What is the Best Meat for Sweet and Sour?

[ChaosD.Ace]

Hi out of Pork, Chicken and Beef which meat best compliments sweet and sour, and which cut of that meat?

 

I know there is no right answer but I just wanted to get some opinions on this.

[rotuts]

if I had to pick only one it would be Pork

[Jaymes]

Personally, I'd also put prawns on that list.

Edited April 12, 2016 by Jaymes (log)

[liuzhou]

I'd put fish.

 

Sweet and sour beef sounds odd to me. I don't recall ever seeing it.

 

For pork, I use tenderloin.

Edited April 13, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[Lisa Shock]

This is actually a really non-specific question, covering a lot of territory. Are you referring to a sauce in a jar, or one particular recipe? In general, there's the pineapple crowd and those (like me and Dr Hattori) who don't think that pineapple belongs anywhere near S&S sauce. I suspect that different brands/recipes for sauces may do well on different main dishes.

 

That said, a gastrique is essentially a S&S pan sauce which can be created to complement whatever was cooked in the pan -most definitely including beef.

 

And, in general, when constructing a dish, having it hit most, if not all, of the taste attributes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami) is a desired goal. But balancing them to get the desired sort of bouncing around the mouth in harmony of a great combination takes skill.

 

So, I would simply say any could be done well and all could be ruined in the process, it just depends....

[Duvel]

I would also go with fish, preferably coated and fried (like squirrel fish) ...

[ChaosD.Ace]

5 hours ago, Lisa Shock said:

This is actually a really non-specific question, covering a lot of territory. Are you referring to a sauce in a jar, or one particular recipe? In general, there's the pineapple crowd and those (like me and Dr Hattori) who don't think that pineapple belongs anywhere near S&S sauce. I suspect that different brands/recipes for sauces may do well on different main dishes.

 

That said, a gastrique is essentially a S&S pan sauce which can be created to complement whatever was cooked in the pan -most definitely including beef.

 

And, in general, when constructing a dish, having it hit most, if not all, of the taste attributes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami) is a desired goal. But balancing them to get the desired sort of bouncing around the mouth in harmony of a great combination takes skill.

 

So, I would simply say any could be done well and all could be ruined in the process, it just depends....

No I try to make the sauce from scratch. Last time I did a home-made ketchup (with fresh tomatoes (im gonna try get them riper next time), mixed in with Rice Vinegar, Sugar, a little soy sauce (for the salty) and Water, I did add some fresh pineapple juice and a little bit of mango just because i like to have some fresh fruit in there and not just the vinegar and sugar. Am I doing it wrong? Oh and gelatin in the end of course to thicken it. I like to cook the protein separately (marinated for extra flavour) and to simply spread the sauce over the dish, on the dinner table. Served with egg fried rice.

 

Also I don't want to do fish/seafood, because I have a stupid amount of fish in other dishes on my menu already, so I need some more meat/poultry.

 

Thanks for all the great responses so far.

 

Sorry for the triple posting.

[Lisa Shock]

I don't think there's a wrong way, unless it doesn't taste good -or makes someone sick. I tend to make apricot and lemon based S&S, which isn't very often.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Well, if you are going to eliminate seafood, I would definitely go with pork then. My favorite happens to be shrimp. Pork is a close second.

 

I like a batter on the fried protein that doesn't go soggy in the sauce. It's the opposite of what I usually like for fried food without a sauce which is tender, light and crisp, but with the sweet and sour treatment, I much prefer a batter that is harder, just a little thicker, and more impermeable to the sauce. An otherwise very good local restaurant ruins their sweet and sour grouper dish with a batter that quickly goes limp. I guess I could ask then to serve the sauce on the side.