Oyster sauce in foods
We mentioned that oyster sauce feels as ubiquitous in Chinese cooking as soy sauce, but it is primarily a Southern Chinese condiment. Oysters were mostly cultivated in Hong Kong, Guangdong, and nearby areas, and that is where it remains the most popular. Of course, with the Chinese diaspora, this sauce has since spread to the far corners of the globe—anywhere where there are Chinese restaurants—and have firmly rooted itself in the kitchens and palates of foodies worldwide.
Apart from Cantonese dishes, oyster sauce is also well-utilised in hearty Shandong cuisine, the numbing spicy foods of Sichuan, and the seafood-dominated and stew-based cuisines of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. It brings out umami flavours in dishes, enhancing the taste of individual dishes without hampering their originality. It also does the additional job of enriching colours and creating a sauce base for dishes. As tasty as this sauce is though, don’t be too heavy-handed as its salty richness can easily overwhelm more subtle flavours!
Fans of oysters prepared the Western way—freshly shucked in the shell, with a tangy drizzle of lemon juice, chopped shallots, or Tabasco—will find that oyster sauce is an entirely different beast. While raw oysters are fresh, briny, and slightly sweet, oyster sauce is much richer, salty, full of umami, with a hint of caramel.
In Hong Kong, you’ll mostly find it in stir-fry dishes, stews, and drizzled on top of plain cooked vegetables. It is also often used in marinating ingredients.