Master Sauce/Red Cooking Sauce

As with chillies, curries, and French cooking; the sauce that overcomes, or that, because of an uncooked-and there for lacking in flavour- slurry or white wash, can be a problem in Chinese Cooking. Like a well-seasoned wok this richly flavoured sauce;  that hails from eastern China gets better with each use, so don't pour it down the drain after using it in a stew, or a clay pot casserole. Rather, strain it and store it in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator or freezer (the latter if you'd like to keep it longer) until you're ready to red-cook again, and again, and again. Every item that you cook in it deepens and enriches the sauce with its own flavour. Sauce recycling!

Preparation time: 15 minutes.   Cooking time: 23 minutes. Yield: about 3-1/2 cups

3 cups chicken broth                                           

1/2 cup light soy sauce                                      

1/3 cup dark soy sauce                          

1/3 cup Chinese rice wine or dry sherry                   

1/4 cup packed brown sugar                           

2 whole star anise

4 pieces fresh orange peel

2 Tbsps. cooking oil                                             

8 slices ginger

6 cloves garlic, crushed

1 Tbsp. sesame oil           

1. In a bowl, combine the chicken broth, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice wine, brown sugar, anise, and orange peel.

2. Place a medium pan over high heat until hot. Add the cooking oil, swirling to coat the sides. Add the ginger and garlic; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Add the broth mixture; bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Stir in the sesame oil.

Remember: Some of the aromatics and fresh ingredients in a red-cooking sauce need replenishing now and again. The volatile flavour of orange peel, ginger, and garlic can” flash off", or vaporize, during cooking. Taste your sauce each time; if it seems a bit weak; by all means add fresh ginger, onions, soy, or any other flavouring ingredient that could use refreshing.