Chinese Cooking

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
is also 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.