Sweet and sour sauce

[Jason Perlow]

Well, for the most part, Sweet and Sour sauce as it is appreciated outside of China is cloyingly sweet and derives most of its flavor and texture from a lot of corstarch as well as the addition of ketchup. Not much actual vinegar in it.

Here is a recipe on About.com that should be on the money as far as what your family may be used to:

http://chinesefood.about.com/library/blrecipe010.htm

Eddie Schoenfeld, who moderates this forum, should be able to give you an authentic Chinese one if you want to try it.

[Wena]

hmmm... i wonder if there truly is a specific taste to sweet and sour sauce.

there is a slightly different taste to S&S fish and S&S pork ribs. probably because of the taste of the meat/fish that is used.

also depends on the type of tomato sauce that you used.

as for cornstarch, go easy with that stuff. too much will spoil the taste. same goes for the vinegar.

[elyse]

I didn't think there were any tomatoes in it at all. Just red.

[alanamoana]

there are these disc shaped things i used to eat like candy that my mom used in sweet and sour. they're called "haw flakes" and are packaged in little cylinders with pink paper and yellow and green printing on them. they usually come in six packs, but i've seen places sell individual rolls like candy. i think you can dissolve them in the sauce base and use them like flavoring. i loved eating them as a kid!

[elyse]

What do they taste like?

[jo-mel]

As you have found out and as others have said, there is no ONE Sweet and Sour Sauce. You have 5 chefs, you have five different S/S Sauces. The sauce is geared to the main ingredient in the dish. Restaurants vary as to the palate being pleased, and the trend in many places is toward the Western taste for sweetness. Sweet/Sour sauce is as different as your meat loaf and my meatloaf, and the meatloaves of all in this forum.

Barbara Meyers' book - :The Chinese Restaurant Cook Book has 3 dishes with S/S Sauce -- for wontons, for ribs and for pork. They are all different. But I've listed the essential ingredients for each, if you want to give them a try. The last one, with equal parts of vinegar and sugar ratio, is more to the ideal, rather than the ones that are heavier on sugar. But it is your families taste that you are concerned with.

For dipping wontons:

4 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. red rice vinegar, or red wine vinegar

1 tsp. light soy sauce

2 tsp. ketchup

1/2 tsp. MSG - (opt)

3/4 cup water

2 1/2 tsp. cornstarch

Mix the above, heat while stirring until it is bubbly and clear.

(I've edited it a bit, but this is essentially what it is.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

For glazing ribs:

2 thin slices fresh ginger

1 scallion

1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce

1 Tbsp rice wine or dry sherry

1 Tbsp. black rice vinegar, or red wine vinegar

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. cornstarch dissolved in 2 1/2 Tbsp. water

Chop the ginger and white part of the scallion fine. Combine remaining ingredients in a cup. ( Meyers' note: You may need slightly less wine vinegar. Taste to determine. )

Stirfry the ginger and scallions in 2 tsp. oil for a few second. Stir the sauce mix to mix up the sugar and cornstarch. Add to the ginger/scallions and heat, while stirring, until thick and clear.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

For the pork:

4 Tbsp. white rice vinegar or distilled white vijegar

4 Tbsp. sugar

4 Tbsp. chicken broth or water

2 tsp, light soy sauce

(My note: The above is added to the dish along with vegetables, carrots, pineapple, pork, etc. and thickened with cornstarch/water mix.)

[zaskar]

Does anyone have a good recipe for Sweet & Sour Pork/Chicken that doesn't use ketchup? I always find that they always use too much ketchup, i'd rather not it have any at all.

When I was in China in December the seet and sour pork didn't have any ketchup in it and it was great.

Thanks,

-z

[Ben Hong]

At the risk of sounding flippant, just leave it out.

[Pan]

Does anyone have a good recipe for Sweet & Sour Pork/Chicken that doesn't use ketchup?  I always find that they always use too much ketchup, i'd rather not it have any at all.

When I was in China in December the seet and sour pork didn't have any ketchup in it and it was great.[...]

←

The Sweet and Sour dishes I had in China got those tastes by using vinegar and sugar. I don't have a recipe for you offhand, but unless you had some other kind of sweet and sour dish in China, I'd look for that kind of recipe.

[Dejah]

We used ketsup for colour only in the sweet'n'sour sauce. Our base consisted of vinegar, sugar, ketsup (small amount) and "meat juice" from simmering deep fried pork ribs.

Our sweet 'n' sour spareribs were always put through egg wash then coated (squeezed individually by hand)with cracker crumbs. These were deep-fried and kept in the cooler. We would simmer the lunch/supper hour's supply of sweet'n'sour ribs in water, sugar and vinegar until the ribs were tender. The ribs were strained then kept warm in the steam table until needed.

The liquid from the above process was kept in big pails in the cooler. When we make the sweet'n'sour sauce (in large quantities), we would fill at least half the stock pot with this "stock" ( a transparent amber colour), top it with hot water, add more vinegar and sugar, add enough ketsup for a bit of red (NEVER Xmas red), then adjust the sweet and sour elements of the sauce. Once this came to a boil, we would thicken it with a cornstarch slurry until " a trail is momentarily visible when the ladle is pulled across the sauce".

I rarely make this at home because it would involve making the ribs, but I have improvised with chicken stock, vinegar and sugar. It's workable, but I do miss the "deep-fried" flavour. This was what set us apart from all the OTHER Chinese restaurants.

