23. The Sesame Oil Surprise
This was brought to my attention by a Chinese friend who had been looking at YouTube videos featuring Chinese recipes. She noticed that many, many recipes marinated their proteins in the usual soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine and the not at all usual, very surprising sesame oil. What further baffled her was that some (a larger than expected minority) of these recipes were from people who claimed to be of Chinese or other Asian ethnicities.
I reminded her that many ethnically Chinese people living in the diaspora have never actually been to China and can be very westernised and in any case being of a certain ethnicity does not make you an expert on its cuisine or even cooking it. I know many Chinese people here in China who can’t boil an egg or make rice. My friend is self-admittedly a basic level cook, but a star basketball player.
Her surprise came from her knowing that Chinese sesame oil is valued for its flavour and aroma, both of which are highly volatile and disappear when heated. So, in Chinese cuisine, it is only applied as a condiment when the dish is being served and then off the heat, or perhaps occasionally unheated in a dipping sauce. It couldn't possible survive the way these recipes treat it. They could have saved time and achieved the same results by just pouring the oil down the toilet and missing out the middle man.
I defy anyone to marinate two samples of marinaded meat, one with and one without sesame oil, then tell me blindfolded which is which after it is cooked.
And for the antipodean clown who bought a gallon jar of sesame oil, I hope you have a huge fridge because it rapidly goes rancid and loses flavour if stored unrefrigerated after opening. My bottte is 100ml, the standard size here.