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

What’s the best part about a piping hot plate of good <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/beef-chow-fun-gon-chow-ngau-ho">beef chow fun</a>? Of an excellent egg fried rice? It’s not the beef or the noodles, and it isn’t the egg or the rice. It’s the intoxicating aroma that hits your nose as soon as the dishes hit the table, the unmistakable perfume—smoky, savory—that almost overwhelms your palate on the first bite. It’s wok hei. You might have heard of it before. Chinese cuisine experts like Grace Young (the “poet laureate” of the wok), Fuschia Dunlop, and even further back, Martin Yan, have described its allure in detail, and some people are <a href="https://www.seriouseats.com/hei-now-youre-a-wok-star-a-fiery-hack-for-stir-frying-at-home">fanatical in their pursuit</a> of replicating it for the home cook. But what exactly is wok hei? And how is it produced?

The Science of Wok Hei