Yummy yummy yummy, stir fry in the tummy

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Rich, beautiful colors, sounds delicious for sure, and a nice BobLoad. I almost had stirfry last night myself!! May tonight to beat the heat.
 
Differ all you like...

It's a Bosch Bob-Load.

The Bosch has a much gentler water spray than an American style DW. So one must be careful to leave space, especially for stuff like bowls that are not facing down but are vertically placed.

This load was mostly bowls. Had it been mostly plates, then yeah, you'd see less rack space. The only place where I could have shoved another item was up front next to one of the smaller stainless steel bowls. But it would have to be of a particular size and shape so as to fit but not fall through the rather widely spaced wires at that point. I had to hold back another small bowl (it basically only needed to freshly chopped broccoli flower bits rinsed off) because there was simply no more room for it.

In any case, everything came out squeaky clean, which was the main point.
 
Thanks, Bob

Thanks for the Official Bob-load Seal of Approval ;-)

Sometimes I'll have a little stir fry for breakfast, too. Just some chopped broccoli or other green, then some scrambled egg, served on top of some steamed rice (usually brown rice but didn't have time to make a fresh batch last night). Out of consideration for co-workers, I generally don't add garlic to the breakfast fry.
 
Rich, I probably would have arranged those bowls differently (but still the same "openness" and would have probably gotten that last bowl in. but it passes for a BobLoad. I even see "unrinsed food" on some items.
 
Bob, thanks.

I rarely rinse off stuff before putting in the dishwasher. I expect a good dishwasher to do its job with whatever the diner leaves, excepting of course major chunks of food or bones. Those get scraped off, of course. And the Bosch handles what debris is left quite well, even with no "food grinder" in its drain setup.

I will admit it's not the most packed I've ever gotten the dishwasher, but the photo can be a bit misleading since these stainless bowls are rather deep and can only fit in certain locations in this dishwasher. For example, the biggest bowls (and the colander) must go in the central positions because the space on the outside is too shallow for them to be arranged vertically. The blue and white serving dish is also deep and set in back of the last set of tines, which I left empty so that the plate in front of it wouldn't block the water spray. The upper rack is pretty much packed. In the past I've tried putting bowls face down over smaller items in the upper rack, with less than acceptable results.

The cutlery rack is a bit vacant, no argument there. But then it's not blocking as much water spray to the interiors of the big stainless bowls.

Next time I get a really BIG bobload I'll snap a photo.

By the way, new camera. Still have the old one but I misplaced (lost) the memory card and they are no longer available except for exorbitant prices ("Smart Media"). So Costco had a sale on the Panasonic Lumix TZ4 and that's what I used. It's light years ahead of the old Olympus Brio D-150, and at the .3 megapixel setting it takes shots perfect size for posting here without overloading the page.
 
What recipe?

Here is how I do a stir-fry, your style may vary.

LARGE skillet/Sauteuse. I use my 12 inch Farberware.
I also use a Rubbermaid silicone spatula.

Have your rice cooked before you start to cook the stir-fry.

1/2 to 1-1/2 pound lean beef (rib eye, as Sudsmaster used, is good. I have used it, or same amount of pork shoulder steak, or same amount of chicken thighs, breasts, or thighs and breasts. BONELESS, small, even pieces.

1-2 onions, sliced lengthwise, fairly fine shreds. Cut in half, then slice lengthwise from there.

12 ounces mushrooms, wiped clean with a damp paper towel, sliced vertically.

1 green bell pepper, sliced vertically and finely.
I red bell pepper, sliced similarly.

I large head broccoli, stems sliced into 1/2 inch discs, florets broken in a medium-small sort of size.

2-5 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed. If pressing, no more than about 3.

1/2 to 1 1/2 inches peeled ginger root, minced finely.

Sometimes, I will slice the broccoli stems in the processor. Works fine for this.

Also, drop the ginger and garlic into running processor (Steel Knife- "S" blade).

Have the boneless meat on a separate plate/platter, and have a CLEAN one (to prevent cross contamination) to park the cooked meat upon.

1-3 tablespoons peanut (preferred) or corn (strong 2nd choice) or canola oil.

IF USING--NEAR THE END OF COOKING: 1 tablespoon cornstarch, stir in 4-6 tablespoons chicken broth (Campbells Natural Goodness is the one I like at the moment). DO not mix this in advance, will not hold.

Have EVERYTHING sliced, cut, plated before you start!!!!

