It's a Hot, Hot, Hot, Hot World (1963)

[hzrt8w]

Hot Sauce Evaluation

Pictures:

English brand/sauce name: Yank Sing, Chili Pepper Sauce

Chinese brand/sauce name: 羊城, 辣椒醬

Hotness rating: 3 out of 5

Evaluation: Out of many hot sauces that I have tried, Yank Sing is my personal most favorite brand. They make 2 sauces: Yank Sing Chili Pepper Sauce and Yank Sing XO Sauce. They are made by the San Francisco famous Yank Sing dim sum restaurant inside the Rincon Center in downtown San Francisco. But I have known them over 20 years ago when Yank Sing was a small neighborhood restaurant selling wonton noodles and stir-fried entrees at the corner of Broadway and Powell. Their hot sauce has not changed much over the years.

The chili pepper hot sauce has a very well balanced flavor of chili, fermented black beans, garlic, tiny bits of preserved vegetables ("choy poh" I think) and perhaps many other ingredients. The hotness is only mild, but the taste is very rich.

They are a bit expensive (US$4.00). Much higher compared to the counterpart. But I have not seen even a close second.

Usage suggestions: This hot sauce is very versatile. You may use it equally well as condiments or in cooking. Good with noodle soup, stir-fry entrees or just about any dish. In cooking, use it to enrich braised types of dishes.

[Toliver]

Hot Sauce Evaluation

Pictures:

English brand/sauce name: Yank Sing, Chili Pepper Sauce

Chinese brand/sauce name: 羊城, 辣椒醬

Hotness rating: 3 out of 5

Evaluation: Out of many hot sauces that I have tried, Yank Sing is my personal most favorite brand.  They make 2 sauces: Yank Sing Chili Pepper Sauce and Yank Sing XO Sauce. They are made by the San Francisco famous Yank Sing dim sum restaurant inside the Rincon Center in downtown San Francisco. But I have known them over 20 years ago when Yank Sing was a small neighborhood restaurant selling wonton noodles and stir-fried entrees at the corner of Broadway and Powell. Their hot sauce has not changed much over the years. 

The chili pepper hot sauce has a very well balanced flavor of chili, fermented black beans, garlic, tiny bits of preserved vegetables ("choy poh" I think) and perhaps many other ingredients.  The hotness is only mild, but the taste is very rich.

They are a bit expensive (US$4.00). Much higher compared to the counterpart. But I have not seen even a close second.

Usage suggestions: This hot sauce is very versatile.  You may use it equally well as condiments or in cooking.  Good with noodle soup, stir-fry entrees or just about any dish.  In cooking, use it to enrich braised types of dishes.

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This sort of looks like a condiment/sauce that my favorite local chinese restaurant serves. When I first tasted it many years ago, I thought it had quite a kick. Now I am acclimated to it but still enjoy dipping egg rolls and other finger foods into it. I tried recreating it at home and failed spectacularly.

Now I just have to see if my local Asian market sells it or something like it!

[mizducky]

I call this "old lady sauce" because of the picture of the old lady on the bottle. The type that also includes fermented beans is AMAZING. It has so much flavor. I use as the only thing added when I make super quick stir frys. It covers the sweet, hot, umami, and salty all with one item. I was so happy when I found this in Japan after using it in the states for years.

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Aha! Found it! I knew I'd read about the "old lady" sauces somewhere!

When I was last in 99 Ranch, I picked up a couple of jars of "Old Lady" brand hot stuff. One is fermented bean curd in chile oil. The other ... well, the scant English on the label calls it simply "spicy paste." The ingredient list is short and sweet: fermented flour paste (?), broad bean, canola oil, chile, monosodium glutamate. I dunno what fermented flour paste could possibly be, nor whether this is the same as the sauce referred to above with "fermented beans" in it, but I figured that, if the stuff I have isn't a version of toban jan, it's close enough for my purposes. So far, I've only had opportunity to try the fermented bean curd--and wow! That is the tastiest fu yu I've yet tried! If the other stuff is as good as this, I will be in chile heaven!

[mudbug]

On 4/21/2006 at 12:40 AM, hzrt8w said:

I don't think I ever had Lan Chi brand Chili Paste with Garlic. Since you brought it up, I should look for it and sample it to give you my eval.

 

Can't seem to find it in the Bay Area, but definitely worth mail ordering even though it would cost more. It's one of my all time favorites. And I prefer it straight, on mashed potatoes which is the perfect canvas for Lan Chi's Garlic Chili Paste. I've never found anything else like it that comes close to it in flavor.

[Katie Meadow]

I've also heard this brand called "grandmother's" but just looking at her picture she isn't that old! The brand is, I believe, Lao Gan Ma. One of their products is labeled Spicy Chili Crisp. It has a distinctive taste, very good. I have found it in Oakland Chinatown and assume that there are markets in SF where it can be easily purchased. I don't shop Ranch 99 but I would guess they carry it. The comdiments usually referred to as Chili Garlic Paste are numerous. Sambal Oelek is one example, flavorful and medium spicy. I've never tried the Lan Chi brand.

Edited October 15, 2019 by Katie Meadow (log)

[liuzhou]

7 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

I've also heard this brand called "grandmother's" but just looking at her picture she isn't that old!

 

Here is a 2014 picture of her.

 

 

from my blog here.

[Katie Meadow]

@liuzhou thanks for the great picture. Okay, she def could be a granny! Loved the story on your blog about her sauce.

[liuzhou]

Actually, the name 干妈 means 'godmother', not 'grandmother' or 'honorable mother' as claimed upthread.

 

Literally 老干妈 (lǎo gān mā) translates as 'old dry mother', here meaning 'dry' as in the sense of not offering liquid sustenance to the child. A bit akin to being the opposite of a wet nurse, I suppose.

 

However, unlike 'godmother' it carries no religious significance or responsibilities.

Edited October 17, 2019 by liuzhou (log)