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Oyster sauce describes a number of sauces made by cooking
oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...
s. The most common in modern use is a
viscous Viscosity is a measure of a fluid's rate-dependent resistance to a change in shape or to movement of its neighboring portions relative to one another. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of ''thickness''; for example, syrup h ...
dark brown
condiment A condiment is a preparation that is added to food, typically after cooking, to enhance the Flavoring, flavour, to complement the dish or to impart a specific flavor. Such specific flavors generally add sweetness or pungency, or sharp or piquant ...
made from
oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...
extracts,The Times, 22 January 1981; ''Cook Accidentally on purpose'' sugar, salt and water, thickened with
corn starch Cornflour, cornstarch, maize starch, or corn starch (American English) is the starch derived from corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the seed, kernel. Corn starch is a common food ingredient, often used to thick ...
(though original oyster sauce reduced the unrefined sugar through heating, resulting in a naturally thick sauce due to caramelization, not the addition of corn starch). Today, some commercial versions are darkened with caramel, though high-quality oyster sauce is naturally dark. It is commonly used in Chinese, Thai, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, and Khmer cuisine.


Production

Oyster sauce production began in China no later than the mid-1870s. Oysters were boiled in three iron basins for half an hour, then removed for drying on
rattan Rattan, also spelled ratan (from Malay language, Malay: ''rotan''), is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the clos ...
either by sun or over a moderate fire. The water from the basins was reduced in a fourth basin to "a blackish sauce". Seawater, salt and/or soy could be added. Today, most oyster sauce is produced commercially on automated production lines. Many shortcuts have been made to create a similar flavor more quickly and at reduced cost. Oyster sauces today are usually made with a base of sugar and salt and thickened with corn starch. Oyster extracts or essences are then used to give flavor to the base sauce. Other ingredients, such as soy sauce and
monosodium glutamate Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is a sodium salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a flavor enhancer with a ...
, may also be added to deepen the flavor and add color. The quality of the oyster sauce will greatly affect the flavor.


Culinary use

Oyster sauce adds a savory flavor to many meat and vegetable dishes. The sauce is a staple for much Chinese family-style cooking. It is commonly used in noodle stir-fries, such as chow mein. It is also found in popular Chinese-American dishes such as beef with stir-fried vegetables. Oyster sauce can also be used as a topping for some dishes. Since its early stage of development, oyster sauce has been widely popular with
Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
chefs as an
umami Umami ( from ), or savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes. It is characteristic of broths and cooked meats. People taste umami through taste receptors that typically respond to glutamates and nucleotides, which are widely present in me ...
rich condiment. Oyster sauce is also used in
Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...
,
Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...
,
Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...
and
Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...
cuisines. Dishes that may use oyster sauce include crab in oyster sauce, kai-lan,
Buddha's delight Buddha's delight, often transliterated as ''Luóhàn zhāi'' (, Japanese: ), ''lo han jai'', or ''lo hon jai'', is a vegetarian dish well known in Chinese and Buddhist cuisine. It is sometimes also called ''Luóhàn cài'' (). The dish is t ...
, Hainanese chicken rice, cashew chicken, lo mein, cha siu baau, har gow, kai yat sai,
wonton noodles Wonton noodles (, also called wantan mee or wantan mein) is a noodle dish of Cantonese cuisine, Cantonese origin. Wonton noodles were given their name, ''húntún'' (), in the Tang dynasty, Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE). The dish is popular in Sout ...
, and daikon cake.


Difference from fish sauce

While oyster sauce and
fish sauce Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, L ...
are both briny and may have related histories, they are different products. Fish sauce is watery, clear, and salty, whereas oyster sauce is made by reducing oyster extracts and therefore sweeter with a hint of salt and not as strong an aroma as fish sauce.


