Yuxiang () is a seasoning mixture in

Chinese cuisine Chinese cuisine comprises cuisines originating from Greater China, China, as well as from Overseas Chinese, Chinese people from other parts of the world. Because of the Chinese diaspora and the historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine ...

, and also refers to the resulting

sauce 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 wor ...

in which

meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...

vegetable Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including edible flower, flo ...

s are cooked. It is said to have originated in

Sichuan cuisine Sichuan cuisine or Sichuanese cuisine, alternatively romanized as Szechwan cuisine or Szechuan cuisine (, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is a style of Chinese cuisine originating from Sichuan province and the neighboring Chongqing munic ...

, and has since spread to other regional Chinese cuisines. Fuchsia Dunlop. Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking. (2003). 395 pag. , Despite the term literally meaning "

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

fragrance" in Chinese, yuxiang contains no

seafood Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...

and is typically not added to seafood. On top of the basic mixture, cooking yuxiang almost always includes the use of sugar, vinegar,

doubanjiang Doubanjiang (, International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ), also known as douban, toban-djan, broad bean chili sauce, or fermented chili bean paste, is a hot and savory Chinese bean paste made from fermented Vicia faba, broad beans, chili pepper ...

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 ...

, and pickled chili peppers.

Preparation

Proper preparation of the yuxiang seasoning includes finely minced pao la jiao (pickled chili), white scallion, ginger, and garlic. They are mixed in more-or-less equal portions, though some prefer to include more scallions than ginger and garlic. The mixture is then fried in oil until fragrant. Water, starch, sugar, and vinegar are then added to create a basic sauce.

Dishes

The sauce is used most often for dishes containing beef, pork, or chicken. It is sometimes used for vegetarian recipes.

Barbara Tropp Barbara Tropp (1948 – October 26, 2001) was an American Oriental studies, orientalist, chef, restaurateur, and food writer. During her career, she operated China Moon restaurant in San Francisco and wrote cookbooks that popularized Chinese cuisi ...

suggests in '' The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking'' that the characters can also be interpreted as meaning "

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 ...

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

" (渝湘) flavor. Dishes that use yuxiang as the main seasoning have the term affixed to their name. For instance: * Yúxiāngròusī (魚香肉絲): Pork strips stir-fried with yuxiang *Yúxiāngqiézi (魚香茄子): Braised

eggplant Eggplant (American English, US, Canadian English, CA, Australian English, AU, Philippine English, PH), aubergine (British English, UK, Hiberno English, IE, New Zealand English, NZ), brinjal (Indian English, IN, Singapore English, SG, Malays ...

s with yuxiang *Yúxiāngniúnǎn (魚香牛腩): Beef

brisket Brisket is a cut of meat from the breast or lower chest of beef or veal. The beef brisket is one of the nine beef primal cuts, though the definition of the cut differs internationally. The brisket muscles include the Pectoralis major, superficial ...

stewed with yuxiang

References

External links

Example of video recipe for Yuxiang sauce with shredded pork
by Wang Gang
Example of video recipe for Yuxiang sauce with eggplant
by Wang Gang
Example of video recipe for Chongqing-style Yuxiang sauce with shredded pork
by Wang Gang {{Sichuan cuisine Sichuan cuisine Food ingredients