Spices, Sauces and Supplies - DRAFT (lemme know if you want more stuff on this list)

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I made the suggestion on reddit that one should learn to use any new ingredient they buy in at least 5 different ways. That might have been an exaggeration, but learning and attempting to do so would expand your understanding of how the ingredient tastes and is used under different situations, and so allow you to start improvising.

I'm going to list these according to how much I like them, and prefer to use them. I'm going to list my preferred brand if possible, and give amazon links for possible substitutes if I can find them there. There will also be links to recipes that use these recipes 


酱油 / 豉油 SOY SAUCE  

Original soy sauce is made from soy beans, salt and water, in a double batch fermentation. Soy beans are cooked, then infected with a mold. The mold creates enzymes that break down the starch and proteins in soy beans into sugars and proteins. 

Salt water is added to kill the mold, but allow the enzymes to survive and continue doing their work. As do yeast and other salt tolerant microorganisms in a secondary fermentation. 

This secondary fermentation continues (traditionally in clay pots under the sun), and flavors develop. There's low temperature maillard & carmelization happening, which gives it a dark color, and delicious flavors. The yeast eat the sugars and create alcohol, which has fragrant esthers. Some of the alcohol turns to vinegar, giving it a slight tang. 

This is extracted as 生抽 Chinese style Light Soy sauce. More salt water is added, aged and extracted. Molasses / caramel is mixed with it. This is 老抽 Chinese style dark soy sauce

Variations exist, where other ingredients are used in the original mold culture (e.g. wheat in Japanese Shoyu), or mixed in with the extracted liquid for extra flavor. 


My general advice regarding this is to get a Chinese Light Soy Sauce, Chinese Dark Soy Sauce, and a Japanese Shoyu. Most generic recipes that call for Soy Sauce mean a Chinese Light Soy Sauce, but adding a touch of Chinese Dark Soy Sauce adds more depth to your dishes, as well as some caramel color and flavors. Japanese generic soy sauce (Koikuchi) has a different fragrance due to a higher alcohol content and is great as a dipping sauce for delicately flavored things like sushi.  


 鎭江香醋   CHINKIANG / ZHENJIANG VINEGAR - 

Golden Plum
 Sometimes known as BLACK VINEGAR, although there are many different black vinegars in China, this is usually what people mean when they say (Chinese) Black vinegar. 

Golden Plum brand is a popular brand, and I understand that Heng Shun has a factory dating back to 1840, and a museum dedicated to this vinegar. I hear their aged Zhenjiang vinegar is also very good. 

Woksoflife article on chinkiang vinegar is pretty fantastic. 

Golden Plum
Nutritional Info
Supremevinegar also has a very interesting article comparing and contrasting 4 well known "black/red" Chinese vinegars, as well as the history of vinegar in China, and how they are made. 
This is written by Reginald Smith, a modern 醯人 and the author of Vinegar, the Eternal Condiment. 

Another book Vinegars of the world has an explanation about how Chinkiang vinegar is made. 

My favorite use for chinkiang vinegar is in sweet sour ribs, which we make fairly often. It's also an important flavor in making cold salads, and cold noodles. I also like to use it as a dumplings dipping sauce, as well as a blanched broccoli sauce (or any crunchy veg). 





SHAOXING WINE (LIAO JIU)


OYSTER SAUCE

Chinese Cooking Demystified 



MISO

MIRIN

SAKE

HON DASHI

KNOSS CHICKEN POWDER / MUSHROOM POWDER

SZECHUAN PEPPERCORNS (WHOLE / POWDERED)

TENGJIAO OIL


STAR ANISE


5 SPICE POWDER / 13 SPICE

GARAM MASALA


FU RU / FU YU

Flavor and Fortune - Article and Recipe (I suspect his "brown spots" to be the type that makes "stinky tofu" 

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