there’s a very famous Chinese cooking technique of putting herbs on top of food. and then dumping hot, boiling oil to “cook” the herbs.
case in point: the scallions in this photo. i honestly do feel sorry for them for withstanding the boiling oil.
Science Nerd Alert:
this common rite of passage for many Chinese chefs — pouring hot oil over herbs — actually demonstrate the Maillard Reaction, where the scallions appear caramelized. so yeah when the scallion’s proteins and sugars react together, they caramelize and the meat gets crowned with scallion flavor!
That looks tasty!