Oyster sauce is a special condiment that originated in Guangdong. When I was very young, oyster sauce was not common in northern China. At first, I only saw it on TV cooking programs. It can be said that oyster sauce was a "mysterious" condiment a long time ago.

But in recent years, information and logistics have become more and more fluid, and local food cultures have collided with each other. Oyster sauce has also become a common seasoning in home kitchens. So this time we will analyze oyster sauce, from its birth in the "past life", to its current situation in the "present life". We'll also briefly share the differences between oyster sauce and other flavorful seasonings, as well as the precautions to be taken when using it.

What is oyster sauce made of?

Oyster sauce was first made in 1888 in a small family workshop in the southern water town of Zhuhai, Guangdong. At that time, a man named Li Jinshang left his hometown to make a living in Nanshui. Because oysters were abundant in the area, he opened a small tea stall and cooked oysters for sale to supplement his family's income.

The birth of oyster sauce was similar to that of stinky tofu, soy sauce and fine wine, but it was also the result of an "accidental product" of coincidence. One day, when Lee Jin-sang was cooking oysters as usual, he forgot to take care of them. When he remembered, the oysters had been overcooked and had turned into a thick, brownish juice deposited at the bottom of the pot, which smelled rich and tasted delicious.

And so oyster sauce was born, the original oyster sauce being a paste-like juice concentrated by boiling shucked oysters. The man's name was, and he was the founder of Yoshi, which to this day is and well-known brand of soy sauce.

Just choose high-quality oyster sauce

Nowadays, most oyster sauce is made from some oyster juice, salt, sugar, starch, and other substances. After all, if it is cooked with oysters, the price is really unacceptable to many people. Then, among the many oyster sauce products, we can choose according to the following points, and then we can choose a better oyster sauce

Oyster sauce ratio:It can be said that the oyster sauce, the higher the ratio of oyster sauce, the better. After all, it should be cooked with oysters in its original form, so try to choose the oyster sauce that is clearly labeled and has a higher proportion in the ingredient list.

The fewer the ingredients, the better: For non-solid seasonings such as soy sauce, vinegar, and oyster sauce, whether brewed or refined, the shorter the ingredient list, the better, and the simpler the ingredients, the better. Those with names that are purely chemical are naturally less so.

Choose a brand with a good reputation:Oyster sauce is generally not much use for this kind of thing, so when choosing try to choose a brand with a good reputation, it is not recommended to choose a particularly cheap.

Added: oyster sauce can not be used to "observe the consistency" and "look at the color" such methods to select. Any consistency and color can be mixed with the help of starch, xanthan gum and caramel coloring. This is not to say that these blended oyster sauces are necessarily bad, but they are not "high quality". The main reason why oyster sauce is so popular is that there are quite a lot of dietary habits that apply to it, and sometimes there are effects that cannot be replaced by other seasonings, so it is natural that nowadays a lot more people use oyster sauce than before. Let's share some appropriate uses of oyster sauce, some cooking methods that are not suitable for oyster sauce and some oyster sauce-related precautions

Comprehensive solutions for the use of oyster sauce

1. Appropriate uses of oyster sauce

Cooling:Oyster sauce will be found in a lot of gazpacho, it may not be a protagonist, but it can provide a kind of icing on the cake and make the flavor of the gazpacho not be too thin too thin.

Barbecue Ingredients:This isn't oyster sauce, the most typical use, but when eating some savory barbecue, brush a little oyster sauce on at the end of the marinade or grill to enhance the fresh flavor.

Mixing the filling:This is a common method in the oyster sauce kitchen. Oyster sauce makes the filling more flavorful, improves the viscosity of the filling, locks in the moisture better and facilitates the packing operation of the filling.

Mixing and dipping:Oyster sauce itself is a kind of compound seasoning, so its own flavor is still quite full. It is very suitable for thickening some dipping dishes and can thicken the flavor of other seasonings.

Casserole grilling:Oyster sauce basically contains a certain amount of starch, otherwise it is difficult to get a thick texture. Therefore, in some dishes that do not require thickening, it is also good to dilute the oyster sauce with stock to provide a stronger, fresher flavor.

Summary: Oyster sauce is a flavorful condiment with little practicality. Basically some delicious and salty food can be used properly.

2. Improper use of oyster sauce and precautions

No seasoning is universal, and oyster sauce is no exception. Although in oyster sauce, there are many applicable dietary habits, but it still has certain contraindications.

Intolerant of high temperatures and prolonged cooking:Oyster sauce is a relatively fragile seasoning. While the savory and delicious flavor it provides is not fleeting, it does not tolerate cooking or fierce heat. Cooking it for a long time will make the flavor of oyster sauce disappear, especially the oyster sauce, which is not that good quality and has added monosodium glutamate. Excessive heat not only destroys and volatilizes the salty substances, but also tends to cause the viscous oyster sauce to burn and become tasteless.

Not for spicy sweet dishes: the essence of spicy is a pain, not taste, eat chili is a very strong oral stimulation, so when the "spicy" appears, to savory oyster sauce, it is completely covered, even if you add it has no effect. However, oyster sauce is not recommended for sweet dishes. Sweet dishes can easily collide with the salty flavor of oyster sauce

Oyster sauce is best kept refrigerated: oyster sauce is thick and heavy, and its nutritional content is much higher than that of common kitchen soy sauce and cooking wine. Similarly, it is easier to reproduce some microorganisms. Therefore, oyster sauce is best stored in the refrigerator after opening to avoid contamination and deterioration of stray bacteria. To summarize: oyster sauce can be used for mixing, stewing, braising, stir-frying, etc., but it must be added at the end of cooking. High temperature or long time cooking will make oyster sauce lose its flavor. And some spicy or sweet dishes do not use oyster sauce, can not reflect its special flavor, and even have the opposite effect.

Finally, to summarize

Oyster sauce was originally extracted from oysters after boiling and concentrating as a thick paste flavoring. But after more than 100 years of evolution, due to cost, transportation, taste and other reasons, oyster sauce is only part of the oyster juice, can be regarded as a kind of salty with a little sweet "soy sauce sauce".

So this time it's all about oyster sauce. If it helps, please help reblog and bookmark.