#39;ll likely find at restaurants where skilled cooks man the woks. So, move over, Uncle Roger: We’re going deep on one of the purest expressions of wok cooking.

The Ultimate Guide to Chinese Fried Rice