| In many Chinese restaurants, broccoli in oyster sauce is made by stir
frying broccoli in a little peanut oil, followed by adding prepared
oyster sauce. You can buy this in most asian food stores. The Joyce
Chen stores in the Greater Maynard area have a selection of oyster
sauces which will boggle the mind. You can get them in reduced salt
versions, no msg, etc. One I've tried (can't remember which) was at
least reasonably good.
However, you can also make your own oyster sauce, and while it's a lot
of work, it's worth it. Most of the commercial sauces are too salty
and have only a vague oyster taste.
To make it, shuck a couple dozen fresh oysters, being careful to lose
as little liquid as possible, and put the liquid and oysters in a
saucepan. Cook it over low-to-medium heat until the oysters are cooked
(they should be just starting to get firm, but not tough -- maybe five
minutes or a little more). Remove the oysters and use them for
something else (such as a chowder, or use them chopped with breading
and spices as baked oysters or something), and continue to reduce the
oyster liquid at medium-high heat until it thickens just a little
(maybe another 10 or 15 minutes). Add some soy sauce, and put it in a
jar in the refrigerator (if you're going to use it within the next day
or two), or freeze it (if you won't be using it right away). I don't
know how long it will keep, even in the freezer, but I wouldn't trust
it for more than a couple of weeks.
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| Mike, where did you get this recipe for making your own oyster sauce? I
always use this particular brand, simply because my mother always used
the same one back home. Oyster sauce is also a bit sweet, wonder if you
should add sugar to the recipe?
caroline
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| The recipe is a modification of one I saw a few years ago in a French-
Vietnamese cookbook. I just left out the sugar. It might have called
for a tablespoon or two.
You're right that oyster sauce does contain some sugar, but I tend to
leave sugar out of recipes or cut it in half, because I find most
recipes too sweet. Fresh oysters seem to have a sweet enough flavor
for my taste. Some recipes need sugar for texture or consistency,
though (especially ones where you want some caramelization), so I
usually put some in for these.
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