Soy Sauce

Soy Sauce is a staple ingredient for cooking throughout Asia though it originated in China. 

Soybeans are cooked; mixed with flour and a specific mold as well as salt; covered in water and allowed to ferment. Sometimes other things are added like sugar, alcohol and caramel color. 

There are regional differences of course. Japan generally uses more wheat flour to create their preferred flavor profile. Though they also produce wheat free tamari soy sauce. Indonesia uses a thicker and stronger soy sauce and so on.

For China, there are primarily three soy sauce types: Light or Thin, not to be confused with Lite or reduced sodium; Dark, Black or sometimes Thick soy; and a Mushroom variety of Dark soy sauce.  There is a Thick soy that's different from Dark soy as well, but it's not commonly encountered.

Wikipedia summarizes their characteristics well:

• Light or fresh soy sauce (生抽 shēngchōu or 酱清 "jiàngqing") is a thin (low viscosity), opaque, lighter brown soy sauce. It is the main soy sauce used for seasoning, since it is saltier, has less noticeable color, and also adds a distinct flavour. The light soy sauce made from the first pressing of the soybeans is called tóuchōu (simplified Chinese: 头抽; traditional Chinese: 頭抽), which can be loosely translated as first soy sauce or referred to as premium light soy sauce. Touchōu is sold at a premium because, like extra virgin olive oil, the flavor of the first pressing is considered superior. An additional classification of light soy sauce, shuānghuáng (雙璜), is double-fermented to add further complexity to the flavour. These last two more delicate types are used primarily for dipping.
• Dark and old soy sauce (老抽 lǎochōu), a darker and slightly thicker soy sauce, is aged longer, contains caramel, and may contain added molasses to give it its distinctive appearance. This variety is mainly used during cooking, since its flavour develops during heating. It has a richer, slightly sweeter, and less salty flavour than light soy sauce. Dark soy sauce is partly used to add color and flavour to a dish after cooking, but, as stated above, is more often used during the cooking process, rather than after.
  • Mushroom dark soy (草菇老抽 cǎogū lǎochōu): In the finishing and aging process of making dark soy sauce, the broth of Volvariella volvacea mixed into the soy sauce and is then exposed to the sun to produce this type of dark soy. The added broth gives this soy sauce a richer flavour than plain dark soy sauce.

Going through my various cookbooks and looking for recommended brands these are the results.

Light Soy Sauce

Kikkoman is the first pick of Grace Young and Barbara Tropp. Tropp also likes the reduced sodium Kikkoman. While Kikkoman has a wheatier, sweeter profile than most Chinese soy sauce it is nearly universally available and quite compatible in the role of Light Soy Sauce. I've used plenty of Kikkoman in the past. It's a fine product but I prefer more Chinese-oriented flavor profiles over this.

Koon Chun Thin Soy Sauce is an equal pick for Eileen Yin Fei Lo and Bruce Cost's recommended brand. I've done some testing with this brand and it is a quality brand. Good complexity and nuanced flavors. High salt content for my situation though. If you use this soy sauce, pay special attention to balancing flavors as you finish the dish. Use less if cooking from my recipes as it will be overly salty. Alternatively, you can increase other flavorings to bring it into balance as well, but that's a trickier path. 

Pearl River Bridge Superior Light Soy is an equal pick of Bruce Cost and respected by Barbara Tropp though she prefers Kikkoman. This soy is often recommended on the internet and is the soy sauce I've used for some years now. It's lower in sodium than most other brands which is one reason I use it. Beware though, the bulk plastic jugs of this soy sauce are rated about 600 mg/tablespoon more sodium per tablespoon than the glass bottled soy with the same label. I don't know why. My recipes are based around this brand.

Yuet Heung Yuen Soy Sauce is preferred by Eileen Yin Fei Lo and Mai Leung. I've not noticed this sauce in a local store yet.

I did a taste test of Koon Chun, Pearl River Bridge and Kikkoman Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce. It was enlightening as it taught me the perils of taste tests. Whichever soy sauce you used to develop the recipe will taste the best in that battery of recipes.

Amoy First Extract Light Soy Sauce is one I've been playing with for a few days now. It's only slightly saltier than the PRB. In comparing the flavors it has a more balanced nuanced complexity. However, it also contains sugar and caramel color. First extractions are normally used only in dips and not for cooking. I do think the nuances would be lost under heat and other flavors and best reserved for dipping. It costs more than the Pearl River Bridge as well.

See this update about Pearl River Bridge.

Soy sauce is inexpensive and it's worth conducting your own taste tests to discover what you like best. 

