It is a sad fact of life, particularly for the gourmand, but some restaurant dishes are nearly impossible to duplicate at home. Sticky rice. Eggs benedict. French onion soup. Tuna melts. You can tell we’ve stayed up at night thinking about this.

Well cry no more, connoisseur, because we’ve cracked the secret to at least one of these recipes. With help.

Presenting: How to make the perfect stir fry, brought to us by the chefs of Chopsticks restaurant in Lewiston.

Actually, “secrets” would be more accurate. There are two, according to Jenny Chang, whose family owns the restaurant. You have “the flame,” plus “the seasoned wok.”

The first key “is the temperature,” she said. It is “important to understand how to cook in high heat to get the flavors you want from the ingredients that are being used.”

Professional chefs cook the components of a stir fry on high heat for only a few moments, searing the meat elements first and removing once browned. Before cooking, the diced meat is often also soaked in a marinade of soy sauce or soy sauce and cooking wine.

As demonstrated by the chefs at most teppanyaki restaurants, once the meat is fully cooked, it is removed to a plate. Then the vegetables go into the wok, in the order of longest to shortest cooking time. (See our brief guide to vegetable stir-fry times.) The high heat and short cooking time mean the vegetables – generally the bulk of a stir fry – stay crisper and taste fresher.

The second key is a trusty, seasoned wok. “When it comes to a good stir fry,” said Chang, “it is essential to have the right size wok that complements the amount of food you are cooking.” If you haven’t seasoned your wok recently, you can check out this story (tinyurl.com/cqfboh6) to educate yourself on curing pans, which will at least get you on the right path.

Other recommendations from Chang for improving your stir fry include using fresh ingredients and picking the right sauce.

“There are so many different sauces,” she said, because of the “many different cooking styles in different cuisines.”

Chang was kind enough to share two sauces with us, used in recipes for two dishes that her family serves at Chopsticks.

Pretty simple then: Buy a wok (and never let it near soap), keep your heat high, find a sauce combination you like and don’t overcook your vegetables.

Family style bean curd

“With family style bean curd, it’s a simple dish that can be cooked with a variety of meat and vegetables,” says Jenny Chang. It’s strictly a vegetarian dish at Chopsticks, unless a customer requests otherwise.

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil

1 block of firm tofu (most grocery stores will have it individually packaged)

1 pound of mixed vegetables

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

Slightly less than 1 cup of vegetable stock

Instructions:

Cut and fry tofu in the wok at medium heat with enough oil to prevent sticking. Remove and strain. In the wok or a separate steamer, steam the vegetables for 1-2 minutes and drain. In the preheated wok, mix the sauces, sugar, garlic and vegetable stock until hot and bubbling. Mix in the fried tofu and steamed vegetables. Continue to stir fry until everything is evenly mixed. Serve hot.

Mongolian beef

Mongolian beef is another popular dish at Chopsticks, Jenny Chang said.

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil

14 ounces beef tenderloin

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 teaspoon oyster sauce

1 teaspoon black bean sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

Ginger (thinly sliced)

Scallions, sliced

White pepper

Half of a sweet onion

Cut the beef into thin slices. Thinly slice onions. Marinate the beef in a little salt and pepper. Saute the onion in oil in a wok on high heat, then remove and set aside. Add a little oil, reheat the wok on high and stir fry the beef until half-done. Set the meat aside. Saute some ginger until it’s aromatic. Put the half-cooked beef back into the wok, add sauces and sugar, and stir fry until the beef is almost done. Add scallions. Stir fry briefly. Serve hot on the bed of sauteed onions.

Vegetable cooking times

When it comes to meat, cook it thoroughly, which generally means cook the diced meat until brown. Veggies are a little different. Here’s a helpful guide to vegetable stir-fry times.

Mushrooms: 5 to 10 minutes, depending on type and thickness

Cabbage, spinach and other greens: 4 to 6 minutes

Asparagus, broccoli, carrots and green beans: 3 to 5 minutes

Peppers, snow peas, sugar snap peas, summer squash and zucchini: 2 to 3 minutes

Bean sprouts: less than 1 minute

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