Chinese Cooking Sauces
The Chinese culture has contributed many wonderful things to the rest of the world. Without a doubt, the most noticeable would be their food. Many people in the western world have come to love Chinese cooking, and a big reason for this is their unique use of various sauces in the preparation of many of their dishes. Let's take a brief look at a few of the delicious sauces that are used in Chinese cooking.
Sweet and Sour Sauce
When it comes to Chinese cooking sauces, probably the most recognizable is sweet and sour sauce. This sauce is used to add flavor to a number of different meat dishes, such as chicken, pork and beef. It's great for various stir fry dishes that are so popular in America. Lately, it's become quite popular as a dipping sauce as well. This sauce gets it's name because it's basically made from sugar and vinegar.
Hoi Sin Sauce
This brownish-red sauce is sort of the Chinese version of barbecue sauce. It's made from a combination of soya beans, garlic, chilis, and other spices. Again, it's great for use as a barbecue sauce on chicken and beef, but it's probably best known as Peking sauce, because it is the sauce commonly served with Peking duck. In addition to this, it also is very popular as a dipping sauce.
Soy Sauce
Perhaps the most important sauce used for Chinese cooking is soy sauce. Soy sauce is a brown colored liquid that is made by brewing fermented soya beans with salt. This sauce has an unmistakable salty flavor, and is used in a wide variety of Chinese dishes. Soy sauce is available in either light, which is usually used more for a dipping sauce, or the dark type, which is more common for cooking purposes. There are few dishes in Chinese cooking that do not incorporate soy sauce in some way, but even the ones that don't are often dipped in it.
Chinese cooking is becoming more popular in our part of world all the time. These dishes have a unique style and taste that is largely due to the different sauces that are used. In America, many of these sauces are used more for dipping than actual cooking. We've taken Chinese cooking and put our own spin on it. There are many brands of these Chinese sauces available at you local market, but if you're interested in experiencing true Chinese cooking, try to get sauces that are imported from China.