Dark Soy Sauce

I've not experimented as widely with dark soy. It's used almost purely in cooking and it's nuances aren't as clear used that way.

Amoy is the preference of Mai Leung though she differentiates her preferences among dark, double black and mushroom dark soys.

Koon Chun Double Black Soy is Eileen Yin Fei Lo's pick. 

Pearl River Bridge Mushroom Dark Soy is recommended by Mai Leung, Barbara Tropp,  Bruce Cost  I've mostly used PRB mushroom for my Dark Soy  but don't have a strong preference in this category. It gets a lot of votes from respected authors though.

Yuet Heung Yuen  Double Black for Mai Leung as she differentiates among the different types of dark soy

The preponderance of using the Mushroom variant for all Dark soy uses is one I practice too.

History of Soy Sauce is a worthwhile source for details about soy sauce.

Also my update on soy sauce testing, http://itsallabouttohappen.blogspot.com/2013/10/soy-sauce-choices-2013.html

Onion Pepper Beef

You'll see this dish occasionally in restaurants and buffets, but not as often as I think this dish deserves. It's a good dish to start with for cooking Chinese food as it's fairly straight forward and needing only a few ingredients.You might think of it as a Chinese pepper steak with onions.

3/4-1 pound flank steak, cut thinly across the grain

Steak Marinade
1 tablespoon ShaoHsing wine
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger

Oil for passing,  about 1 1/2 cups for a round bottomed wok, 2-3 cups for a flat bottom wok


Oil for stir frying, about 1 tablespoon
1 onion sliced julienne
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 green onions sliced thinly on the bias
sugar,  pinch
freshly ground black pepper to taste
Splash of soy sauce as desired


Prepare the steak. If you're not using a steak already pre-proportioned, then section it as follows.

Cut the flank steak in approximate thirds along the grain.

Wrap the other two pieces of steak in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze for other use.

Slice thinly across the grain.

Combine the beef strips with the marinade ingredients and let marinade about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the ingredients. Cut the onion in half from root end to sprout end. Peel off the dried skin. This particular onion has a bit of a bad section  I'll need to trim out. The rest of the onion is fine.

Now cut the half into quarters, again from root to sprout end.

Slice along the tall sections for about 3 slices. Then flip the onion so what was the bottom is now vertical and slice it again 3 or so times, repeating the flip every few cuts. This produces the most even julienne working with the natural form and layers of the onion.

Repeat with the other half of the onion

Slice the green onions on the bias and set aside. 

Have the sugar, pepper and soy sauce at hand

Heat the oil in the wok for passing, between 275 and 300 works well.

Drain off any excess marinade from the beef. Add the beef to the oil stirring to separate the individual slices of beef. Cook just until all the pink is no longer visible. Remove the beef and drain well. Pour the hot oil into a safe container to cool. I usually use a sauce pan on the stove for holding the hot oil, pouring through a fine strainer to catch any bits of food. I'll reuse this oil a few times. Wipe out the wok, there is too much oil still on the surface for the rest of the stir fry in my opinion

Return the wok to the heat, turning the heat to high. When the wok is hot, add the tablespoon of oil to the wok, drizzling it around the sides to give the best distribution of oil to the wok. 

Add the onions and stir fry until they just begin to soften. Add the garlic and return the beef to the wok. Stir fry adding sugar and black pepper. Be generous with the pepper. Then add the green onions, toss a few times to heat everything up. Drizzle a little soy in and serve immediately.

You may see this dish with julienne bell peppers as well. That too is a good dish.

Two Videos Worth Watching

First up is a fine video Grace Young did for Chow. 

I like this video for a couple of reasons. She addresses the primary issues facing a stirfry cook on Western equipment. But also there is some good technique and information to be gleaned in how she handles the beef. Notice that she's getting it all in contact with the heat in a SINGLE layer. She doesn't move the beef around, but lets it cook and pick up the sear you'd get from a hotter heat source in traditional stir frying. Lastly, she manages the cooking so the beef just comes to completion at service. 


This is particularly tricky with beef for a home cook in a wok. It's tricky to stir fry beef to an even level of doneness, especially if you want some pink left in the beef. 

Most restaurants work around this with oil-blanching or passing through hot oil. Quite often the technique is just referred to as passing. This is the easiest way to produce beef that is evenly cooked and tender. But sloppy passing and draining leads to greasy stir fries. 


Grace Young sidesteps these extra hassles with good technique in her video. That technique also includes not overloading the wok. But if you're not getting the results you want, consider passing the meat first next time. 

The second video is Jennifer 8 Lee's TED talk that is mostly a summary of her book The Fortune Cookie Chronicles. 

