TYPES OF SAUCES

KNOW MORE ABOUT THE SAUCE YOU USE FOR COOKING.
taken from various books and like to share this info with you.
by: azizah@cutemamadelicacies

PLUM SAUCE

This sauce add and aromatic fruitiness to marinades meat and fish dishes and commonly use as a dipping sauces. Made from chinese plums preserved with sugar and molasses until it brcome light and aromatic. Plum and chilli sauce in equal amounts forms a good dipping sauce for finger foods. Fried onion added to a bottle of plum jam is a great substitute for plum sauce. If it it too sweet, add a tablespoon of lime juice.

SOY SAUCE: Regular or light soy sauce is clear and golden brownin colour and slightly salty in flavour, with a yeasty aroma.

DARK SOY SAUCE: is darker and slightly thicker, with a sweet and wheaty flavour.

LIGHT SOY SAUCE is use for marinades, as dips and for flavouring white meat and seafood.

{INDONESIAN}THICK SWEET SOY SAUCE (KICAP MANIS) is a dark, sweet, reddish black thick soy sauce used specially for Indonesian and Malaysian cooking. It is sweeter than ordinary soy sauceand use for rice stick noodle dishes especially CHAR KWAY TIAU,to flavour and colour meat dishes or for cooking red meat.

OYSTER SAUCE & OYSTER MUSHROOM SAUCE
Brewed from the natural salting of fish or oysters in seaside areas, oyster sauce is one of the earliest sauces used in chinese cooking. The fishy taste of the sauce dissipates when it is cooked, leaving only an aroma and flavour so elegent and tasty that it is used by cooks now throughtout the whole of Asia. Today this sauce is made from dried oysters mixed with salt and sugar that caramelises into a flavoursome end product. Vegetarians should look for a version sold as "mushroom oyster sauce", this is flavoured with gluten and mushrooms rather that oyster extract. Check the labelto see what it contains...many oyster sauces containadded MSG. Fish sauce mixed with kicap manis or sweet soy sauce is a goog substitute.

HOISIN SAUCE: Recognised and used throughout Asia as the universal barbecues sauce, hoisin sauce is made from red rice brewed with soybean paste, garlic, sugar, five spice powder and some star anise. Use as a table condiment, in meatmarinades and as a flavouring agent for sauces,it is famously known as the dipping sauce for Peking Duck and for roast chicken or meat barbecues, and is sometimes labelled as a dark CHAR SIEW barbecue sauce for roasted meat or duck. Hoisin sauce is sold in bottles, jars or cans in supermarket or asian market. Chinese bbq sauce or a mix of oyster saucemay be substituted, altho this combination never works as well as true hoisin sauce.

FISH SAUCE..This sauce is produced by layering salt with fish or prawns in earthenware vats and allowing it to ferment in the brine solution for about 6 months. The fermented liquid is slowly siphoned off, filtered and bottled. A top quality fish sauce is very expensive, just like a good olive oil or vinegar. Bottles of fish sauce from various countries are avaiable in Asian food stores and supermarkets. Look for CLEARED AMBER colored fish sauce, which is an indication of the best flavour and aroma. Fish sauce is used by most Asian for marinades, while the more expensive variety is used in soups and dipping sauces on its own or added chilliand chopped garlic. Soy sauce with a bit of oyster sauce makes the best substitute