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Sweet and sour
Sweet and sour is a generic term that encompasses many styles of sauce, cuisine, and cooking methods common to Eurasia. Sweet and sour sauce has remained popular in Asian and Western cuisines since the Middle Ages.
Sweet and sour dishes, sauces, and cooking methods have a long history in China. One of the earliest recordings of sweet and sour may come from Shaowei Yanshi Dan (Chinese: 燒尾宴食單; pinyin: shāowěi yànshí dān), a menu of the food served in Tang dynasty (618–907) "Shaowei banquet" festivals written in 708. It included many sweet and sour adjacent dishes and recorded that they were invented by Chancellor Wei Juyuan under Emperor Zhongzong of Tang when he hosted the Emperor at his house. Some authors say that the original sweet and sour sauce (Chinese: 糖醋醬; pinyin: tángcùjiàng) came from the Chinese province of Henan, but the sauce in this area is a light vinegar and sugar mixture not resembling what most people, including the Chinese, would call sweet and sour. Many places in China use a sweet and sour sauce as a dipping sauce for fish and meat rather than in cooking, as is common in Westernized Chinese cuisine.
This style of using sauces is popular amongst Chinese who tie certain sauces to particular meats such as chili and soy for shrimp and vinegar and garlic for goose. There are, however, some dishes, such as the Cantonese sweet and sour pork or loong har kow (sweet and sour lobster balls), in which the meat is cooked and a sauce added to the wok before serving.
Not all dishes are cooked; some, such as "sweet and sour fruit and vegetable" salad from the eastern regions of China, also find their way in Chinese cuisine. This cold dish combines salad vegetables such as cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, and onion with a mixture of pineapple (or pear), vinegar, and sugar.
In China, the sauces are traditionally made by mixing sugar or honey with a sour liquid such as rice vinegar or soy sauce and spices such as ginger and cloves. Sometimes a paste made from tomatoes is used, but this is rare and normally restricted to Western cooking.
Cantonese sweet and sour sauce is the direct ancestor of the sauce of the same name in the West and was originally developed for sweet and sour pork. The late Hong Kong chef Leung King included the following as his sweet and sour sauce recipe: white rice vinegar, salt, Chinese brown candy, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and dark soy sauce. Hong Kong's gourmet Willie Mark Yiu-Tong (better known as Wei Ling|唯靈), a longtime friend of Leung, suggests to contemporary eateries not to resort to cheap bulk manufactured versions of vinegar, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce, or the sauce will risk being too sharp in taste and might break the balance of flavors. He suggests the more acidic white rice vinegar could be replaced with apple cider vinegar and that ketchup and Worcestershire sauce should be of renowned gourmet brands.
The original Cantonese sweet and sour pork (traditional Chinese: 咕嚕肉; simplified Chinese: 咕噜肉; pinyin: gūlūròu; Cantonese Yale: gūlōuyuhk; lit. 'rumbling meat') is made with vinegar, preserved plums and hawthorn candy for an almost scarlet color and sweet-sour taste. A related Hong Kong/Cantonese-based dish is sweet and sour spare ribs (Chinese: 生炒排骨; pinyin: Shēngchǎo páigǔ; Cantonese Yale: sāangcháau pàaigwāt; lit. 'stir-fried spare ribs'). The methods used are identical, with spareribs used instead of pork loin.
Guo bao rou (traditional Chinese: 鍋包肉; simplified Chinese: 锅包肉; pinyin: Guō bāo ròu) is a classic dish from Northeast China originating in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. It consists of large thinly sliced pieces of pork tenderloin in potato starch batter, deep-fried twice until crispy. They are then lightly coated in a variation of a sweet and sour sauce, made from freshly prepared syrup and rice vinegar, and flavored with ginger and garlic. The batter absorbs the sauce and softens. A Beijing variant has the sauce thin and watery, while the dish as prepared in Liaoning Province often has a thicker sauce made with ketchup (tomato sauce). However, the true or original version of guō bāo ròu served in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, is made with an amber-colored sauce due to the fact that it uses caramelized sugar.[citation needed]
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Sweet and sour
Sweet and sour is a generic term that encompasses many styles of sauce, cuisine, and cooking methods common to Eurasia. Sweet and sour sauce has remained popular in Asian and Western cuisines since the Middle Ages.
