Barbara Tropp

Hoisin Sauce

海鮮醫 mandarin: hi-hsyen-jyang; Cantonese: hoi-seem-jyeung

Appears in
top 1000The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking: Techniques & Recipes
The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking

By Barbara Tropp

Published 1982

  • About

The name of this sauce in Chinese means literally “sea-freshness sauce,” which is as enigmatic as the name “fish-flavor” applied to a certain style of Szechwan-Hunan dish. So far as I can tell, it belongs to a family of sauces made from fermented wheat or soybean bases, which can be variously sweet or salty, thick or thin.

I use a widely distributed brand, Koon Chun, that is jam-like in consistency and on the sweet side (though the label says it contains vinegar, chili, garlic, and sesame). Indeed, it is rather a spicy-fruity concoction that I find perfectly acceptable when thinned with a bit of wine and smoothed with a bit of sesame oil.