How to Make a Restaurant Quality Asian Barbecue Sauce
The world is becoming smaller and smaller. We are connected to the world through the Internet and mass transportation, and the face of the world is changing through immigration and emigration.
Ethnic markets abound because people on the move want easy access to the flavors of home. This gives us unprecedented access to the cultures and foods of the world.
Making sauces from different cultures is a relatively simple way to begin an exploration of a new cuisine. You might not have access to all the particular native ingredients to prepare a complete meal.
Besides, creating a complete meal might be more than you’d like to try. But, by making a new and unfamiliar sauce, you can evoke the flavors and the feel of an ethnic cuisine without having to hop on a plane to go shopping.
Asian Barbecue Sauce
Use this sticky and deeply flavorful sauce to bring an Asian flare to grilled meat or poultry. Asian barbecue sauce is not as sweet as American-style barbecue sauces and, with the addition of fish sauce and soy sauce, is guaranteed to make any meat you use it on taste meatier and more mouth-watering.
Best Served With:
Ingredient Substitutions
- Find fish sauce either in the Asian aisle of your grocery store or at an Asian grocery.
- Find plum jam at a well-stocked grocery or gourmet specialty store or substitute currant jam.
- If you cannot find shallots, substitute onion or green onion.
Asian Barbecue Sauce
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- ¾ cup hoisin sauce
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablspoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons plum jam
- ⅔ cup shallot minced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger peeled and minced
- 1 pinch Chinese five spice powder
Instructions
- Place the sugar and water in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir until sugar is evenly moistened.
- Combine the hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce, and soy sauce in a bowl. Set aside.
- Heat on medium, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil. Once the sugar has dissolved, stop stirring, but swirl the pan gently.
- Cook the sugar until it reaches a medium-amber color. Immediately pour in the hoisin sauce mixture, stirring vigorously. Be careful, because the mixture will bubble up and the caramel will most likely harden.
- Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the honey, shallot, garlic ginger, and 5 spice. Whisk together until the caramel has melted back into the sauce
- Turn the heat down to low and simmer for about 5 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly.
