Barbeque - Asian Style.

The first time I had ever experienced Hoisin sauce, or should I say knowingly had it, was at a Chinese restaurant in New York City's Chinatown.  Ever seen a photo of a huge round table, with a, almost as huge, turn table in the center?  The many platters and bowls of food set upon it, and as it is turned, diners take a portion of each delicacy offered. I had been asked to a celebration dinner which consisted of such a set up, and one delicacy served was Peking Duck.  There was a thick, dark sauce served with the duck; smearing just a small amount onto a Chinese pancake, a few slivers of duck and scallion were then wrapped within the pancake.  The first bite was a surprise, but the continuing bites lead to ecstasy; such a rich, heady flavor came from the sauce.

My next conscious experience with Hoisin was having Mhu Shu (also written as Moo Shu or Mu Shu) Pork; a pork and vegetable mixture which is eaten inside, again, a pancake smeared with Hoisin. A most excellent dish and if pork is not to your liking, it can be prepared with shrimp, chicken, beef or a combination.  Be careful though, while these pancakes with filling are small, do not be surprised that you ate several more than you ever intended to.

Hoisin sauce is the Chinese version of barbecue sauce which, besides grilling, can be used in stir fries, marinades, as a condiment or a thickener. It is a soy based sauce having the components of salty, sweet and spicy due to the additional ingredients of garlic, vinegar, sweeteners and chilies. The texture of the sauce is usually thick, but can be thinned with the addition of sesame oil or water until the desired consistency is achieved.

While Hoisin can be purchased in a store, it can just as easily be made at home. Having a mortar and pestle handy in the kitchen is an asset for creating the paste quality of some of the ingredients. Patience is also necessary as it needs a good amount of mixing to help the ingredients meet and marry together; using a blender is quite useful for this and easier on the wrist.

Hoisin Sauce

Ingredients:

6 Tbsps. soy sauce

1 Tbsp. each creamy peanut butter and black bean paste

1 Tbsp. each honey and dark molasses

2 tsps. white vinegar

¼ tsp. each garlic and onion paste

2 tsps. sesame oil

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

Hot sauce – dependent upon how mild, medium or hot is desired, or add pieces of chopped chilies to the garlic and onion when creating the paste.

Preparation:

Add all ingredients into a medium bowl, or into a blender, and mix until smooth. The texture will be thick; if a thinner consistency is desired, add a teaspoon of sesame oil or water until achieved.

Makes ½ cup.

One item I like to use Hoisin on is salmon; giving the fish a rich, smoky flavor from the sauce and a mild sweetness and spice from the glaze it creates. As a side dish, cook up a package of ramen, adding oriental style vegetables such as snow pea pods, bamboo shoots, shitake mushrooms, and red bell peppers for colors; substitute ½ cup soy sauce for the equivalent of the water needed.

 

The salmon has the skin and bones removed and cut into 4 to 6 ounce portions; depending on how large the side of salmon is. Preheat the oven to 350F and line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil. Use a pastry brush to spread a half cup of Hoisin sauce over the foil, wherever the salmon will be lying. Place the salmon on the foil and brush it liberally with sauce; sprinkle a little ground ginger over all. Bake the salmon for 20 minutes; test for doneness in the thickest part of the filets. While the salmon is baking, the side dish can be made.

Simple and quite delicious!

But if you would rather have a nice bit o’ beef…

Fresh brisket, a lovely red color to the meat, just a 1/4 inch fat cap on top; and just at the two pound mark.  Too small for the smoker; too pretty to cut up for use in a recipe; what to do is a good question!

I saw the bottle of Hoisin sauce (yes, I keep a bottle on hand) on the refrigerator door shelf.  Hmmm, a smoky sauce with a multitude of flavors on a pretty cut of brisket; and the brain kicked in with an idea.  Have not had good fried rice in a while either, so I knew that would be my side dish; a dash of Hoisin would give it a little smokiness as well.

