Chinese sauce brands...

[Mr Wozencroft]

For the last year i've been trying out various brands of the same products to find out which ones I prefer. So I thought I'd list a few that I recommend:

Lee Kum Kee Double Deluxe Soy Sauce.

Pearl River preserved black beans.

BaiJai chilli bean paste

(which has the highest amount of fermented broads beans I have seen so far)

Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce.

Does anyone use any of these brands? Are there others that you prefer?

Please feel fee to list your preferences.

[thampik]

I have only used the following brands (some that Fuchsia Dunlop recommends in her two books), so I can't say I have anything to compare against

Pearl River Bridge Superior Dark and Light soy sauces

Gold Plum Chinkiang vinegar

Gold Plum Yang Jiang Preserved beans with Ginger

Gold Plum Rice Wine Vinegar

Lee Kum Kee Chilli Bean Sauce

I particularly love the preserved beans and chilli bean sauce.

Have you tried any of these? I would be interested to know whether there are better options.

Edited April 7, 2009 by thampik (log)

[Mr Wozencroft]

I have used the Lee Kum Lee Chilli bean sauce. Its ingrediants are:

Salted chilli pepper (48 %), water, fermented soybean paste, fermented broad bean paste, white sugar, garlic, m.s.g. etc.

I prefer the Baijia brand. Its ingrediants are:

Salad Oil, fermented broad bean sauce, chilli, sichuan pepper, sugar ginger, garlic and m.sg.

Not sure which one is more authentic or anything like that, just a personal preference.

Incidentaly I bought the Baijia brand at a Korean shop, which was the only place I have found facing heaven chilli's and really good quality Sichuan peppercorns. Suprisingly better than my local chinese markets in terms of Sichuan ingrediants. Perhaps, like myself, the Korean people have a love for Sichuan food?

I use the dark pearl river soy sauce and have been happy with it. I prefer the Lee Kum Kee light soya sauce, especially for dipping and noodle sauces.