You're probably already familiar with many of the cooking utensils used in stir-frying: a sharp knife for cutting meat, measuring cups and spoons for measuring out ingredients, bowls for mixing everything together. You'll be putting all of these to use when preparing stir-fry recipes. However, you may also want to consider stocking up on a few less-common items, some of which are specifically designed for stir-frying.

• Wok spatula. A wok spatula has a wider base than a regular spatula, making it easier to lift and stir food during stir-frying.

• Wok lid. In addition to covering the food during simmering or steaming, the interior of the wok lid comes in handy for transferring food from the preparation area to the wok.

• Mandoline. A mandoline is a cutting tool that is handy for cutting vegetables into thin matchsticks (also called cutting the vegetables “julienne style”).

• Colander. Investing in a good colander will keep you from going through an endless supply of paper towels to drain meat after stir-frying.

• Cooking chopsticks. Longer than regular chopsticks, cooking chopsticks are used for everything from stirring food and lightly beating eggs to separating long noodles in a pot of boiling water.

• Slotted spoon. Even stir-fries sometimes call for the meat to be immersed and cooked in hot oil, or for vegetables to be blanched before combining them with the other ingredients in the stir-fry. A slotted spoon makes it easier to remove the food from the hot oil or boiling water.

Don't worry if you can't find stir-fry utensils in a kitchenware store and a trip to an Asian marketplace isn't practical. Many Chinese cooking utensils are available on the Internet.