Jamie Oliver - Forums / Chinese Brown Sauce

koukouvagia · Thu 03 Jan 13 1:28pm

I love ordering take out from our local chinese restaurant. But I also like to cook fresh stir fries at home too.... I just can never get the brown sauce to taste the same as the sauce I get in a chicken with vegetables dish. Can anyone help me make a better stir fry? This is my method:

- slice onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, bok choy, carrots.
- In a wok heat up safflower oil, and cook the minced ginger and garlic. Add the onions. Cook and remove.
- Add the broccoli, sautee and remove. I do this with each vegetable individually so that it stays crisp, not mushy.
- Dredge chicken pieces in cornstarch. Fry in the wok.
- add some honey, chili oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar and a bit of chicken stock to the chicken. Throw the vegetables back in for a good stir and add a drizzle of sesame oil.
- Serve over steamed rice.

Any tips? I love how crisp the vegetables come out, and the sauce tastes good but I can't help but feel that there is something missing.

Pakman · Thu 03 Jan 13 9:14pm

Hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce.

Maybe make a intense mushroom stock from dried mushrooms and add a splash. Fresh ginger too, maybe a sprinkle of five spice and/or plum preserves....peanuts or peanut butter?

koukouvagia · Thu 03 Jan 13 9:35pm

Do I add all of that? Is chinese cooking like throwing every asian ingredient I have into the pan and hope it comes out tasting right?

Last edited by koukouvagia (Thu 03 Jan 13 9:35pm)

Pakman · Thu 03 Jan 13 10:02pm

No, No! Those are just suggestions. I have added all of the sauces though oops

Oyster sauce is amazing! I have an old Better Homes & Gardens recipe for it if you like.
Never made it but tongue

Everyplace (everyone) has a different recipe and maybe "secret ingredient" but only you know what taste your looking for is. big_smile

mummza · Thu 03 Jan 13 10:29pm

I usually start with the chicken if I'm using that ( depends on how many are at home ) . With the veg , they all go in together but cut a little differently so that they retain some crispness but all are ready at the same time , with the exceptin of spring onions and they get added at the end.

Do you use soy sauce to season what you are stir frying ?

I have to be honest and say that I am not sure what you mean by the ' brown sauce' in the local restaurant dish . Have you tried asking them what they use ?

hippytea · Thu 03 Jan 13 10:42pm

I think Chinese takeaways pretty much always use five-spice. I've got some good results replicating takeaway flavours with just five-spice and soy sauce.

Ashen · Fri 04 Jan 13 12:26am

I think we might consider that the style of food from chinese restaurants can be quite different depending on where you live.

There are many more restaurants that do fairly authentic ethnic chinese food here now but the standard ones that have been around since I was a kid are very much westernized to appeal to North American tastes.

The ubiquitous brown sauce varies somewhat from restaurant to restaurant but it is mostly chicken stock with a good hit of soy, garlic and maybe a bit of sugar. some seem to add ketchup instead of sugar for the sweet element. I would say most use some kind of msg substitute so they can proudly proclaim MSG free without letting the general public know that there is a flavour enhancer at work. At the end of the day this will probably be why you can't quite duplicate the flavour at home.

Disodium Guanylate

Disodium Inosinate

koukouvagia · Fri 04 Jan 13 1:43pm

Every chinese restaurant here touts "no msg!"

I'm at a loss when it comes to Asian food. I understand the anatomy of a mediterranean dish even if I don't know what's in it. But put a bowl of curry in front of me and it may as well have come from Mars.

A lot of these "sauces" like hoisin, oyster, fish sauce are bottled and it makes me a little nervous sometimes. I don't know what's in there, what kind of preservatives come with it and my mindset is to always go fresh. That's why I've only put honey, rice vinegar and soy sauce in my asian dishes - my sauce is pretty good but it's missing something that my local take out offers.... but Ashen is right, it's probably msg lol.

Pakman · Fri 04 Jan 13 2:09pm

Homemade fish sauce
http://www.fermentersclub.com/fish-sauce/

This Oyster sauce recipe seems interesting but I think it may have too many ingredients
http://www.indobase.com/recipes/details … -sauce.php

Hoisin here that seems interesting
http://www.wickedyummy.com/2012/08/vege … emade.html

Mushrooms supposedly are rich in "umami" hmm Try the dried mushrooms hydrated with the stock you use. Ginger and green onions are tasty additions too. Think I may be going Asian style tonight wink

edit:
Black bean sauce is nice too. Like this link "Someone asked recently if buying black bean sauce in the jar is okay. My response was: it is NOT okay."
http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/20 … ecipe.html

Last edited by Pakman (Fri 04 Jan 13 2:18pm)

hippytea · Fri 04 Jan 13 8:35pm

But you have to have a lot of time on your hands to make your own soy sauce.

I understand the fear of additives, but some traditional condiments can't be substituted - like balsamic vinegar, worcestershire sauce, and definitely soy. If you want that classic flavour, you need to use the classic seasoning.

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#1 Thu 03 Jan 13 1:28pm

koukouvagia

Chinese Brown Sauce

#2 Thu 03 Jan 13 9:14pm

Pakman

Re: Chinese Brown Sauce

#3 Thu 03 Jan 13 9:35pm

koukouvagia

Re: Chinese Brown Sauce

#4 Thu 03 Jan 13 10:02pm

Pakman

Re: Chinese Brown Sauce

#5 Thu 03 Jan 13 10:29pm

mummza

Re: Chinese Brown Sauce

#6 Thu 03 Jan 13 10:42pm

hippytea

Re: Chinese Brown Sauce

#7 Fri 04 Jan 13 12:26am

Ashen

Re: Chinese Brown Sauce

#8 Fri 04 Jan 13 1:43pm

koukouvagia

Re: Chinese Brown Sauce

#9 Fri 04 Jan 13 2:09pm

Pakman

Re: Chinese Brown Sauce

#10 Fri 04 Jan 13 8:35pm

hippytea

Re: Chinese Brown Sauce