Chinese Brown Sauce recipe--my adaptation
Jul 20, 2015 22:17:11 GMT
merks, susannah, and 1 more like this
Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2015 22:17:11 GMT
Ok, I love Chinese food. Chinese American I suppose would be more correct. But being frugal I don't like paying what are, to me, high prices at restaurants. So over the past couple of years I've discovered a few ingredients that have allowed me to make a few dishes like wonton soup, fried rice, an acceptable General Tso's chicken, and just the other day, Brown sauce.
I've tried so many recipes online to make Brown sauce and I just haven't found one yet that I like. Often they don't taste anything like what you get at restaurants when ordering something like Beef and Broccoli, for example. I couldn't figure out what the problem was, so I decided to abandon all the online recipes and wing it on my own. And I made a sauce that tastes almost exactly like what I've had at various restaurants.
Now some of the items are not strictly home made. I love to cook, but I have never been able to make an acceptable fried rice at home that tasted like restaurant fried rice, and that's important to me. Lots of fried rice recipes out there, lots of Brown Sauce and General Tso's chicken, but none that I meet what I want them to taste like.
Plus, I have no way to produce jasmine rice, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil or etc. at home, so I can't give home made equivalents.
So having said all that, here's what I made today
Brown Sauce
1 tbsp. Beef 'Better Than Bouillon" paste (I use this for a lot of recipes) dissolved in 1/2 cup water
1 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. soy sauce (you may want more but be careful as the bouillon is salty)
1 tsp. sugar (this is to balance out the flavor and does not add sweetness, but you could add more if you wanted a sweeter sauce)
Dash of black pepper
1 tbsp. corn starch mixed into 1/4 cup water (may need a little more cornstarch)
Water to thin sauce to suit your taste
I first mixed the bouillon into the water in a small saucepan. Then I added the oyster sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar and pepper and brought it to a very light simmer over low heat. Then I tasted it to see if I needed to thin it down a little, and I did because it tasted good but was very strong to my palate. I added water to thin, I can't say how much, maybe 1/8 cup at a time, stirring and tasting and I added water a couple more times until I got it to where it was almost perfect but still needed a little more water. The reason I did not add water at that time to make it perfect was because I still needed to add the cornstarch/water to thicken it. Then I added the cornstarch/water to thicken, tasted again and it was just about perfect. I did sprinkle about 1/2 additional tsp. sugar.
I used it to make Beef and Broccoli, one of my favorite dishes. It came out very close to restaurant Beef and Broccoli that I've had, enough so that I'm satisfied with it.
I hope someone out there tries this recipe and tells me what they think of it. It's a nice savory, rich but not overwhelming beef based sauce that doesn't have too much soy sauce in it.
I've tried so many recipes online to make Brown sauce and I just haven't found one yet that I like. Often they don't taste anything like what you get at restaurants when ordering something like Beef and Broccoli, for example. I couldn't figure out what the problem was, so I decided to abandon all the online recipes and wing it on my own. And I made a sauce that tastes almost exactly like what I've had at various restaurants.
Now some of the items are not strictly home made. I love to cook, but I have never been able to make an acceptable fried rice at home that tasted like restaurant fried rice, and that's important to me. Lots of fried rice recipes out there, lots of Brown Sauce and General Tso's chicken, but none that I meet what I want them to taste like.
Plus, I have no way to produce jasmine rice, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil or etc. at home, so I can't give home made equivalents.
So having said all that, here's what I made today
Brown Sauce
1 tbsp. Beef 'Better Than Bouillon" paste (I use this for a lot of recipes) dissolved in 1/2 cup water
1 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. soy sauce (you may want more but be careful as the bouillon is salty)
1 tsp. sugar (this is to balance out the flavor and does not add sweetness, but you could add more if you wanted a sweeter sauce)
Dash of black pepper
1 tbsp. corn starch mixed into 1/4 cup water (may need a little more cornstarch)
Water to thin sauce to suit your taste
I first mixed the bouillon into the water in a small saucepan. Then I added the oyster sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar and pepper and brought it to a very light simmer over low heat. Then I tasted it to see if I needed to thin it down a little, and I did because it tasted good but was very strong to my palate. I added water to thin, I can't say how much, maybe 1/8 cup at a time, stirring and tasting and I added water a couple more times until I got it to where it was almost perfect but still needed a little more water. The reason I did not add water at that time to make it perfect was because I still needed to add the cornstarch/water to thicken it. Then I added the cornstarch/water to thicken, tasted again and it was just about perfect. I did sprinkle about 1/2 additional tsp. sugar.
I used it to make Beef and Broccoli, one of my favorite dishes. It came out very close to restaurant Beef and Broccoli that I've had, enough so that I'm satisfied with it.
I hope someone out there tries this recipe and tells me what they think of it. It's a nice savory, rich but not overwhelming beef based sauce that doesn't have too much soy sauce in it.
And as I googled, I'd think "Nope. No, not that one...No, too many ingredients I'd have to buy." Etc. 