[jo-mel]

Here is a very basic S/S sauce:

SAUCE:

4 Tbs. sugar

4 Tbs. vinegar

1/4 cup water

1 Tbs. dark soy sauce

1 tsp. sesame oil

2 tsp. cornstarch

Just mix and heat till bubbly. You can see by the proportions of sugar to vinegar that the sweet will not dominate --- the way it is supposed to be. Very unlike the Westernized S/S sauces.

Use light soy sauce if you wish.

[hzrt8w]

It may be a lot of work making your own sauce.

One suggestion that I can come up with is to buy a jar of "plum sauce". When used in cooking sweet and sour pork, just mix some plum sauce with water, and add white vinegar and sugar. (Look Ma! No Ketchup!)

If you use canned pineapples to cook the sweet and sour pork dish, add some of the "juice" from the can. That would help.

[Ben Hong]

S&S sauce is not rocket science and shouldn't be too complicated, as Ah Leung confirms. To match the dish I usually will use fruit juices as the main liquid, eg: pineapple, lemon, orange, etc. I never use ketchup, which has a tendency to "cloud" or muddy up the sauce.

[Dejah]

S&S sauce is not rocket science and shouldn't be too complicated, as Ah Leung confirms. To match the dish I usually will use fruit juices as the main liquid, eg: pineapple, lemon, orange, etc. I never use ketchup, which has a tendency to "cloud" or muddy up the sauce.

←

Ahem! Ben Sook: Glad you said "tendency to cloud" as mine was never clouded

[Ben Hong]

Personally, I'd rather "swallow clouds".

[jo-mel]

Personally, I'd rather "swallow clouds".

←

As in deep-fried with SS sauce? ?heehee?

[shellfishfiend]

I hope this is the right place to post this. I did a search and did not come up with anythhing. (Probably used the wrong words.)

I was talking to my sister on the phone today and she metioned how much she loves the bright red sweet and sour sauce she gets from her local Chinese resturants. She said she saves the extra and dips bread in it until it is gone.

Now, these are restaruants in a small Arkansas town and I know this sauce is probably not at all authentic. But, I think eveyone knows what sauce I am talking about. She said she has tried buying versions at the grocery store and they are not right.

She said there is a light sediment left at the bottom of the containers when she gets the sauce from resturants. I asked if it was chili flakes and she said no, it is finer—like a spice.

So, if someone has a recipe for this sauce, I would really appreciate it. My sister does not like to cook so the fact she is interested in food/ccoking in any way has me really excited.

Can someone help me with a recipe for this "not really Chinese" sweet and sour sauce?

Can someone please fix my terrible typing in the topic line? Sorry-brain works faster than fingers.

Edited February 1, 2007 by shellfishfiend (log)

[prasantrin]

Search for hzrt8w's sweet and sour sparerib recipe in the China forum, and just make the sauce. His is the closest I've come to making North American Chinese restaurant-style S&S sauce.

[TJHarris]

We always use this stand-by.

1 part Ketchup

1 part Sugar

1 part white vinegar

1 part water

combine in heavy saucepan (non-reactive) and heat gently. reduce by 1/4 or to desired consistency.

[petite tête de chou]

I really like this recipe. I always use the pineapple juice in the sauce instead of water. Tasty!

[infernooo]

I hope this is the right place to post this. I did a search and did not come up with anythhing. (Probably used the wrong words.)

I was talking to my sister on the phone today and she metioned how much she loves the bright red sweet and sour sauce she gets from her local Chinese resturants. She said she saves the extra and dips bread in it until it is gone.

Now, these are restaruants in a small Arkansas town and I know this sauce is probably not at all authentic. But, I think eveyone knows what sauce I am talking about. She said she has tried buying versions at the grocery store and they are not right.

She said there is a light sediment left at the bottom of the containers when she gets the sauce from resturants. I asked if it was chili flakes and she said no, it is finer—like a spice.

So, if someone has a recipe for this sauce, I would really appreciate it. My sister does not like to cook so the fact she is interested in food/ccoking in any way has me really excited.

Can someone help me with a recipe for this "not really Chinese" sweet and sour sauce?

Can someone please fix my terrible typing in the topic line? Sorry-brain works faster than fingers.

←

I know about the sediment... you can actually see small flecks throughout the sauce, and I'm pretty sure it isn't just charred bits picked up from a blistering hot wok. I still haven't been able to make the sauce the same as at a restaurant myself either (and I do have the high heat capable of reproducing the "breath of the wok" flavour). Tried the sugar + water + ketchup + vinegar versions + every other one I have found (one including boiling lemons + oranges etc).

[prasantrin]

I would guess that the small flecks might be undissolved powder from a mix. A lot of restaurants I know make their sauce from a powdered mix.

[Dejah]

We always use this stand-by. 

1 part Ketchup

1 part Sugar

1 part white vinegar

1 part water

combine in heavy saucepan (non-reactive) and heat gently.  reduce by 1/4 or to desired consistency.

←

I have never made this "Christmas sauce", as my kids call it, but the recipe TJ Harris posted is what I would suspect. It's cheap, quick, sweet, and sour.

The red flecks could well be undisolved red food colouring.

Can't understand how people can soak their food in this red glue.

[Ben Hong]

Eeewww...

[Gastro888]

We used tomato paste at my family's restaurant. Not catsup. No food coloring. Sugar, vinegar, tomato paste, salt, cornstarch slurry. I'm sure there is something else but I can't think of it right now. Will ask my dad next time.