Thai Clay-pot Beef in Oyster Sauce
If you love cooking Asian food, oyster sauce is probably already in your kitchen. But practise y'all know if the i yous have is a "good one"? And is the expensive oyster sauce you bought (or didn't buy) worth the splurge?
This mail volition discuss everything you need to know nearly oyster sauce, including what information technology is, how to use it, and which brand is the best after tasting them straight up and in a stir fry! To see the oyster sauce gustation examination in action, complete with my reaction and full assay, be certain to watch the video!
What is oyster sauce and what does it taste like?
Oyster sauce is a predominantly salty seasoning that is most commonly used in stir chips, merely is also used in stews, soups, marinades, and fifty-fifty straight up as a drizzle over steamed vegetables. Thick, rich, salty, umami and slightly sweet are the characteristics of oyster sauce, and it won't necessarily make you become, "wow, oysters!"
In Thai cuisine, it's a member of what I call "the trinity of Thai sauces." Along with soy sauce and fish sauce, it's a staple in every Thai kitchen, and many people utilise it daily.
The Origin Story
Oyster sauce is of Chinese origin, but is now used in many Southeast Asian countries where their cuisines have been influenced by China. Lee Kum Sheung, the founder of the pop oyster sauce brand Lee Kum Kee, is said to have accidentally invented oyster sauce in 1888.
The story goes that Lee Kum Sheung forgot almost a simmering pot of oyster soup, and when he came dorsum to it, information technology had reduced into a thick, rich, brown liquid. He discovered that this liquid was flavourful and tasty, and that was the beginning of oyster sauce. A notation: this story is told by Lee Kum Kee themselves in this video.
How is oyster sauce made?
If you had to guess how oyster sauce was made, you might have reasonably thought that there are pureed oysters in it, which is why it'south thick. Nope.
Or you might have thought that if soy sauce is made from fermented soy beans, fish sauce from fermented fish, and shrimp paste from fermented shrimp, then oyster sauce must be made from fermented oysters! Besides no.
Surprisingly at that place are no actual oysters in oyster sauce at all, but there are "oyster extracts." Oyster extract is basically oyster cooking liquid, as per the origin story. Shucked oysters are boiled in large vats, and then the oysters are removed, and the remaining briny, flavourful liquid is the base of oyster sauce.
The oyster excerpt may get farther reduced, then starch is usually added to thicken, and other seasonings are added such equally table salt, saccharide, soy sauce, MSG and colouring. Brands vary significantly in what seasonings they choose to add together, and in my video taste test I was so surprised at how different they gustation; peculiarly when comparing the Thai and Chinese versions!
Oyster Sauce Gustation Test: Which brand is best, and does it really make a difference?
I bought four brands of oyster sauce that I tin can find hither in Vancouver and pitted them against each other. So here they are - and watch the video below to detect out how they perform when tasted directly upwardly, and whether the deviation is really that obvious one time used in a stir fry!
- Lee Kum Kee Premium - Or what I call the "Gunkhole Lady" make as per the label. This is the premium and original oyster sauce from LKK, and in Vancouver a bottle costs virtually $viii.
- Panda Make (past LKK) - The most widely available oyster sauce, and probably the one your local Thai and Chinese restaurants apply. This is the newer, cheaper line of oyster sauce by LKK. A canteen costs nigh $iv in Vancouver.
- Maekrua - The most popular Thai brand of oyster sauce. When yous say "oyster sauce," the woman on the label is the image that comes to listen for nearly Thai people (at least ones from my generation and older!) Information technology costs slightly more than Panda, simply not as much as Boat Lady. Maekrua is harder to find around hither, and is commonly available merely in stores that carry a lot of Southeast Asian products.
- Healthy Boy - Healthy Boy is most famous for their soy sauces, and indeed they make my favourite soy sauces, but they have started producing all sorts of sauces in recent years. Similar Maekrua, it's not as widely available here as LKK brands. It'due south the least expensive of all 4.
- Wish I had tried: Megachef. A new kid on the cake from Thailand who has speedily gained popularity, sadly it is not available in Vancouver. I've heard positive reviews about their oyster sauce (and their fish sauce is smashing), and based on the label/ingredients it looks very promising.
VIDEO: Oyster Sauce 101 + Gustation Test!
This video shows you my live side by side taste test, both straight upwardly and also in a Chinese broccoli stir fry. Note that even though I've used these before (except Healthy Boy) this is the outset time I'm tasting them next, and then my reaction is real!
In case you don't have time to watch the video quite even so, here'due south a quick epitomize of my ranking:
- #1 Lee Kum Kee Premium - Boat Lady
- #2 TIED - Maekrua and Panda
- #3 Healthy Boy
How to choose the best i based on the label
So at present that y'all know how these 4 sauces compare, but you're at the store, and there are brands I didn't cover here…what do you do? Well, as I shared in the video, thankfully nosotros tin still brand an educated selection based on a few factors.
