One of the delights of learning Chinese cooking from Jing is seeing how many ways the same or similar ingredients can be combined to create distinctly different flavors. Jing recently wrote of her new experience working with wheat flour to make Chinese pastries. Being from Southern China, where rice is the principle grain, making wheat-based dough was almost alien to her. Chinese condiments, like Hoisin Sauce, also originate from specific regions, and have different flavors, yet share many common ingredients.
Hoisin Sauce is a Cantonese condiment, and is sometimes called a sweeter version of tián miàn jiàng (甜麵醬), or sweet bean paste. Like douban jiàng and tián miàn jiàng, the principle ingredient is fermented soybeans. Traditionally, it is made with toasted, mashed soybeans. Various starches are used (sweet potato, wheat, and rice) in the sauce. Other ingredients include chili pepper, white vinegar, sugar, salt, and garlic.
Hoisin Sauce: what’s in a name?
The name Hoisin comes from the Cantonese pronunciation of the Chinese characters for seafood (海鲜; Cantonese Yale: hói sīn; pinyin: hǎixiān), but there is no seafood used in the preparation of the sauce, nor is it served with fish. Most sources say the origin of the name is s mystery, however, Wikipedia claims the term refers to the fish fragrance (yuxiang) used in Sichuan, but does not cite a source for the claim.
Principle uses for Hoisin sauce
Hoisin is used in char siu (barbecued pork), and as a meat marinade. Thinned with peanut butter and sesame oil (4 parts hoisin, 1 part peanut butter, 1 part sesame oil), it makes a nice dipping sauce served with Peking Duck. (You can also try it with Shredded Pork in Beijing Sauce instead of tián miàn jiàng.) This also makes a nice drizzle sauce for scallion pancakes.
Irene Kuo and Grace Young have recipes for a barbecued pork marinade using hoisin sauce. Marinate the pork in the sauce overnight, then roast it in an oven. Traditionally, the pork is hung from the oven racks as it cooks, but I have had good results using the broil setting on a toaster oven. I like to take the cooked pork and dice it for use in Pork Fried Rice.
Some Vietnamese cooks serve hoisin as a dipping sauce with Pho:
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