oyster sauce?

So we were running low on oyster sauce so I grabbed a bottle of Lee Kum Kee at HMart out of habit. But I was noticing that there were other choices. LKK had a "premium" bottling, as did Dynasty. There were also a few others (some ominously called "oyster flavored sauce", and a vegan one!?!?!). Kind of kicked myself for not getting premium LKK by time I was in car.
My main use is just adding while sauteeing blanched bok choy/shanghai/Ch. broccoli/yu choy/etc but also some recipes. Any favorites I should look out for?

[Jenise]

I'm an LKK fan. Will have to double check if mine's the premium or not. In general, I would buy anything so-labeled. I did try a vegan one once--neh, wouldn't again.

I too use it on vegetables. Also dilute it to coat shiitake mushrooms which I combine with sauteed 1" lengths of green onion and top with chopped mac nuts. Looks beautiful when several dishes are served family style. We also swab it on fish and even onto thin rib steaks for barbecuing when camping*.

*Learned this a few years ago when we were camping on Vancouver Island. We ran into a couple we'd met days before and they invited us to join them for dinner. He went to his freezer and grabbed two more very thin rib steaks and put them on the BBQ before adding two that were already thawed. They were fantastic. And of all things, that unusual, delicious lightly sweet umami flavor came from oyster sauce. I was shocked that I didn't recognize it since I'm such a fan, and also at how well the steaks cooked from frozen--something else I wouldn't have done.

LKK Premium is the oyster sauce that I use. This is the one with two people in a boat on the label. LKK's "regular" oyster sauce is Panda brand, with a picture of a panda on the label. The difference is that the Premium has a higher oyster content. It's a bit more expensive than the Panda brand but IMO tastes better and is well worth it.

Online prices seem to vary a lot. Target is offering a 9 oz bottle of LKK Premium oyster sauce for US$3.99. The same 9oz bottle costs #13.85 from Walmart.

-Paul W.

I buy the LKK brand - $3.95 a bottle at my local superstore.

I buy the LKK brand - $3.95 a bottle at my local superstore.

Panda or Premium?

-Paul W.

Usually Panda or Choy Sun, but I also like the same brand of oyster plus scallop sauce.

I have a large bottle of Lee Kum Kee in my fridge. It's my favorite. And it's my secret to awesome fried rice. Try a dollop.

Do you also have Prince Albert in a can?

sorry, sorry, feeling a little giddy at this hour...

Oh, you wascally wabbit!

[Jenise]

I have a large bottle of Lee Kum Kee in my fridge. It's my favorite. And it's my secret to awesome fried rice. Try a dollop.

Ditto on the fried rice.

I just picked up the LKK Premium today. Look forward to trying and seeing if I can differentiate.

I've never made fried rice using oyster sauce, only using Koon Chun thick soy sauce. I'll have to give oyster sauce a try.

-Paul W.

I use Maekrua Thai Oyster Sauce

I read the labels of Oyster Sauces in the Asian stores in London's Chinatown and that had the highest oyster content at 30%

Panda has 11% but I see Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce has 40%, so perhaps I'll swap to that, tho' I've been very happy with Maekra which I have been using for 20 years.

[Jenise]

I've never made fried rice using oyster sauce, only using Koon Chun thick soy sauce. I'll have to give oyster sauce a try.

-Paul W.

Can't imagine you not liking it; though I have no experience with thick soy sauce. Is it Chinese (the name sounds it, but I associate all thick soy sauces with Indonesian and Malaysian.)

Jenise, what I'm talking about is Koon Chun Thick Soy Sauce. It comes in glass jars like their bean sauce and hoisin sauce. It's thicker, and not as sweet, as kecap manis and the other Indonesian and Thai sweet black soy sauces. It has more or less the same consistency as molasses and a strong molasses flavor. Joyce Chen's recipe for Cantonese restaurant-style fried rice calls for a teaspoon or so. It is what gives that brown color to restaurant fried rice. Regular black soy sauce adds too much moisture. Joyce Chen suggests Gravy Master or a similar preparation as a substitute.