Hoisin Beef (Brisket)

 Ingredients:

2 lb. beef brisket, trimmed of fat

3 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar (or white vinegar)

½ tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. white pepper

1 tsp. salt

1 cup Hoisin sauce

1 Tbsp. minced garlic

2 Tbsps. diced red onion

Preparation:

Two hours before roasting the brisket; rub the vinegar over all sides of the meat, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Preheat oven to 325F; line roasting pan with aluminum foil.  Score top and bottom of meat with diagonal cuts, creating one inch diamond marks.  Mix together the ginger, white pepper and salt; rub on both sides of meat.  Place meat in pan and roast for 15 minutes.

 

Mix together sauce, garlic and onion; turn meat over in pan, baste top and sides of meat with sauce mixture making sure to get sauce into score marks.  Return to oven for 30 minutes; turn over meat, baste and roast for another 30 minutes for medium-rare.  For medium; repeat turn and baste process, roast for 30 minutes more.  For medium-well; repeat turn and baste process, roast for 30 minutes more.

 

Remove meat to cutting board; rest for 5 minutes before slicing; spoon sauce from roasting pan over meat.  Serve with fried rice; when making rice, add one teaspoon of Hoisin sauce for every three servings to boost the flavor.

Makes 6 servings.

 

Oh, the recipe for fried rice?  Don’t worry, that will be coming soon enough.  If I gave you all the recipes, all at once, whatever else would I write about?

Mary Cokenour

 

 

 

 

Asian Gourmet from Haddon House.

Haddon House Food Products, Inc.
http://www.haddonhouse.com/

Asian Gourmet - Chinese, Japanese and Thai food products

When we lived on the East coast, visiting Chinatown in New York City or Philadelphia was simply a couple of hours of driving away.  We loved going into all the little groceries to find noodles, sauces, teas, vegetables (love Bok Choy), fruits and candies that a regular supermarket didn't have.  Then, of course, there were the Dim Sum restaurants that offered up a huge variety of delectables; oh how we miss those restaurants of authentic Chinese cuisine.  We didn't order from menus; the restaurant owner knew us and ordered for us; never a disappointment, and always something new to try.

Twice someone tried opening up a "Chinese" restaurant in the area.  The first time it was a person who purchased bulk pans of frozen, premade Chinese-like meals; heated them up and sold by the scoop full.  Disgusting!!!  The second time there were actual owners of Chinese descent; big mistake was hiring locals who knew nothing about the cuisine, didn't want to learn, and didn't want to do much work either.  Then again, it was the owners' fault for not insisting they be knowledgeable, or replacing them with those who wanted to learn and work.  If a restaurant wants to succeed, the owners have to make sure they have the best staff, attitude, training, atmosphere and products.

I get calls from many restaurants, in the area, to come visit and do a review on them.  They know I am honest, can't be bought off, nor bribed; they are also very confident that they have all the musts for success.  Now the ones that don't want me to visit know they are not up to par.  They don't care if tourists come in or not; their belief is that friends, family and locals, out of blind loyalty, will keep them going no matter how bad the food and service are.

...and so I have digressed from my original thoughts on Asian Gourmet products.

Since the closest Asian restaurants (Chinese, Japanese, Thai) are an hour away in either Moab, UT or Cortez, CO; I have had to learn to do some of my own cooking of these cuisines.  Being able to purchase some of the products to accomplish this is a huge help, and many of the major chain supermarkets are carrying Asian Gourmet by Haddon House Food Products, a food distributor on the, what else, East coast.  Owning a Wok is an even bigger help; tools of the trade do make a difference.

So, here's one of my latest concoctions...