This runs a bit over 15 minutes, but covers lots of ground about things we associate with Chinese Restaurants and their food that really have nothing to do with China. The book's a good read too.

Review: China Modern

China Modern: 100 Cutting Edge Fusion Style Recipes for the 21st Century

Another book I got from the library, this one was pretty well done. 

Ingredient lists tend to be short, plenty of pretty photos and clearly written. 

Recipes are for two servings. I thought this was a pretty limiting decision, though it's not too hard to scale up from there. On the other hand, it was written for a European audience and it does make more sense there.

Most recipes are simplified in ingredient list and specialty ingredients but show a good focus and understanding of the cuisines. This serves to highlight particular flavors simply and well. And also make the dishes easier to cook for many who don't have a deep pantry of exotic ingredients

There are dishes from across Asia and some Fusion cooking going on as well such as the Peking Duck Sushi and even some Chinese style Fish and Chips. 

Review: New Classic Chinese Cookbook by Mai Leung

This is an update of an older version of her 1987 book, thus the New in the title. 

Even then, this edition is 13 years old, from 1998 so not so new now.  I discovered it recently at the library and thought it looked worth more than just flipping through. So I checked it out.


A decent effort, covering a good swath of the cuisine, often with stories of the dish from her past. No photos, but enough illustrations where they're useful. I generally prefer cookbooks in this style as they tend to be more substantive in content than relying on fancy food pictures for sales.


She offers a pretty good section on ingredients, recommending specific brands here and there. 

As to the writing, the same sort of thing has been done better by other authors specifically Eileen Yin Fei Lo covering life stories with depth and feeling. That's not why we buy cookbooks so I can't hold this against Mai Leung's work.

The food and cooking more importantly are focused on quality and traditional foods, not the American restaurant food. She uses dark soy in ways I've not commonly seen it used in finish sauces. Which is probably why she spends more time calling out different brands of dark soy in the different styles of dark soy than any other author I've seen. 


She also discusses the oil blanching or passing through oil technique something I don't see taught very often. 


There's a different perspective into Chinese cooking than I've seen before and I like the insightful slant into the food itself. For a fan of the cuisine, this is a book worth familiarizing yourself with. For newcomers to home cooking of traditional Chinese food, I think there are better starting points. I plan on adding a copy to my personal collection.

Aromatics

Garlic and Ginger are what we normally think of for aromatics in Chinese cooking. 

The grocery store is full of convenience items for managing these as many people think they're tedious ingredients. Jars of pre-peeled garlic cloves, even jars of minced garlic and another of minced ginger. But they're both pretty easy to cook with from fresh garlic and ginger.

For ginger, I prefer to cut off what I need and then further prepare it.

If it's just a "coin"--a US Quarter sized slice--I'll cut it off, then trim away the peel.

For larger amounts, I prefer to cut off a chunk, or knob and peel it with the edge of a spoon.

I'm still figuring out this camera and my lighting so you'll see some color shifts in the following. I apologize.

From there I can cut rounds of the appropriate thickness.

For a small amount of minced ginger, an easy technique is to smack the rounds of ginger with the flat of the blade.

This breaks up their structure. If you smack it at a slight angle so it also drags across the ginger, it breaks up the ginger even more. If needed, you can run the knife through it in some quick chops.

If I need more ginger, or strips or a lot of minced ginger, I prefer to slice the knob of ginger into thin planks as the first step.

Stack them, or if the stack isn't stable orient them lengthwise and overlapping in a shingled manner. Then it's easy to slice them into thin strips.

For a mince, orient the strands all in the same direction, then cut across the strips in small steps to form the fine dice or mince further as needed.

For garlic, the steps are pretty similar. Smack the garlic clove at a slight angle with the flat of the knife to break it up and free it from its skin. Pick out the skin.

Chop through the garlic a couple of times to form the rough mince.

Once:

Twice:

If you need a finer mince, drag the edge of the knife across the garlic while pressing on the knife with one hand.

Scoop it up and place it with your ginger.

For a stock or soup, you usually want to add some aromatics too. But it you usually don't want to leave them in the stock or soup with the other ingredients.

I like to us a teaball to convert a western stock into Chinese stock. I load the teaball with crushed garlic, ginger, and sometimes some star anise. The teaball makes it easy to remove all the aromatics in one step.

Here I'm using some low sodium chicken base to form the basis for the chinese soup in the earlier post. It's there on the spoon, and the teaball and some dried mushrooms

On a related note, i use a big teaball when I'm pressure cooking beans. The  onion normall falls apart, but the big teaball makes it easy to remove from the beans.