Fix Your Dish
Something went wrong. Your stir-fry is flat. Your tofu crumbled. Your Sichuan dish is not numbing. Start here -- we diagnose the problem and tell you exactly what to change.
Most recipe websites tell you how to cook a dish. We tell you why it failed -- and we do it by symptom, not by recipe. Each diagnosis page is built on our failure database with probability-weighted causes and specific fix protocols.
Try the Soy Sauce DecoderMy stir fry tastes flat
Wrong soy sauce? No umami layering? Cold wok?
My Mapo Tofu broke apart
Wrong tofu type? No blanching? Too much stirring?
My Kung Pao has no punch
Missing Sichuan pepper? Wrong vinegar? No Shaoxing wine?
My Sichuan dish is not numbing
Your Sichuan pepper is probably stale. Here is the freshness test.
No wok hei -- tastes boiled
Wrong pan? Weak stove? Overcrowding?