Heat pan until very hot, over high heat. Add 1-1 1/2 tablespoons oil, spread around.

Add the boneless meat and stir fry. Stir, stir, stir. Depending, you may have to do several batches. Chicken turns white throughout, as does pork. Beef should brown.

Remove to clean plate, set aside.

Look to see if pan bottom is brown or too brown. If just brown, deglaze with chicken stock. If burned, run water from the faucet and scrub.

Next, add the extra oil, and bring up to temperature again. Throw in the broccoli stems, and get them bright green. Remove them to a plate, and do the florets---a shorter time. About 1- 1/2 minutes for the stems, 30-50 seconds for the florets.

Same for onions, mushrooms, peppers.

Deglaze with chicken broth again.

If need be, one last "glug" of oil, though not always necessary.

Stirfry the garlic and ginger- very briefly, you do not want either to burn, but you do want them to smell marvellously big.

Add in the meat, stir. Add the other vegetables, stir.

If using the cornstarch for a glossy sauce, make the cornstarch- chicken broth slurry now, and add it in.

Stir until glossy and thickened. (Ma preferred it this way, I don't, but it is good to know).

Dish to a CLEAN platter, and serve.

A lot of this is practise.

Obviously, you can do entirely without meat, and I do, once in a while. Add more mushrooms then, or white and crimini-portobellos.

AGAIN, this is just MY take on it. Now that there is "High Heat Pam," I will reduce the level of oil used, and might not even use any, depending on how the Pam performs (Cook's Illustrated likes it.)

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
Y'all Got it Right!!

Thanks for the recipe LMB. Just like on the food network. And just like i would make it, except, ( i'm not as fond of ginger as most people, in fact, ginger and basil make me feel sick, (at least the fresh ones). I know that I'm the only only one in the whole world that feels that way, but i do. otherwise, looks like a great recipe, anyway you make it, cause i love white rice, first of all, and anything you put on it is fine with me.

i also love uncle ben's original white/wild recipe, even in the microwave, it's still the best.

c in va
 
Larry's recipe looks good. Mine is a little different.

Of course you want the rice or noodles ready to go in advance. Stir fry goes very quickly so there's no time to make it and then wait for rice (or diners, for that matter). Prepare the veggies and meat in advance. Cutting up greens and veggies for stir fry is not rocket science. You want them to be bite size and expose as much surface area as possible. Cut round or cylindrical things on the bias so that they don't clump together as much.

Cut the meat into strips or chunks or whatever pleases you and will fit in your mouth and will fit in the wok (last bit probably necessary to add around here, lol).

Here's the secret, gleaned from Joyce Chen and others: Make a thin paste of water, a couple three tsp of cornstarch (or more if you like), salt, soy, garlic, whatever. You can add some ginger slices (esp if the meat is fish) or oriental seasoning. Put the meat bits in there and coat them all with the cornstarch mixture. Don't worry about letting it sit, it will be fine. Cornstarch just doesn't hold a gel after it's been cooked, cooled, and reheated.

While the meat is thus marinating, put an ample amount of good quality vegetable oil in the wok (or deep frying pan). I generally use about 1/4 cup. More is not bad, just more calories. Less may mean the stuff doesn't cook right. Get it sizzling hot - you'll know that when you drop a bit of meat in it and it sizzles. I used to use peanut oil, which is very good, but lately I've been preferring safflower oil. It's the closest thing to sunflower seed oil, which I love, but which is not as readily available. It has a lighter taste than peanut oil, and may be healthier as well. Corn oil and soy oil impart too much off taste, but if you like them then use them.

Drain the corstarch solution from the meat, and add the meat carefully to the hot oil, stirring to get all surfaces browned. But do NOT overcook! The point is just to brown/sear the surface. As soon as that happens, remove your meat and put it in a suitable bowl (as you can see, I like stainless). Set it aside for now. If you like, put the meat in a colander and let it drain into a bowl, even better. Take the excess oil and add back to the wok. Heat till sizzling again.

Then drop in the veggies. Hard ones first, then the leafy stuff. Cook until it just starts to get darker and almost tender (hard side of al dente). Add back in the meat, and water or soy sauce as needed. If you want more "gravy", add in also the marinating mixture.

It won't take long to finish cooking the meat and the veggies. Serve immediately with rice, noodles, whatever. If you like chow mein, you can stirfry the noodles in a bit of the meat oil and then serve the meat/veggies over that. Or mix it all together. It's your wok, do what you want!

