chow mein sauce?

[dearprudence]

That thick and cream coloured sauce that one finds in chow mein?

What is it composed of?

And how does one make it?

[annachan]

Thick creamed color sauce? The thickening agent is probably a cornstarch slurry. The cream color, I'm not sure. Maybe is stock? With a little soy sauce?

[SuzySushi]

Sounds like it's chicken or pork stock plus a little soy sauce, thickened with a cornstarch slurry (cornstarch dissolved in a little water).

[feedmec00kies]

soy sauce? i'm not positive, but i could have swore there was (also?) oyster sauce or "oyster flavored sauce" (usually mushroom-based, i think) in chow mein sauce, but maybe that's more lo mein (i don't know my chinese-american-ized noodle dishes that well - i prefer to just eat my noodles asian-noodle-soup-style)...

i agree with the last two posts that the white color to it must be corn starch, because there really aren't dairy products in chinese cooking and they don't use tofu or something as a base to sauces either, though i don't think it would contribute that much color in the quantity you'd need to thicken. if you are sure about it being creamy and white, you're probably looking for a more "westernized" version; that, i have no idea about

[ojisan]

Campbell's cream of mushroom soup.

[Octaveman]

Campbell's cream of mushroom soup.

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That's what I was thinking.

[Dejah]

Campbell's cream of mushroom soup.

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That's what I was thinking.

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Noooooo.......

Anna and Suzi have the right combination. A little soya or oyster sauce would lend more of a cream colour.

It's more like an opaque sauce rather than cream coloured, I'd think.

You could add egg white but that would give a "thread - like" appearance.

[hongda]

We used chicken stock for the majority of the sauce, a little salt, sugar, white wine, sesame oil and thicken with cornstarch. The dark hue we got was from browning of the onions and vegatables beforehand. Then the fond and char will lend the slightly brownish color.

[feedmec00kies]

cream of mushroom soup????

[Fugu]

Cream coloured with chow mein sauce? As already mentioned, it is probably a slurry thickened stock, similar to a veloute. Some ho fun noodles recipes and some seafood stir frys uses this sauce.

A large percentage of Orientals are lactose intolerant, cream sauces are normally not used in Chinese cooking.

[hummingbirdkiss]

wanna bet they were right and it did have cream of mushroom in it ..hey you never know where was that dish invented anyway???

[Dejah]

wanna bet they were right and it did have cream of mushroom in it ..hey you never know where was that dish invented anyway???

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I really don't think so if this dish was served in a Chinese restaurant / take away, 'cos cream of mushroom soup would not be cost effective

Having had my own Chinese restaurant, I would bet it was the cheaper way of cornstarch slurry and stock and not cream of mushroom soup.

BTW, were there mushroom bits in the sauce?