KITCHEN PRACTICE 2 — Properly Spaced vs. Crowded Wok
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Chapter: Chinese Cookery 5 — Stir-Frying & Wok Hei

TASK
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Stir-fry the same vegetable in two batches — one properly spaced in
the wok, one deliberately crowded. Compare colour and texture, the
same test French Cookery ran for a sauté pan, reapplied here.

WHAT TO DO
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1. Cut a vegetable that browns and chars well (broccoli or bell
   pepper both work) into similar-sized pieces, enough for two
   batches.
2. Heat the wok until genuinely smoking, add oil, and let it heat.
3. Add only enough vegetable pieces to leave the wok's own surface
   mostly uncovered — real room for everything to move freely.
4. Stir-fry for a fixed, short time, tossing continuously, then
   remove and set aside.
5. Reheat the wok until smoking again, and this time add roughly
   double or triple the amount of vegetable, deliberately
   overcrowding it.
6. Stir-fry for the same fixed time, then compare both batches.

WHAT TO EXPECT
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- The properly spaced batch should show real charring in spots, with
  vivid colour and a tender-crisp texture.
- The crowded batch should look pale and slightly wet, with little
  to no real char anywhere, since the extra volume of food dropped
  the wok's own temperature and released more steam than the smaller
  batch did.
- Tasted side by side, the properly spaced batch should taste more
  concentrated and slightly smoky, while the crowded batch often
  tastes flatter and closer to boiled than stir-fried.

WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER
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This reruns French Cookery's own crowding demonstration in a
genuinely different, higher-stakes setting — a wok's own extreme
heat has even further to fall when overloaded, and wok hei
specifically depends on real, sustained contact with a very hot
surface, which a crowded, steam-filled wok simply can't maintain.
Seeing the identical underlying principle show up in two different
courses, with two different techniques, reinforces that it's a
genuine, transferable rule rather than a coincidence specific to one
recipe.