Making stir fry? Heat your wok until it starts to smoke
Very rarely do YouTube chefs tell you to crank your stove to the highest setting when preheating a pan. That’s because excessive heat can ruin the pan and cause the nonstick liner to peel. However, when making stir fry, never use a nonstick pan. Use a wok instead, and preheat it until it starts to smoke.
Only then should you add the oil and toss all of your ingredients into the wok. Asian cooking is very different from western-style cooking. The goal of cooking stir fry is to finish the dish in as little time as possible. If the wok isn’t smoking, it’s not hot enough to make fried rice, noodles, or Asian stir-fried dishes.