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

Egg fried rice is the perfect entry point for learning the foundational techniques for all <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/fried-rice-guide">styles of fried rice</a>, and a restaurant-quality version is a crash course in bona fide wok technique. The ingredients are simple: rice, eggs, seasonings, and a scattering of scallions. But the core concepts are not. You have to manage heat, the timing of adding and tossing ingredients, and the execution of all your movements in a matter of seconds—all of which are real challenges—in order to capture the elusive <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/science-of-wok-hei">wok hei aroma</a> without overcooking or burning any of the ingredients.

Perfect Egg Fried Rice