sides also allow a person to cook without having to "chase the food around the pan", since bite-sized or finely chopped stir-fry ingredients usually tumble back to the center of the wok when agitated. The curve also provides a larger usable cooking surface versus Western-style pots and pans, which typically have vertical edges. This allows large pieces of food seared at the bottom of the wok to be pushed up the gently sloped sides to continue cooking at a slower rate. While this occurs another ingredient for the same dish needing high heat is being cooked at the bottom. The pointed bottom also allows even small amounts of oil to pool. As such, large food items can be shallow fried, while finely chopped garlic, chili peppers, scallions, and ginger can be essentially deep-fried in both cases with very small amounts of cooking oil. See also Chinese cuisine Cantonese cuisine Egg fried rice List of cooking techniques List of cooking vessels Karahi, similar pan from India with steeper sides Qazan, large cooking vessel from Turkey Wok racing References External links Cooking vessels Cantonese words and phrases Chinese food preparation utensils Chinese inventions