Hoisin sauce
Hoisin sauce is a thick, fragrant sauce originating in China. It features in many Chinese cuisines, but is most prominent in Cantonese cuisine. It can be used as a glaze for meat, an addition to stir fry, or as dipping sauce. It is dark-coloured, sweet and salty. Although regional variants exist, hoisin sauce usually includes soybeans, fennel, red chili peppers, and garlic. Vinegar, five-spice powder, and sugar are also commonly added.
Name
The word hoisin is derived from the Cantonese pronunciation of the Chinese words for "seafood", although the sauce does not contain any seafood ingredients and is not commonly consumed with seafood. The reason for the name is "seafood flavour", a common adjective in Chinese cuisine, especially Sichuanese.Ingredients
The key ingredient of hoisin sauce is fermented soybean paste.Some hoisin sauce ingredients include starches such as sweet potato, wheat and rice, and water, sugar, soybeans, sesame seeds, white distilled vinegar, salt, garlic, red chili peppers, and sometimes preservatives or coloring agents. Traditionally, hoisin sauce is made using toasted mashed soybeans.
Uses in regional cuisines
Chinese cuisine
Hoisin sauce is used in Cantonese cuisine as a marinade sauce for meat such as char siu, or as a dipping sauce for steamed or panfried rice noodle roll.Hoisin sauce is used as a dipping sauce for Peking duck and lettuce wraps. Hoisin sauce is used as a dipping sauce for moo shu pork.