Panasia Blog

05-Mar-2011, 11:02 am

The Best Oyster Sauce and Soy Sauce

One of the most common questions we get asked by customers is what sauces we use in our dishes and we are only too happy to tell them but often they return later only to say they couldn't remember the brand or couldn't find it at their local supermarket.

So in this post we are going to provide all the information you need to know about which brand and where to buy. It is important to remember that the better the quality of ingredients you use the better the taste, as long as they are used correctly of course.

Most restaurants use what is called a  " Base Sauce ".  This forms the body of most Asian Stir-fry and noodle dishes and additional ingredients are then added to provide the flavour profile of the dish. eg: Adding Szechuan pepper,  chili and black vinegar for Szechuan flavours.

The Base Sauce consists of Oyster Sauce, Soya Sauce, liquid stock and sugar. As oyster and soya sauce are very salty sugar is required to balance the flavour and liquid stock to dilute the strength and provide sauce volume.

Oyster Sauce

Maekrua

The vast majority of restaurants use the Panda brand as it is a very well known Hong Kong brand and they produce it in large 5lb tins for the food service industry. The brand that we use is the Maekrua brand from Thailand. It is the best tasting and best quality oyster sauce and is regarded as the number one brand in Thailand.  When you do a comparison taste test the Panda brand has more of a malty molasses taste and the Maekrua you can taste the oyster flavour more as Maekrua has 30% oyster extract and Panda 11%. The Maekrua was designed for Thai cuisine so as not to overbear the more vibrant flavours however we feel that this same principle applies equally well to any Asian cuisine which is why we use it despite it being more expensive.

The places to buy this sauce are at your asian supermarkets, you wont find it at your local countdown and if you could it would be double the price. Currently at Tai Ping it sells for approximately $4.50 per bottle. You can get a smaller size which is about $2.80. Once opened keep it in the fridge and it will last for months. Just remember the Thai lady in the white apron on the label and that should jog your memory when your confronted with 20 similar looking bottles.

Light Soy Sauce

Healthy Boy Soy Sauce

Soy sauce needs to be fermented properly in order to develop a flavour just like wine plus it should have a high percentage of Soy Bean product. Most soy sauces you see on the market shelves are not fermented properly, use artificial colours and additives to make them look better and have a low percentage of Soy Bean. One brand that is fermented properly is the Healthy Boy Soy Sauce from Thailand. It also has 64% Soy Bean which is about double the majority of other brands. This sauce like the Maekrua is very famous in Thailand and the makers have managed to mass produce it without sacrificing quality which is why it is very good value.

Healthy Boy on the Right has a more natural lighter colour. Click for better pic

The photo above doesn't show it as clearly as it does in natural light but the Healthy Boy sauce on the right has a more natural amber colour where as on  the left is a common Chinese brand which is almost dark black. If you dip your finger in and taste them the cheaper brands are quite bitter and very salty compared to the umami (delicious in Japanese) taste of a quality brand.

Healthy Boy brand can also be purchased from most Asian Supermarkets at a cost of about $4 per 600ml bottle. Look for a yellow label with a rosy cheeked Healthy Boy. There are also several excellent but comparatively expensive Japanese soy sauces available in shops like Kikkoman but these are designed to be used more as a dipping or tasting sauce rather than for bulk cooking.

So just by using premium quality sauces for cooking you are halfway there to creating good restaurant quality food. These two sauces can be combined and caramelised with sugar to enhance the flavours and create a ready made delicious sauce which can be used on its own or as a base sauce to create other dishes.

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TAGS: Best oyster soy sauce asian thai chinese takeaway restaurant cooking blog