Chinese Noodle Stir Fry

 

 

Ingredients:

 

1 (8 oz.) package Asian Gourmet Chinese Noodles

2 Tbsp. Stir Fry oil (if not available, canola oil)

 and 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 tsp. Chinese 5 Spice powder

1 (10 oz.) package frozen sugar snap peas, defrosted

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped orange bell pepper

1/2 cup Hoisin sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce

 

Preparation:

 

Prepare Chinese Noodles according to package direction; set aside, but keep warm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heat oil, medium-high, in Wok or large, deep skillet.  Mix chicken pieces with 5 spice powder; brown all sides in the oil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add the sugar snap peas and bell peppers; mix thoroughly and let cook for 5 minutes together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add the kept warm, cooked noodles and sauces to the Wok; mix thoroughly and let cook until the bottom is sizzling.  Stir bottom ingredients up to the top, and repeat.

 

Makes 8 servings.

 

Mary Cokenour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Another Asian Chicken in the Crock Pot Recipe.

First it was Hawaiian Chicken in the Crock Pot recipes that kept popping up on the sidebar or newsfeed of Facebook. Now it's Asian chicken recipes; just because you add soy sauce to a recipe, that doesn't necessarily mean its an Asian recipe.

So here I go creating my own version, but while the others use boneless, skinless chicken breasts; I used bone-in chicken legs and thighs.  I tried to remove as much skin as possible, but the 10 hours cooking time took care of what did remain.

 

Savory Pineapple Chicken

 

Ingredients:

 

8 chicken legs, skin removed

8 chicken thighs, skin removed

1/2 cup light soy sauce

1 (15 oz.) can pineapple chunks, reserve juice

1 Tbsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. ground ginger

2 Tbsp. Hoisin sauce

 

 

Preparation:

 

Spray the inside of a 6 quart crock pot with cooking spray; layer the chicken legs and thighs inside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a small mixing bowl, combine soy sauce, reserved juice from pineapple chunks, garlic, ginger and Hoisin sauce.  Pour over the chicken; top with pineapple chunks; cover, set crock pot on low and cook for 10 hours.

 

 

 

If the sauce is too thin, remove the chicken and whisk in a tablespoon of cornstarch; add more until your desired thickness achieved.  I left mine just the way it was after cooking; next day's leftovers, the sauce had thickened on its own.  The chicken does come right off the bone, so makes it easier to serve over rice.

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour

 

 

 



Miracle Noodles?

Since I post links to my food and travel blogs on Facebook, I often gets ads on the sidebar for these subjects. One day the ad for "Miracle Noodles" showed up, I was curious, so clicked on the link. Lowers cholesterol and blood sugar, improves digestion; well now, this is something I could definitely benefit from. On the official website ( http://www.miraclenoodle.com/ ) there is a special offer for a variety pack of six types of noodles and rice, each contains two servings.  Personally, I wasn't too fond of several of the flavors, and purchased what I really wanted to try out elsewhere.

So, what is this "miracle" stuff anyway?  Glucomannan which comes from the root of the Asian yam-like plant called Konjac (full name Amorphophallus konjac). And this means what to me?  Glucomannan is a water-soluble polysaccharide that is considered a dietary fiber. It is a hemicellulose component in the cell walls of some plant species. Glucomannan is a food additive used as an emulsifier and thickener. Products containing glucomannan, marketed under a variety of brand names, are also sold as nutritional supplements for constipation, obesity, high cholesterol, acne vulgaris and type 2 diabetes.  You know that commercial for Lipozene....it's glucomannan, and you can buy it more cheaply as a supplement than as a diet aid.  Now you know!

The first packet I chose to cook up was the "Miracle Rice" which look more like tiny pearls (round) than actual grains of rice.  I followed the directions for cleaning and wondered why it had such a fishy smell to it; seems it's just a natural smell of the plant fiber.  I had already planned to make an Asian style dish with shrimp and sugar snap peas; how appropriate was the shrimp with the fishy smelling "rice"!?!

Simple recipe, took out my Wok and sautéed one pound of shrimp in two tablespoons of oil until they were a nice pink color.  I then added in one and one half cups of the peas, a quarter cup of hoisin sauce and the Miracle Rice; tossed till all was coated and hot (about seven minutes) and dinner was done. 

