How (Best) to Reheat Chinese Food | Chinese Cooking Demystified

Everyone knows the best way to reheat pizza (covered skillet, if it had to be said), but what's the best way to reheat Chinese food? Whether you're staring at leftovers from a Sichuan restaurant in Chengdu or a takeout-style joint in the West, we've got you covered:

0:00 - The Culture of Leftovers in China
1:56 - Reheating Rice & Fried Rice
2:21 - Reheating Noodles
3:01 - Reheating Saucy Stir Fries: Mapo Tofu
3:55 - Reheating Saucy Stir Fries: Sweet & Sour
5:05 - Reheating Roast Meats
6:26 - Reheating Deep Fried Stuff
7:51 - Reheating Baos & Dim Sum
9:29 - Trust your Judgement!

HOW TO REHEAT RICE

Spread the rice evenly over a shallow bowl, breaking up the clumps. Drizzle a touch of water on it. Cover, nuke for ~3 minutes on medium-high.

You can be lazy about the spreading of the rice/breaking up the clumps.

HOW TO REHEAT NOODLES

Steam on high for ~6 minutes.

HOW TO REHEAT A SAUCY STIR FRY LIKE MAPO TOFU

Add the Mapo to a wok, pot, or large skillet. Add a bit of water (1-2 tbsp depending on the amount you got), toss the flame on ~medium-high. Gently fold the water in. Once boiling, taste. Add salt (or more water) to taste.

HOW TO REHEAT/REPURPOSE A SAUCY STIR FRY OF A DEEP FRIED THING LIKE SWEET & SOUR PORK

For y'all looking for an approach to reheat takeout fare like General Tso's, Sesame Chicken, Orange Chicken etc, this would be the category for you. Note that you *can* also follow the previous reheating method, but for stuff with sticky sauces like Sweet & Sour (and the aforementioned takeout stuff), starting it with a bit of oil would be best.

If you're using a wok (or anything carbon steel), first longyau: get your wok piping hot, shut off the heat, add in the oil - here, about ~1/2 tbsp, and give it a swirl to get a nice non-stick surface.

Alternatively, you could also just use a large non-stick skillet & skip that whole routine.

Medium-high flame. Add the stir fry together with a bit of water (1-2 tbsp depending on the amount you got). Fold the water in. One boiling, taste. Add salt (or more water) to taste.

If you like, something you can do is then pour the hot stir fry over a pack of instant noodles.

HOW TO REHEAT/REPURPOSE ROAST MEATS: ROAST GOOSE WITH BROCCOLI

I think most people know how to reheat roast meats (toss in the oven if you're feeling fancy, nuke if you're lazy and hungover), so let's jump straight to the repurposing.

Half a head of broccoli, give it a quick blanch until it turns darker green, ~90 seconds. Remove, rinse under cool water to stop the cooking process.

In a wok (or whatever), longyau: get your wok piping hot, shut off the heat, add in the oil - here, ~1 tbsp, and give it a swirl. Toss in the broccoli. Give it a quick ~15 second fry, then season: ~1/4 tsp salt, ~1/4 tsp sugar, ~1 tsp soy sauce, optional sprinkle of MSG. Add in your roast meat, together with the juices if it's got some (e.g. goose or duck). Fry for ~1 minute until everything's all warmed up, fin.

HOW TO REHEAT/REPURPOSE DEEP FRIED STUFF: STEPH'S "F***-IT" SOUP

If you're just looking to reheat deep-fried stuff, obviously re-deepfrying it is the way to go, though the oven can work ok too (I've also heard good things about air fryers for such a use case).

Let's be honest though, you're probably not going to re-deep-fry your stuff. And the oven tends to dry things out. So if you've got something soggy, why not lean into it and toss it in a soup?

This is another variant of what Steph calls a "f***-it" soup: a quick and tasty soup using some dried umami ingredients that can be sorted in less than 10 minutes of active cooking time when you don't feel like cooking:

Small handful dried shrimp (~15?), snipped in half with scissors. Soaked in hot, boiled water for 30 minutes.

25g thin glass noodles (粉丝), soaked in cool water for the same 30 minutes.

In a pot, add the dried shrimp - together with the soaking liquid - in with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Add a ~half a napa cabbage, cut into ~1.5 inch sections. Cook for about a minute. Add the deep fried stuff. Bring to a boil and season: ~1/4 tsp salt, ~1/4 tsp sugar, ~1/8 tsp white pepper powder, ~1/8 tsp chicken bouillon powder, and a small drizzle of toasted sesame oil. Top with scallions or whatever.

HOW TO REHEAT BAOS AND DIMSUMS

Steam them:

15 minutes if coming up from frozen.
20 minutes if it's a frozen sticky rice product (e.g. Lo Mai Gai, Mochi)
5 if it's not frozen
8 if it's a not-frozen sticky rice product

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Outro Music: คิดถึงคุณจัง by ธานินทร์ อินทรเทพ
Found via My Analog Journal (great channel): https://youtu.be/GHaL5H-VYRg