10 Minutes!

How Can Chinese Food Always be Ready in 10 Minutes?

EVERY time I call in for Chinese food at my favorite local Chinese take-out restaurant they ALWAYS say it will be ready in 10 minutes!  And you know what?  It’s ALWAYS ready in ten minutes or less.  I almost never ever have to wait.  It’s always ready by the time that I get there.  I even try to trick them sometimes by calling when I’m just around the corner.  And STILL it’s ready!

Yet, call in to an Italian restaurant and it’s always “45 minutes”.  And it’s never ready on time.  I’m always standing around.  You think I would have learned my lesson by now.  And I have!  Now you know why we’re on a Quest to the find BEST Chinese restaurant and not the best Italian restaurant.  We left that quest up to Marco Polo… and look what he came back with and where he came back from… and I just bet it was ready in 10 minutes!

How do Chinese take-out restaurants prepare their dishes in 10 minutes or less?  Inquiring minds want to know.

So here are some of the reasons I have uncovered how Chinese food is always ready in 10 minutes (or less!):

• The reason that the food is cooked very quickly is that it is cooked in a round bottomed wok at a high temperature.  The temperature is approximately 200 centigrade (392 Fahrenheit).  Food  cooks faster in a smaller wok, and that’s why the food is ready so quickly.  Every ingredient is all ready prepared and all the chefs have to do is add the right mixture to the wok.
• Chinese dishes don’t take much time to cook.  Much is prepared, or cut, beforehand and they are very efficient.  The preparation takes the longest. The cooking is just a few minutes per each dish.
• I read this on some website:  “Oh, man, that must be something they learn at Chinese Take Out U!”
• And my favorite is, “Who knows.. it’s a miracle!”.  See, THAT we can relate to!

Humbly submitted for your consumption,

–Mee Magnum (“Chop!  Chop!”)