Oyster Sauce

History:
Oyster Sauce is said to have been invented in 1888 by Mr. Lee Kam Sheung, in Nam Shui Village in Guangdong Province, China. His company, Lee Kum Kee, continues to produce oyster sauce, to this day, along with a wide variety of Asian condiments. (One of their bottles is pictured to the right)

Preparation:
Oyster Sauce was traditionally made by cooking oysters in brine until they reached a thick brown consistency. No other ingredients were added - not even salt. But, only a few companies do it this way as it is expensive. Most oyster sauce today has starch, caramel, chemical preservatives and large amounts of MSG.

Usage:
You can use Oyster Sauce when making almost any type of Chinese sauce. Or even alone in a stir-fry.

Storage:
You can store oyster sauce in the refrigerator up to a year after being opened.


Asian Rice

Fold

Technique:
Add the ingredient that you wish to fold over the top of the mixture you wish to fold into. Use a large spoon or spatula and slip it down to the bottom of your bowl. Next, make a scooping motion, overturning the ingredients onto themselves. Keep doing this while rotating the bowl until the two are sufficiently mixed together. Don't be over-zealous in your mixing or you will cause it to deflate.

Purpose:
Folding adds air into a mixture, you should always mix cake this way if you are mixing by hand. This technique is most often used when adding beaten egg whites or whipped cream (or any other light and fluffy mixture).

The K-Pedia!

This blog is a companion to Kitchit in the Kitchen, my cooking blog. It's basically going to be an encyclopedia of cooking terms and techniques.