I divided it in half with my hubby; his reaction about the Miracle Rice was, "Eh, not great, but not lousy.  It absorbed the taste of the hoisin sauce well, so it's not bland."  I felt basically the same way, nothing special taste wise, but than the miracle happened.  I'd eaten only half of my serving and felt full; and that is what the glucomannan is all about.  It swells up and gives you a full feeling, so you don't overeat, or even eat an entire portion.



The claim to "aid digestion"; well that's when the second miracle happened, spending time in the bathroom as it makes you GO!  So my warning for this product is, if you have somewhere to be the next day, make sure spending time in the bathroom won't be a problem for you.  ...and there's the rub, as much as I'd like to use this product for its benefits, my schedule doesn't allow for me to live in the bathroom every morning.  I use it occasionally, that's fine, but on a daily basis simply can't be.

My opinion for this product is, for the benefits, I will use it when I can.  For others, I say read up on the product and make sure this can be beneficial, and you don't mind being in the bathroom several times in the morning.  It's definitely NOT Ramen noodles, so don't make that mistake.

Mary Cokenour

Turkey or Chicken, This Stir Fry Works for Both.

Whenever I can find turkey tenderloins on sale, I buy up several packages which go towards turkey paprikash, tetrazzini, pasta bake, pot pie, even soup.  This time I wanted to do a little twist on the usual chicken stir fry, but with turkey instead.
  

Turkey Noodle Stir Fry

 

Ingredients:

 

2 lbs. turkey tenderloin, cut into 1/4” medallions

1 tsp. Chinese Five Spice powder
1 tsp. cornstarch
4 Tbsp. canola oil, divided in half
3 (3 oz.) packages chicken flavored Ramen noodles
4 cups water
1 (12 oz.) package frozen mixed vegetables, defrosted
1 (15 oz.) can straw mushrooms, drained
½ cup Hoisin sauce

 

Preparation:

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a large bowl, combine the turkey with the five spice powder and cornstarch.  Heat two tablespoons of oil, medium-high heat, in a Wok or large skillet; brown the turkey until no longer pink; remove.

 

 

 

 

 

Prepare the noodles according to package directions, in the same Wok or skillet, using only four cups of water plus the mixed vegetables; drain any excess liquid, if any, when finished cooking; remove.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heat remaining two tablespoons of oil, medium-high heat, in same Wok or skillet; pan fry the noodle/vegetable mixture, plus the straw mushrooms, for five minutes.  Add in the browned turkey plus Hoisin sauce; mix thoroughly and let cook another five minutes.

 

Straw Mushrooms
 

 

Makes 8 servings.

Mary Cokenour

Slowed Cooked and Smoky Pepper Steak

Usually when I make Pepper Steak, I use a skillet or a Wok; the dish cooks quickly on the stovetop. One problem, sometimes the strips of meat are not tender enough; the quick cooking sealed in juice and flavor, but the meat did not tenderize. I do not marinade the meat overnight, so if the cut is not tender in the first place, well there you go.

Recently I purchased a three pound package of sliced round steak and intended on making Pepper Steak.  While browsing through the newsfeed on my Facebook page though, I came across a recipe for "Hoisin Beef Stew"; regular stew ingredients: beef cubes, potatoes, celery, carrots, mushrooms; but instead of a broth as the cooking medium, the recipe called for Hoisin Sauce.  Interesting concept I thought, maybe next time I make stew I'll try the recipe out.  Then it hit me, I've never done up Pepper Steak in the slow cooker, so here was a chance to try out this method and play with the Hoisin Sauce as a cooking medium.  I love Hoisin Sauce by the way; the flavor is just so above using plain soy or teriyaki sauces, and you barely need to add any other seasoning to it.  Besides adding it to recipes, it works as an excellent glaze or barbecue sauce all on its own; so yummy on ribs or brisket.  Besides beef, chicken or pork, Hoisin can be used on wild game such as Elk and Deer; it cuts the gaminess of the deer meat, and only enhances the elk meat to a whole new level.

