Chinese Mother Sauces

Almost every Chinese sauce can be categorized as a version of one or more of these five mother sauces. Once you get a good understanding of the foundation of each sauce, you can easily get creative and put your own spin on any recipe. Just like in my world of barbecue, there is no right or wrong way to make these sauces. That’s why I like to call them mother sauces. Each sauce is used for dipping, marinating, braising, or finishing. Some sauces are specifically used for one function, while other sauces can be used for multiple functions, such as marinating and finishing. In this book, you will see recipes where I take a traditional braised dish and convert it into a smoked dish. Understanding the functions of these sauces and the art of smoking is key in knowing how to manipulate recipes, ingredients, and techniques to create a whole new dish the world has never seen before!