Stir frying

Stir frying (Chinese: 炒; pinyin: chǎo) is a Chinese cooking technique in which ingredients are fried in a small amount of very hot oil while being stirred in a wok. The technique originated in China and in recent centuries has spread into other parts of Asia and the West. Many claim that this quick, hot cooking seals in the flavors of the foods, as well as preserving their color and texture.

Scholars think that wok (or pan) frying may have been used as early as the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E. – 220 C.E.) for drying grain, not for cooking, but it was not until the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) that the wok reached its modern shape and allowed quick cooking in hot oil. Well into the 20th century, while restaurants and affluent families could afford the oil and fuel needed for stir fry, the most widely used cooking techniques remained boiling and steaming. Stir fry cooking came to predominate over the course of the century as more people could afford oil and fuel, and in the West spread beyond Chinese communities.

The Easiest Way

The Easiest Way is a 1931 American Pre-Code MGM drama film directed by Jack Conway. Adapted from the 1909 play of the same name written by Eugene Walter and directed by David Belasco, the film stars Constance Bennett, Adolphe Menjou, Robert Montgomery, Marjorie Rambeau, Anita Page and Clark Gable

Plot

Growing up in a poor working-class family, Laura (Constance Bennett) works hard to support her family. Laura's father, Ben (J. Farrell MacDonald) encourages his other daughter Peg (Anita Page) to marry a hard-working man named Nick (Clark Gable). Laura rejects a marriage proposal from the boy-next-door to become involved with William Brockton (Adolphe Menjou) a wealthy man many years her senior whom she met at a modeling job. She allows him to shower her with expensive gifts and moves into his luxury apartment.

Her newly found wealth does not come without any backlash, though. Her mother Agnes (Clara Blandick), notices a difference in Laura and that she is working more nights. Dressing in wealthy attire, and arriving in a chauffeur driven car, she pays a visit to Peg, (now married to Nick). Nick noticing her style, demands that she leaves his house immediately, as he wants no association with a kept women. Even though Laura realizes that she has become estranged from her family, she continues to stay with Brockton.