The meal I made took eight hours to cook in the crock pot before the meat was fall apart in the mouth tender; the peppers, onions and mushrooms were perfectly cooked.  Yes, I added mushrooms to this dish, mainly because I had a pound of fresh sliced mushrooms on hand and didn't want them to go to waste.  I am so glad I made that choice!  The flour I added in at the start helped the Hoisin sauce and any juices from the other ingredients to create a medium thick sauce that went well on a brown and wild rice mixture I made for a side dish.  If you've jumped onto the gluten free fad bandwagon, you can use rice flour instead of regular white flour.  Overall, this recipe came out pretty well, and I would make it again; maybe add in garlic, or some julienned carrot.

Now remember, if you try this recipe out and you think the Hoisin sauce is not enough in the seasoning genre; add sparingly and keep tasting, you don't want to lose the overall flavor of the Hoisin and you can always add, but not take out.  If you add any hot seasoning such as dried chile peppers, remember, the longer it cooks, the hotter it gets.

Hoisin Pepper Steak

Ingredients:

3 lbs. round steak, cut into 1/4 inch thick strips

1/4 cup flour
1 each large green, yellow and red bell peppers, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch strips
1 large onion, cut into 1/4 inch strips
2 cups fresh sliced mushrooms
2 cups Hoisin sauce

Preparation:

Spray interior of a 6 quart slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray; set on low.  Place meat inside and sprinkle flour over top.  Layer bell peppers, onion and mushrooms; pour Hoisin sauce evenly over all.  Cover and let cook 6-8 hours; until meat is tender.  Serve over rice, noodles or potatoes.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Mary Cokenour

Umami Slow Cooker Boneless Pork Ribs.

A friend of mine shared a recipe on Facebook about making a pork tenderloin in a slow cooker.  I wanted to try it out and the local market happened to have pork loin roasts on sale for $1.99 per pound.  However, just above the roasts were these lean and lovely looking "Boneless Pork Ribs" also known as "Country Style Pork Ribs".  Essentially these ribs are a pork loin roast that has been trimmed and cut into thick strips that resemble ribs, and they just happened to be the same price as the roasts.  If I can have the easy way out, I'll take it; the butcher had already trimmed off the fat, so I wouldn't waste money buying the roast, trimming it down and throwing away the fat cap which was part of that price per pound.  I bought the boneless ribs and already knew I would be changing that shared recipe to make it my own.




First thing I had to do was brine the pork; brining will open up the fibers in the pork meat to allow it to absorb the liquid and flavors it is being cooked in.  It's a simple three step process; step one is put the trimmed pork meat into a ceramic, glass or plastic container.  Don't use a metal container as the salt will have a chemical reaction with the metal elements.








Second step is to put cold water into the container and enough to cover the meat.







The third step is to add the salt; I usually add one tablespoon per two pounds, so the six pounds of ribs required three tablespoons.  I just sprinkled the salt on top of the water, used my hand to mix it into the water (water will get cloudy), and moved the ribs around to make sure they were loose in the water.  I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerated them for two hours.  Because the pork was cut into pieces, the brine would be able to get into the meat quicker, since there was more surface exposed.  If brining a large piece of meat, such as a roast or an uncut slab of ribs, give it a good six to 12 hours for the brine to make it completely inside and tenderize those fibers.




Now the sauce for the original recipe required: soy sauce, yellow mustard, maple syrup, olive oil, dried onions, garlic salt or powder.  Well I already had salt in my recipe by using the brine technique, so garlic salt was out, garlic powder was in.  Soy sauce also has salt in it, so I needed to think of another substitute and Hoisin sauce was it because of the smoky flavor it contained.  Olive oil?  I wasn't understanding the addition of that; that was now out, but I did spray the inside of my crock pot with nonstick cooking spray.  I began to think about the different flavors all these ingredients were going to give to the pork meat, and that is when I decided to look up that new fad word on the cooking shows...Umami.  Umami is the "fifth taste"; savory - a pleasant brothy or meaty flavor which makes the mouth water.  It is long lasting on the tongue and coats the inside of the mouth which contributes to the mouth watering experience.  My sauce ingredients needed to have sweet, salty, bitter, sour and savory; but I didn't stop there, I decided that heat and smoky needed to be added.  It was pork and it needed to party!