- Price is a good indicator of quality. Given that y'all are at the same shop, the more than expensive the brand, the more than oyster extract is probably in the sauce, and the college quality information technology likely is. Go along in listen that unlike fish sauce, canteen size varies significantly so y'all might demand to exercise some math.
- Protein content on the nutrition label is also a good full general guideline of how much oyster extract is in the canteen. Merely go on in mind that the serving size on the nutritional information tin vary between brands, and then again, be prepared for some math.
What about the ingredient list?
The ingredient listing is always good to look at, and if things like MSG and added colour bother y'all, and then you definitely want to check it out. But...previously I maintained that if oyster extract is listed as the first ingredient, then at that place must exist more of it, and therefore it must taste better than a brand that has it further downwards the list. Makes sense, right?
Well, this proved to be non so direct forward. Hither's why:
- LKK Boat Lady lists oyster extract in position #1
- Panda lists oyster excerpt in position #4
- Maekrua lists oyster extract in position #ane
- Good for you Boy lists "oysters" in position #ii
This doesn't lucifer our taste test or the protein content in any mode, EXCEPT the two LKK brands differ equally expected. I'm certain that this is because the fashion LKK defines "oyster excerpt" is the same betwixt their 2 product lines, but other brands define it differently. How full-bodied and diluted is this oyster extract? We don't know. And what does "oysters" even hateful in the case of Healthy Boy? We as well don't know. Not to mention the cooking procedure and the quality of oysters...there are simply as well many unknowns.
Then I apologize to everyone in the by whom I advised going entirely by the ingredient listing!
Is oyster sauce gluten free?
Most of the time, no. Wheat flour is sometimes added as a thickener as is the case with both LKK brands, and some brands, such as Maekrua, contain soy sauce which isn't gluten free. But Panda brand does take a gluten costless oyster sauce that I take seen in some stores, and Megachef (the Thai make I couldn't find) is gluten complimentary.
Can I utilise Chinese oyster sauce in Thai food?
Yep. While the flavours of Thai and Chinese oyster sauces are obviously different in a gustation test, once it's in a dish it's close plenty that it'south not going to make the dish taste inauthentic. If it makes you experience better, your local Thai restaurant is nearly likely using Panda.
I usually buy LKK Boat Lady considering of ones that are easily attainable to me, it's the best. But whenever I brand a trip to the Thai store, I will take hold of a bottle of Maekrua because it'southward what I grew up with, and the bottle really has a nostalgic result on me.
Even so, after this taste examination, I was surprised how much better Boat Lady is than Maekrua…so…this changes things. I'll probable purchase Maekrua much less now - as sad as that is!
But if yous have a memory of a dish that you lot had in Thailand and you desire information technology to gustatory modality exactly like what you call up, and then using Maekrua is probably going to get you there.
How practise y'all cook with oyster sauce?
I call oyster sauce "the queen of stir fry sauces". Meat and veggie stir fries, fried rice, fried noodles…all of these are keen places to utilize oyster sauce - and though you can use it equally the merely sauce in stir fries, I like to utilize information technology in combination with soy sauce and fish sauce for a more complex flavour.
You can add together information technology to soups and stews, but considering of its richness we unremarkably use it in something a piddling richer such as the Thai beef stew, five spice eggs and pork belly soup, or the famous boat noodles.
It'south too perfect in meat marinades. A little salty, a fiddling sweet, and with lots of umami, information technology's a major player in the only steak marinade you demand!
Finally, yous can employ it straight up or slightly diluted every bit a drizzle over steamed veggies (usually Chinese broccoli), merely I highly recommend using the premium LKK oyster sauce for this. The other brands I discover too salty. Example in point, in Thailand where Maekrua is our principal oyster sauce, we don't commonly employ it directly up.
How to Shop
Once opened, oyster sauce should exist kept in the refrigerator as it will get moldy at room temperature. Withal, if you lot go to Thailand, you'll run across most people keep their oyster sauce at room temperature despite it saying "refrigerate after opening" on the label.
This is because we utilise information technology virtually daily and can become through a canteen very quickly; and with many Thai kitchens beingness outside, it's only more than convenient to keep all our sauces exterior too.
Vegetarian Substitutes for Oyster Sauce
If you are vegan/vegetarian or allergic to shellfish, good news! In that location are decent substitutes on the marketplace, such as one I used for this vegan claypot drinking glass noodle recipe.
While you may non find bottles labeled "vegetarian oyster sauce" or "vegan oyster sauce," you might find ones that are meant to be vegan substitutes for oyster sauce. The picture above shows ii good brands labeled "vegetarian stir fry sauce" and "vegetarian mushroom sauce".
So if it'due south a vegetarian sauce that looks like oyster sauce, it's probably meant to exist a substitute. Well-nigh likely, shiitake mushrooms are the source of the umami in place of the oysters.
Here are some tasty recipes that employ oyster sauce!
-
UNIVERSAL Stir Fry Sauce
-
Clay Pot Glass Noodles (Vegan)
-
The Only Steak Marinade You Demand + Thai "Jeaw" Dipping Sauce
-
Chili Garlic Noodles Recipe
Source: https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/oyster-sauce-101/
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