Chicken Stir-Fry

Method

1. marinate15 min
   room temperature
   chicken + cornstarch + 1 tbsp soy sauce, tossed to coat every piece — the starch gels into a sheath that holds the meat's moisture through the violent heat; this is why restaurant stir-fry is silky and unmarinated home versions are dry
2. mix2 min
   remaining soy + oyster sauce + sugar + water into one sauce, ready at arm's reach — a stir-fry moves too fast to measure mid-cook, and anything not staged is something scorched
3. sear4 min
   high, wok smoking
   chicken in half the oil, spread in one layer and left alone a full minute before the first toss — contact makes the browning, and stirring early wipes it out; cook to just done and remove
4. saute3 min
   high
   broccoli + bell pepper in the rest of the oil until the edges blister but the centers still snap; the vegetables finish in the sauce, so pulling them early is what keeps them from arriving limp
5. saute1 min
   high, 30 seconds
   + garlic + ginger against the hot steel until fragrant — they go in late because at wok heat they burn bitter in under a minute
6. deglaze2 min
   high
   + the sauce, scraping the browned fond loose as it boils; the cornstarch left on the chicken thickens it to a glaze that clings instead of pooling
7. toss1 min
   off heat
   chicken back in with scallions + sesame oil, tossed just to coat — sesame oil is a finishing aroma, and cooking it dulls it to nothing