I also add a tablespoon or so of thick soy sauce when I make red-cooked dishes. It adds more soy sauce flavor than just using dark soy sauce.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

My gosh, how did I not know about this stuff. I do so much Chinese cooking and shop in Asian stores but, indeed, this one's news to me. I'll have to try some.

Speaking of brown color for restaurant fried rice: when I was a child the brown color was standard. In this area I live now, no fried rice is ever brown. The one exception seemed to be rice to which soy sauce had probably been added to the cooking water. Not awful, but too uniform vs. adding during the refry process. I sprinkle soy sauce on the rice as it's cooling, then add a teaspoon of oyster sauce to the rice in the wok--I like that each kernel is not uniformly seasoned.

According to Joyce Chen, home-style egg fried rice in China is usually made without soy sauce. It's traditional to offer some sort of meal or snack to visitors, every Chinese home has leftover cooked rice, and so fried rice is an easy dish to whip up at the last minute. There's a bit more elaborate version that's called train fried rice because it's served on all passenger railways. This also doesn't have any soy sauce in it. Joyce Chen called it "Choo-choo Train Fried Rice" because her young children ate it better with that name.

The brown-colored version, usually with diced meat and bean sprouts, is a Cantonese regional dish. Around here it's the only version I've ever seen in restaurants. You can use soy sauce to get the brown color and flavor, but it tends to make the rice a bit mushy. Thick soy sauce does the trick. Joyce Chen recommends Gravy Master as a substitute. I've never tried that as Koon Chun thick soy sauce is readily available in Asian markets around here. I suspect that a mixture of dark soy sauce and molasses would work, too.

-Paul W.

For a few cents, I picked up a bottle of naturally fermented Taiwanese soy sauce called Weitai Vi Dai Bo De at an estate sale. Tastes pretty good.

For a few cents, I picked up a bottle of naturally fermented Taiwanese soy sauce called Weitai Vi Dai Bo De at an estate sale. Tastes pretty good.

Any idea how long it was sitting in the estate fridge?

So I tried Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce on stir-fried pak-choi.

It was noticeably more liquidly than my usual Thai Oyster Sauce and I didn't notice a difference in taste. I'll use it till the bottle runs out but my thinking now is I prefer the thicker Thai sauce.

For a few cents, I picked up a bottle of naturally fermented Taiwanese soy sauce called Weitai Vi Dai Bo De at an estate sale. Tastes pretty good.

Any idea how long it was sitting in the estate fridge?

Not a clue. Probably less than the soy sauce I already own. Besides, soy sauce lasts just about forever.

Luckily, though, my box of table salt won't expire until 2028, so I should be able to use it all before it goes bad.

Luckily, though, my box of table salt won't expire until 2028, so I should be able to use it all before it goes bad.

Funny that you mention table salt: just tonight I used the last of a 26 oz paper cylinder box of Red Cross Table Salt. That's a lot of wrist action.

I know everybody says to use Diamond Crystal but I've used Red Cross brand ever since I can remember.

I wonder how they calculate the shelf life for table salt? I assume the package of salt has an expiration date because of a legal requirement.

One of the ingredients in youtiao (Chinese crullers) is ammonium carbonate [(NH4)2CO3], a powerful leavening agent that causes the youtiao to puff up when deep-fried. You don't need an expiration date on the label for this one. Over time it spontaneously breaks down into ammonia, water vapor, and carbon dioxide. I bought some to make youtiao once and after the first batch decided it was too much trouble to make at home. I had only used a bit of the ammonium carbonate. A couple of years later I opened the bottle and it was empty.

-Paul W.

I wonder how they calculate the shelf life for table salt? I assume the package of salt has an expiration date because of a legal requirement.

One of the ingredients in youtiao (Chinese crullers) is ammonium carbonate [(NH4)2CO3], a powerful leavening agent that causes the youtiao to puff up when deep-fried. You don't need an expiration date on the label for this one. Over time it spontaneously breaks down into ammonia, water vapor, and carbon dioxide. I bought some to make youtiao once and after the first batch decided it was too much trouble to make at home. I had only used a bit of the ammonium carbonate. A couple of years later I opened the bottle and it was empty. -Paul W.

Or bottled water.

I've made my own sodium carbonate (used to make pretzels, bagels glossy brown). Luckily, it's a powder, so it won't evaporate.