Sweet - maple syrup
Sour - yellow mustard
Bitter - onions
Salty - hoisin sauce and the brine
Savory - hoisin sauce and garlic powder
Heat - ground cayenne pepper
Smoky - hoisin sauce

Notice that Hoisin sauce plays a major role with the different flavors; when it comes to Asian cooking, instead of sticking with only soy or teriyaki sauces, experiment with Hoisin.


Using the slow cooker, any meat or poultry will exude juices and a "gravy" will form.  Adding cornstarch to the sauce ensured a luscious gravy that would be rich, flavorful, not too thick or thin, and perfect over the meat or poultry and a side such as rice, potatoes, noodles or stuffing.   Now if you want your meat to have a glaze or crust of some kind, then skip the slow cooker and roast in the oven instead.   Place the meat or poultry on a rack, so the juices go to the pan's bottom (make sure you put broth or water in the pan) and you can make your gravy later on.

So here is my new take on the recipe posted on Facebook; it did make my mouth water and I kept going back for one more piece; then one more piece; oh one more wouldn't hurt.

Umami Slow Cooker Boneless Pork Ribs

Ingredients:

6 lbs boneless pork ribs (aka country style ribs)
water
3 Tbsp salt

Sauce:
1/2 cup Hoisin sauce
2 Tbsp yellow mustard
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 cup diced onion
3 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
4 Tbsp cornstarch

Preparation:

Place the pork inside a large bowl, cover with water; add salt and move meat around to mix salt throughout. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for two hours.

Spray the inside of a 6 quart crock pot with nonstick cooking spray; remove pork from water(do not rinse), pat dry and place inside crock pot.

Mix together ingredients for sauce; pour over meat and work down between pieces with a spatula or spoon. Cover, set on low and cook for 6 hours.


Makes six servings.

Mary Cokenour

Smoky Brisket...Hoisin Style.

If you're a fan of this food blog, you know many of my recipes come from simple experimentation. Well Saturday I was craving a fresh made burger for dinner, but while in the local market I noticed that beef brisket was on sale. Fresh brisket, a lovely red color to the meat, just a 1/4 inch fat cap on top; so I picked up a two pounder. Once home though, I had to figure out what I wanted to do with it.  Too small for the smoker; too pretty to cut up for use in a recipe; what to do was a good question.

The answer came while I was gathering up ingredients to make my burger for dinner.   I saw the bottle of Hoisin sauce (yes, I keep a bottle on hand) on the refrigerator door shelf.  Hmmm, a smoky sauce with a multitude of flavors on a pretty cut of brisket; and the brain kicked in with an idea.  Haven't had good fried rice in awhile either, so I knew that would be my side dish; now I just had to wait till the next day.

I spent Sunday going through tons of photos for my travel blog, "The Southwest Through Wide Brown Eyes", and knew full well it would work me up to an "I want meat!!!" appetite.  During one of my stretching breaks from the computer, the numbers on the clock let me know it was time to prep the brisket.  Oh, you might ask, once you read the recipe, why the vinegar massage?  Brisket is a tougher cut of meat than say, eye round or top round; the vinegar will help to tenderize.  Two hours later though, time to put on the oven and get this cooking show on the road.  The final result was a tender, smoky, so full of flavor brisket; and the fried rice was all that much better by adding a little Hoisin sauce to it during its cooking process.  Got the photos I needed for my travel blog posts this week; got one heck of an intense dinner in the deal; overall good day!

Hoisin Beef (Brisket)

Ingredients:

2 lb beef brisket, trimmed of fat

3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar (or white vinegar)
½ tsp ground ginger
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp salt
1 cup Hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp diced red onion

Preparation:

Two hours before roasting the brisket; rub the vinegar over all sides of the meat, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate. 