Varieties

"True" oyster sauce of good quality should be made by condensing oyster extracts, the white broth produced by boiling oysters in water. This opaque broth, similar to the color of
clam juice Clam juice is a broth derived from steamed clams, which can be consumed on its own or used as an ingredient in various dishes and beverages. Preparation Clam juice is typically prepared from the liquid obtained from Steaming, steamed clams. Clam ...
found in supermarkets, is then reduced until a desired
viscosity Viscosity is a measure of a fluid's rate-dependent drag (physics), resistance to a change in shape or to movement of its neighboring portions relative to one another. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of ''thickness''; for e ...
has been reached and the liquid has caramelized to a brown color. No other additives, not even
salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...
, should be added to the sauce, since the oysters should provide all the savory flavor. However, this method is prohibitively expensive. Many modern oyster sauces are thickened with
cornstarch Cornflour, cornstarch, maize starch, or corn starch (American English) is the starch derived from corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the kernel. Corn starch is a common food ingredient, often used to thicken s ...
, flavored with oyster essence or extract and darkened with caramel.


Vegetarian oyster sauce

Vegetarian oyster sauce prepared from
mushrooms A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...
, often
oyster mushroom ''Pleurotus'' is a genus of Gill (mushroom), gilled mushrooms which includes one of the most widely eaten mushrooms, ''Pleurotus ostreatus, P. ostreatus''. Species of ''Pleurotus'' may be called oyster, abalone, or tree mushrooms, and are ...
s or
shiitake The shiitake (; ''Chinese/black mushroom'' or ''Lentinula edodes'') is a macrofungus native to East Asia, which is cultivated and consumed around the globe. Taxonomy The fungus was first described scientifically as '' Agaricus edodes'' by ...
mushrooms, is also popular and generally lower in price. It may contain more taste enhancers if less mushroom extract is used to reduce costs.


Non-MSG oyster sauce

Most of the oyster sauces available on the market contain added
monosodium glutamate Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is a sodium salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a flavor enhancer with a ...
(MSG). In recent years MSG-free varieties can also be found.


European oyster sauce

In 19th-century French and English cooking, "oyster sauce" referred to a variant of ''
sauce blanche In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavour, texture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French languag ...
'' flavored with oysters, using a base of milk and melted butter rather than purely reducing the oysters by cooking.Mrs Beeton's Household Management
recipe 492 "Oyster Sauce", p. 224 (1861)
Ude, Louis Eustache
The French Cook
p. 293, Publisher Carey, Lea & Carey, 1829
The white sauce version was moistened with cream, whereas in brown oyster sauce, the cream was replaced with gravy. Common recipes using the sauce included "Steak and oyster sauce", documented as early as 1806, and "Cod and oyster sauce". This sauce was still being eaten in Australia in the 1970s.


Health issues

In 2001, the United Kingdom
Food Standards Agency The Food Standards Agency is a non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for protecting public health in relation to food in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is led by a board appoin ...
found in tests of various oyster sauces and
soy sauce Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of China, Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermentation (food), fermented paste of soybeans, roasted cereal, grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''A ...
s that 22% of samples contained a chemical called 3-MCPD (3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol) at levels considerably higher than those deemed safe by the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
. About two-thirds of these samples also contained a second chemical, called 1,3-DCP (1,3-dichloropropanol), which experts advise should not be present at any levels in food. Both chemicals have the potential to cause
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
, and the Agency recommended that the affected products be withdrawn from shelves and avoided. The joint Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) said it had taken emergency action to amend its food standards code to set a limit for 3-MCPD in soy sauce of 0.02 milligrams per kilogram, in line with European Commission standards that came into force in the EU in April 2002.


See also

* List of Chinese sauces *
List of sauces The following is a list of notable Culinary art, culinary and prepared sauces used in cooking and food service. General * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * – Creamy sauce accompanies with seafood * * * * * * ...


References


External links

* {{Auth Chinese sauces Chinese condiments Filipino cuisine Thai cuisine Oyster dishes Umami enhancers