Kenji's Kung Pao Chicken's so good, but smoke gets intense indoors. what kinda vent hood works for wok cooking?
We make Kung Pao Chicken pretty often and honestly love it every time. The flavor is really good, it's become one of our go-to special occasion dishes. We cook it in a wok over gas for the wok hei, and it always comes out super delicious.
The only issue is that this dish absolutely destroys out kitchen air. Once the dried chilies and peppercorns hit the oil, it turns into a smoke bomb, and when the sauce goes in and starts reducing, it gets even more smoke. The fumes get intense and irritating, and the smell lingers all day. Sadly, cookig outside now isn't really an option either, our neighbor is sensitive to smells and already complained before. So I feel like this comes down to indoor ventilation. I'm curious what do you do when making dishes like this regularly. Is there a vent hood or something can keep up with this kind of wok cooking? Also, do you accept that the backsplash and surrounding cooking area are going to get hit with oil and sauce splatter, is there a better way to manage that? Here's the recipe: https://www.seriouseats.com/takeout-style-kung-pao-chicken-diced-chicken-peppers-peanuts-recipe