 

Preheat oven to 325F; line roasting pan with aluminum foil.  Score top and bottom of meat with diagonal cuts, creating one inch diamond marks.  Mix together the ginger, white pepper and salt; rub on both sides of meat.  Place meat in pan and roast for 15 minutes. 

 

Mix together sauce, garlic and onion; turn meat over in pan, baste top and sides of meat with sauce mixture making sure to get sauce into score marks.  Return to oven for 30 minutes; turn over meat, baste and roast for another 30 minutes for medium-rare.  For medium; repeat turn and baste process, roast for 30 minutes more.  For medium-well; repeat turn and baste process, roast for 30 minutes more.

 

Remove meat to cutting board; rest for 5 minutes before slicing; spoon sauce from roasting pan over meat.  Serve with fried rice; when making rice, add one teaspoon of Hoisin sauce for every three servings to boost the flavor.

Makes 6 servings.

 

Mary Cokenour

Chinese BBQ Sauce? Hoisin Sauce.

The first time I'd had Hoisin sauce, or should I say knowingly had it, was at a Chinese restaurant in New York City's Chinatown.  I had been asked to a celebration dinner which consisted of many delicacies, one being Peking Duck.  There was a thick, dark sauce served with the duck; smearing just a small amount onto a Chinese pancake, a few slivers of duck and scallion were then wrapped within the pancake.  The first bite was a surprise, but the continuing bites lead to ecstasy; such a rich, heady flavor came from the sauce.

My next conscious experience with Hoisin was having Mhu Shu (also written as Moo Shu or Mu Shu) Pork; a pork and vegetable mixture which is eaten inside a pancake smeared with Hoisin. A most excellent dish and if pork is not to your liking, it can be prepared with shrimp, chicken, beef or a combination.

Hoisin sauce is the Chinese version of barbecue sauce which, besides grilling, can be used in stir fries, marinades, as a condiment or a thickener. It is a soy based sauce having the components of salty, sweet and spicy due to the additional ingredients of garlic, vinegar, sweeteners and chilies. The texture of the sauce is usually thick, but can be thinned with the addition of sesame oil or water until the desired consistency is achieved.

While Hoisin can be purchased in a store, it can just as easily be made at home. Having a mortar and pestle handy in the kitchen is an asset for creating the paste quality of some of the ingredients. Patience is also necessary as it needs a good amount of mixing to help the ingredients meet and marry together; using a blender is quite useful for this and easier on the wrist.

Hoisin Sauce
Ingredients:

6 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp each creamy peanut butter and black bean paste
1 Tbsp each honey and dark molasses
2 tsp white vinegar
¼ tsp each garlic and onion paste
2 tsp sesame oil
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
Hot sauce – dependent upon how mild, medium or hot is desired, or add pieces of chopped chilies to the garlic and onion when creating the paste.

Preparation:

Add all ingredients into a medium bowl, or into a blender, and mix until smooth. The texture will be thick; if a thinner consistency is desired, add a teaspoon of sesame oil or water until achieved.

Makes ½ cup.

One item I like to use Hoisin on is salmon; giving the fish a rich, smoky flavor from the sauce and a mild sweetness and spice from the glaze it creates. As a side dish, I make up my Oriental Chicken, Vegetables and Noodle recipe, but leave out the chicken of course.

The salmon has the skin and bones removed and cut into 4 to 6 ounce portions; depending on how large the side of salmon is. Preheat the oven to 350F and line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil. Use a pastry brush to spread a half cup of Hoisin sauce over the foil, wherever the salmon will be lying. Place the salmon on the foil and brush it liberally with sauce; sprinkle a little ground ginger over all. Bake the salmon for 20 minutes; test for doneness in the thickest part of the filets. While the salmon is baking, the side dish can be made.

Simple and quite delicious!

Mary Cokenour