Done right, there's nothing like a fresh stir fry. The key is to precook/brown the meat, and not to overcook anything. Unless of course you happen to like steam table food, lol.

Mushrooms? Yep, those are good, of course, but I'd toss them in at the end of the stir fry. They will soak up a lot of oil/liquid and don't really need much cooking anyway.

Oh, and to be really authentic, have far more veggies than meat. (I happened to have a lot of beef so that's one reason why the dish pictured has so much). A chinese girl I roomed with in college once told me that in traditional Chinese family cooking, meat is used more as a flavoring than a main ingredient. Of course, you wouldn't know that from the average Chinese restuarant menu, but then they have to please a largely non-asian clientele. But then again, she was a tiny thing, maybe it stunted her growth.

Anyway, enjoy enjoy enjoy. I'd love to open a chinese restaurant but I lack the proper ancestors!
 
Your Load

Wish I could show you pictures of my dad's bob loads. I don't have any experience with the Bosch DW. I would like to have a DW that is that quiet, but I wouldn't buy one based on your "dirt level" and "capacity". Lack of a small food disposal, and loading pattern or size issues matter. Sorry, size does matter sometimes Y'all!

First off, I can get much more, and much dirtier dishes in my parents 18 year old GE Potscrubber (600 something or other model that came with the house.). It has 2 cycles on the dial, start, or light wash, two buttons, that say potscrubber or normal, and heat dry or cool dry. that's it! I'm VERY sorry to all of you that it does a fine job and I can't find any complaints, except for loading problems, with that raised space so the powershower can pop up for the top rack, however, my father doesn't give a shit about that!! It has had one service call for a new spring so the door would stay down/up or whatever.

It's a WATER HOG, that's for sure, but it gets the job done. Like today, for instance, we had 8 people over and grilled 8 steaks, on our 20 year old JennAir Grill and then put all of that stuff plus the dishes in the GE and using the normal cycle with both cups filled with Cascade Complete washed it all, and everything was clean as a whistle. (Only slight pre-rinsing by my father, I'm working on that).

That's what bothers me the most. That machine is too damn good still!! I would like for my parents to replace that 18 yr old GE Potscrubber with a new DW. Even though some of the tines in the bottom are rusting, they don't care, should I?

It's old, It's noisy, but it does get the job done and very well, I might add.

CH in VA
 
FWIW, the Bosch can handle just as dirty a dishload as my old Frigidaire dishwasher, which could be crammed to the gills because it has a very powerful altenating spray system.

I think you all are mistaking the bowl loading I do for an inability of the Bosch to handle messy dishes. Not at all true. The filter rarely needs cleaning, and when it does, it's stuff like jar labels or plastic wrap that accidentally finds it way into the dishwasher (I blame the cat). I clean the filter about every three months. No biggie.

I suppose I could have put some bowls on top of the dishes, but frankly I didn't have that many dishes to clean anyway. For me to build up enough dishes etc for a really big load requires not running the dishwasher for three days. Sometimes that's ok, but in this instance I just wanted the stuff all cleaned off and put away.

It does seem a bit odd to me that people get up in arms about overloading clothes washers... but revel in overloading dishwashers.
 
overloading DW's

Your comment is "spot on." People show us "Bob Load" clothes washers, particularly FL's, then don't show us all of their DW's loads.

Personally, I'd rather see the CW's, because I'm one of the only ones that still fight for
"MORE" water in the FL's.

Sorry, more water in the FL's would get the "
dyed in the wool" TL people into the movement." What's wrong with having a FULL prewash and a FULL final rinse?

Like, what's wrong with you people?

Anyway, love your DW, wish I had one too.
 
We have a Bosch dishwasher, and it is a dream! I don't pre rinse anything, cram it full, sometimes wait for a few days to run it, and still everything comes out sparkling. Plus it's quiet. I usually run it overnight.
 
Bosch

Really are quiet. Every time Miele and Bosch are tested over here, the Miele usually gets points for screws all being tightened with the notches oriented exactly 7.5° gegen-die-Uhrzeigersinn on the left side and just the opposite on the right...but Bosch wins hands down for quietness and ease of use.
My Miele cleans beautifully, uses next to no water...but you can hear it when you are in the kitchen. My neighbor's Bosch (similar to this one) is audible only when the detergent tab falls in and you are standing in front of it.
Lawrence, that recipe looks lovely. Got to try it soon, with suitable rabbit food modifications...
 

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