Oyster Sauce

[anzu]

Imagine that you would need to make your own:

soy sauce

tofu

soy milk

foo yu

rice wine

vinegar

bean sauce

(etc..)

Dry your own oysters, dry your own shrimps, scallops.  Grow your own mushrooms?  Make your own cheese?  Brew your own wine? ...

←

I know you were talking rhetorically, but I was more-or-less in this situation for a while. It's interesting, but not necessarily much fun when you're doing it out of necessity.

I was living for several years in New Delhi, (several years back) and the only Chinese flavoring available was soy sauce. A fairly nasty type of vinegar was available too. Western ingredients mostly weren't available either.

Getting stuff from abroad wasn't possible - by mail it was too likely to 'disappear' before it got to you, and who had the money to get stuff from abroad when our very low income was in rupees?

I was getting pretty desperate for Chinese and Western ingredients and I did try making my own tofu, brewing wine, etc.

When you're already working a full-time day job (well, being a student in my case), and convenience products are almost non existent (and due to some complex health issues, not bought in our house anyway), and each grocery shopping trip means going to a different place for vegetables, a different place for fruit, for spices, for rice, etc., then making your own stuff is really, really exhausting...

[muichoi]

I've not had homemade versions of all those things, but certainly Tofu, soy sauce and soy milk are infinitely better home made-don't know about rice wine, the more expensive brands you buy are great bargains with all the secondary characteristics and complexity which come only from great age. Anyone know how to make foo yu, I've always wondered?

[aprilmei]

Come to Hong Kong and fill your luggage! (although you could probably only bring back bottled stuff). You can find a lot of this stuff here. In the States, it would be considered "artisinal" and it would cost much more.

←

When I come back to HK for a visit, I would like to load up on dried conpoy, dried squid, ham yu, ... and most importantly... snacks! Olives and plums! Those are available in SF but the quality is so-so and the prices are $$$.

And... of course, load up my stomach while I am over there.

←

Are you good at sneaking things in? because they frequently stop me when I go back to the States (I think they target Chinese faces). I don't know if you're allowed to bring some of this stuff you just mentioned: I have successfully brought in conpoy and dried mushrooms but then another time, they wouldn't let me bring in some prawn crackers (yes, they were cooked). And they're also confused about meat products: some inspection drones will let you in with it, others will not. I heard another time (but perhaps I wrong) that they weren't letting people bring in mooncakes but I've never been stopped with them.

[hzrt8w]

Are you good at sneaking things in? because they frequently stop me when I go back to the States (I think they target Chinese faces).

←

I had crossed the Pacific about a dozen times in the past 20 some years. Fortunately not once was I stopped by the US Custom. Perhaps the Custom Officers thought: what does this nerd looking guy know about food? Nah... just let him go.

I had brought in black mushrooms, conpoy, dried squids, ham yu, olives, plums, shrimp roll snacks, dried abalone, and many times beef jerkies (which I knew were forbidden - The temptation was just too great.) One time I came very close... the sniffing dog lingered around my luggage for almost like a minute. But in the end they waved me to pass.

I don't know how they profile someone for further inspections. Maybe guys can pass easier than ladies. I did ask the merchants to air-tight seal all my purchases and I double-wrapped them with more plastic bags.

In recent years I had stopped bringing in beef jerkies. I felt that what I can purchase in Irvine or Alhambra (stores operated by Taiwanese) taste better than those I got from Hong Kong. So, why bother?