(CNN) — Chef Kwok Keung Tung tosses the wok with one hand, using the other to stir with a metal spatula.
Both hands occupied, he uses his knee to nudge the gas stove’s lever up and down to control the fire fan, sporadically engulfing a third of the wok in flames.
It takes only three minutes for the lump of white rice to transform into the bowl of golden fried rice he places on the serving counter.
“This is what you’re looking for — wok hei (the breath of wok),” Danny Yip, co-founder of Hong Kong restaurant The Chairman, tells CNN Travel.
“Wok is the essence of Chinese cooking in South China. And Cantonese chefs are the master of fire and wok.”
Wok hei: An invisible but essential ingredient in Cantonese cooking.
Maggie Hiufu Wong/CNN
If anyone’s an authority on the subject of wok hei, it’s Yip.
For those who grew up in a Cantonese family, it’s almost impossible to go to a Chinese restaurant without hearing someone — usually older — comment “gau wok hei” (enough wok hei) or “ng gau…
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