Sweet and sour dishes, sauces, and cooking methods have a long history in China. One of the earliest recordings of sweet and sour may come from Shaowei Yanshi Dan (Chinese: 燒尾宴食單; pinyin: shāowěi yànshí dān), a menu of the food served in Tang dynasty (618–907) "Shaowei banquet" festivals written in 708. It included many sweet and sour adjacent dishes and recorded that they were invented by Chancellor Wei Juyuan under Emperor Zhongzong of Tang when he hosted the Emperor at his house. Some authors say that the original sweet and sour sauce (Chinese: 糖醋醬; pinyin: tángcùjiàng) came from the Chinese province of Henan, but the sauce in this area is a light vinegar and sugar mixture not resembling what most people, including the Chinese, would call sweet and sour. Many places in China use a sweet and sour sauce as a dipping sauce for fish and meat rather than in cooking, as is common in Westernized Chinese cuisine.
This style of using sauces is popular amongst Chinese who tie certain sauces to particular meats such as chili and soy for shrimp and vinegar and garlic for goose. There are, however, some dishes, such as the Cantonese sweet and sour pork or loong har kow (sweet and sour lobster balls), in which the meat is cooked and a sauce added to the wok before serving.
Not all dishes are cooked; some, such as "sweet and sour fruit and vegetable" salad from the eastern regions of China, also find their way in Chinese cuisine. This cold dish combines salad vegetables such as cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, and onion with a mixture of pineapple (or pear), vinegar, and sugar.
In China, the sauces are traditionally made by mixing sugar or honey with a sour liquid such as rice vinegar or soy sauce and spices such as ginger and cloves. Sometimes a paste made from tomatoes is used, but this is rare and normally restricted to Western cooking.
Cantonese sweet and sour sauce is the direct ancestor of the sauce of the same name in the West and was originally developed for sweet and sour pork. The late Hong Kong chef Leung King included the following as his sweet and sour sauce recipe: white rice vinegar, salt, Chinese brown candy, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and dark soy sauce. Hong Kong's gourmet Willie Mark Yiu-Tong (better known as Wei Ling|唯靈), a longtime friend of Leung, suggests to contemporary eateries not to resort to cheap bulk manufactured versions of vinegar, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce, or the sauce will risk being too sharp in taste and might break the balance of flavors. He suggests the more acidic white rice vinegar could be replaced with apple cider vinegar and that ketchup and Worcestershire sauce should be of renowned gourmet brands.
The original Cantonese sweet and sour pork (traditional Chinese: 咕嚕肉; simplified Chinese: 咕噜肉; pinyin: gūlūròu; Cantonese Yale: gūlōuyuhk; lit. 'rumbling meat') is made with vinegar, preserved plums and hawthorn candy for an almost scarlet color and sweet-sour taste. A related Hong Kong/Cantonese-based dish is sweet and sour spare ribs (Chinese: 生炒排骨; pinyin: Shēngchǎo páigǔ; Cantonese Yale: sāangcháau pàaigwāt; lit. 'stir-fried spare ribs'). The methods used are identical, with spareribs used instead of pork loin.
Guo bao rou (traditional Chinese: 鍋包肉; simplified Chinese: 锅包肉; pinyin: Guō bāo ròu) is a classic dish from Northeast China originating in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. It consists of large thinly sliced pieces of pork tenderloin in potato starch batter, deep-fried twice until crispy. They are then lightly coated in a variation of a sweet and sour sauce, made from freshly prepared syrup and rice vinegar, and flavored with ginger and garlic. The batter absorbs the sauce and softens. A Beijing variant has the sauce thin and watery, while the dish as prepared in Liaoning Province often has a thicker sauce made with ketchup (tomato sauce). However, the true or original version of guō bāo ròu served in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, is made with an amber-colored sauce due to the fact that it uses caramelized sugar.[citation needed]