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
)
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, image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains
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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](_blank)
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
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List of Chinese sauces
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List of sauces
The following is a list of notable Culinary art, culinary and prepared sauces used in cooking and food service.
General
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* – Creamy sauce accompanies with seafood
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References
External links
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Chinese sauces
Chinese condiments
Filipino cuisine
Thai cuisine
Oyster dishes
Umami enhancers