Editing Stir frying (section)

== History ==

=== In China ===
{{further|History of Chinese cuisine}}
[[File:Stir frying Xi Hu Longjing.png|thumb|left|During the [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907) ''chao'' referred to roasting tea leaves. Stir frying became a popular method for cooking food only later, during the [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644).]]
The [[Chinese characters|Chinese character]] 炒 is attested in [[Chinese bronze inscriptions|inscriptions on bronze vessels]] from the [[Eastern Zhou]] period (771–256 BC), but not in the sense of stir frying.{{sfn|Institut Ricci|2001|p=257}} Dry stirring was used in the [[Han dynasty]] (206 BC{{spaced ndash}} 220 AD) to parch grain.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2012|p=459}} Although there are no surviving records of Han dynasty stir frying, archaeological evidence of [[wok]]s and the tendency to slice food thinly indicate that the technique was likely used for cooking.{{sfnb|Anderson|1988|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=BAcknxN_S8QC&dq=e.n.+anderson+chinese+cooking+is+cooking+of+scarcity&pg=PA182 188], 52}}

The term initially appears in the sense of "stir frying" in the ''[[Qimin Yaoshu]]'' (齊民要術), a sixth-century agricultural manual, including in a [[recipe]] for [[scrambled eggs]].<ref>《齊民要術．卷第六．養雞第五十九·炒雞子法》：「打破，著鐺中，攪令黃白相雜。細擘蔥白，下鹽米、渾豉，麻油炒之，甚香美。」https://zh.m.wikisource.org/zh-hant/齊民要術/卷第六</ref><!---{{sfn|Wilkinson|2012|p=459}}---> In sources from the [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907), ''chao'' refers not to a cooking technique, but to a method for [[Tea processing|roasting tea leaves]]. It reappears as a cooking method in a dozen recipes from the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279).<!---{{sfn|Wilkinson|2012|p=459}}---> The Song period is when the Chinese started to use [[vegetable oil]] for frying instead of [[animal fat]]s. Until then, vegetable oil had been used chiefly in lamps.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2012|p=459}}

Historically, stir frying was not as important a technique as [[Boiling#In cooking|boiling]] or [[steaming]], since the oil needed for stir frying was expensive. The technique became increasingly popular in the late [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644),{{sfn|Newman|2004|p=5}} in part because the wood and charcoal used to fire stoves were becoming increasingly expensive near urban centers, and stir-frying could cook food quickly without wasting fuel.{{sfnb|Anderson|1988|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=BAcknxN_S8QC&dq=e.n.+anderson+chinese+cooking+is+cooking+of+scarcity&pg=PA182 188]}} "The increasingly commercial nature of city life" in the late Ming and [[Qing dynasty|Qing]] (1644–1912) periods also favored speedy methods.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2012|p=459}} But even as stir frying became an important method in Chinese cuisine, it did not replace other cooking techniques. For instance, "only five or six of over 100 recipes recorded in the sixteenth-century novel ''[[Jin Ping Mei]]'' are stir fry recipes and wok dishes accounted for only 16 percent of the recipes in the most famous eighteenth century recipe book, the ''[[Suiyuan shidan]]''".{{sfn|Wilkinson|2012|p=459}}

By the late Qing, most Chinese kitchens were equipped with a [[Wok#Wok stoves|wok range]] (''chaozao'' 炒灶 or ''paotai zao'' 炮臺灶) convenient for stir-frying because it had a large hole in the middle to insert the bottom of a wok into the flames.{{sfn|Wilkinson|2012|p=459}}

=== In the West ===
Stir frying was brought to America by early [[Chinese American|Chinese immigrants]], and has been used in non-Asian cuisine.<ref name="Smith">{{cite book|author=Merril D. Smith|title=History of American Cooking|date=9 January 2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-38712-8|pages=65}}</ref>

The term "stir fry" as a translation for "chao" was coined in the 1945 book ''How To Cook and Eat in Chinese'', by Buwei Yang Chao. The book told the reader:
{{blockquote|Roughly speaking, ''ch'ao'' may be defined as a big-fire-shallow-fat-continual-stirring-quick-frying of cut-up material with wet seasoning. We shall call it 'stir-fry' or 'stir' for short. The nearest to this in western cooking is ''sauté''. ... Because stir-frying has such critical timing and is done so quickly, it can be called 'blitz-cooking.'<ref>{{Harvnb|Chao|1945|p=43}}</ref>}}

Although using the term "stir-fry" as a noun is commonplace in English, in Chinese, the word 炒 (chǎo) is used as a verb or adjective only.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> In the West, stir frying spread from Chinese family and restaurant kitchens into general use. One popular cookbook noted that in the "health-conscious 1970s" suddenly it seemed that "everyone was buying a wok, and stir frying remained popular because it was quick." Many families had difficulty fitting a family [[dinner]] into their crowded schedules but found that stir-fried dishes could be prepared in as little as fifteen minutes.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BQSksBCjyVcC&q=stir+frying+history&pg=PR7 | title=The Everything Stir-Fry Cookbook | publisher=Adams Media | work=The Everything Stir-Fry Cookbook: 300 Fresh and Flavorful Recipes the Whole | date=2007 | access-date=7 July 2014 | author=Parkinson, Rhonda Lauret | pages=vii| isbn=9781605502786 }}</ref>