Yuxiang () is a famous seasoning mixture in

Chinese cuisine Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many o ...

, and also refers to the resulting

sauce In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French wor ...

in which meat or

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...

s are cooked. It is said to have originated in Sichuan cuisine, and has since spread to other regional Chinese cuisines. Fuchsia Dunlop. Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking. (2003). 395 pag. , Despite the term literally meaning "

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

fragrance" in Chinese, yuxiang contains no seafood and is typically not added to seafood. On top of the basic mixture, cooking yuxiang almost always includes the use of sugar, vinegar,

doubanjiang Doubanjiang (, pinyin: ''dòubànjiàng'', IPA: ), also known as douban, toban-djan, broad bean chili sauce, or fermented chili bean paste, is a hot and savoury Chinese bean paste made from fermented broad beans, chili peppers, soybeans, salt ...

, soy sauce, and pickled chili peppers.

Preparation

Proper preparation of the yuxiang seasoning includes finely minced pao la jiao (pickled chili), white scallion, ginger, and garlic. They are mixed in more-or-less equal portions, though some prefer to include more scallions than ginger and garlic. The mixture is then fried in oil until fragrant. Water, starch, sugar, and vinegar are then added to create a basic sauce.

Dishes

The sauce is used most often for dishes containing beef, pork, or chicken. It is sometimes used for vegetarian recipes. In fact, Barbara Tropp suggests in ''

The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' that the characters can also be interpreted as meaning "

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...

" flavor. Dishes that use yuxiang as the main seasoning have the term affixed to their name. For instance: * Yúxiāngròusī (魚香肉絲): Pork strips stir-fried with yuxiang *Yúxiāngqiézi (魚香茄子): Braised eggplants with yuxiang *Yúxiāngniúnǎn (魚香牛腩): Beef

brisket Brisket is a cut of meat from the breast or lower chest of beef or veal. The beef brisket is one of the nine beef primal cuts, though the definition of the cut differs internationally. The brisket muscles include the superficial and deep pectora ...

stewed with yuxiang

References

External links

Example of video recipe for Yu Xiang Sauce
{{Sichuan cuisine Sichuan cuisine Food ingredients