Cooked ginger-scallion oil with chilli
A Cantonese condiment of ginger, garlic, scallion and fresh chilli fried slowly in oil and seasoned with soy sauce, sugar, wine and salt, served over roast meats and poached chicken.
Chinese-American sweet-and-sour sauce
糖醋 · Sweet and sour sauce · Sweet-and-sour dipping sauce
A smooth, tomato-based sweet-and-sour sauce of sugar, vinegar, tomato paste and soy sauce, thickened with starch for dipping or coating; it is not the sauce on Hangzhou's sweet-and-sour ribs.
One label, several sauces
Sweet-and-sour names a taste pattern, not a single master recipe. Two of the sources behind this page show how far apart the sauces can sit. One is a Chinese-American family sauce, smooth and tomato-based, made for dipping fried takeout foods such as egg rolls or for turning into sweet-and-sour dishes. The other is the sauce on a Hangzhou restaurant's sweet-and-sour ribs. Both are sweet and sour. They share a taste and little else, which is why this page gives one recipe in full and describes the other for comparison.
Sources for this section
The household sauce
Ginger and star anise are cooked briefly in oil to flavour it, then tomato paste is fried until it starts to caramelize, which deepens its flavour and takes the raw edge off. Sugar, water, vinegar and soy sauce go in next, and the sauce simmers until it just coats a spoon. Sugar and 5 percent white vinegar are close to equal, and the soy sauce adds salt and depth. Pineapple, orange, apple or lemon juice or syrup is optional, with pineapple the most common choice.
The sauce is thickened with cornstarch stirred into water, but only when it is going to be used: the author thickens a dipping sauce at the end and leaves a stored batch unthickened, thickening it just before it meets the other ingredients. Vinegar is acidic enough to attack carbon steel, so the recipe calls for a stainless steel or other non-reactive pan.
Sources for this section
The Hangzhou ribs account
A 2022 Hangzhou tourism feature records a cooking lesson in which a local restaurant cook teaches sweet-and-sour ribs (糖醋排骨). He cuts the ribs into pieces of about 5 cm and marinates them for 20 minutes. The coating is flour and starch in a 6:4 ratio, and the sauce uses sugar and vinegar in a 6:4 ratio. The ribs are fried twice and then coated in a sauce made with water, wine, dark soy sauce, sugar and vinegar, thickened with a starch slurry. The article says to add the battered ribs when the oil is at san cheng, three-tenths, and gives no Celsius temperature, total quantities or yield, so the dish cannot be reproduced from it alone. It is a contemporary local cooking lesson, not an earliest record of the dish. The sauce here has tomato paste, ginger and star anise and no wine; the ribs' sauce has dark soy and wine and no tomato. They should not be read as one recipe.
Sources for this section
What the sources do not settle
Neither source dates sweet-and-sour cooking or surveys its regional forms, and both describe cooking and starch thickening, not fermentation. The author's storage times are household estimates. The Hangzhou lesson leaves out quantities and a measured oil temperature, and a linked video it mentions was not available to check.
Sources for this section
History
Both sources are contemporary cooking accounts: a family recipe and a 2022 tourism feature. Neither gives an earliest attestation for any sweet-and-sour sauce.
Ingredients
Yield 8 servings · Scaling: source batch only
Neutral oil
15 mL1 tbsp as recorded
vegetable, canola, peanut or avocadoFresh gingerabout 1/8 inch thick
1 slice
Star anise
1
Tomato paste
59 mL¼ cup as recorded
Granulated sugar
159 mL0.67 cup as recorded
two thirds of a cupWater
159 mL0.67 cup as recorded
two thirds of a cupWhite vinegar, 5% acidity
177 mL¾ cup as recorded
Soy sauce
15 mL1 tbsp as recorded
Juice or syrup (optional)
59 mL¼ cup as recorded
pineapple is most common; orange, apple or lemon also workCornstarchmixed with 2 tablespoons of water
30 mL2 tbsp as recorded
for thickening, used gradually; not all may be neededMethod
Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Perishable sauce
The author's keeping times (a few weeks in the refrigerator, three to four months frozen) are household estimates and have not been tested for this formula.
Hazard sourceCool the sauce before refrigerating or freezing, store it unthickened in a clean airtight container and use a clean utensil each time. Treat the author's storage times as estimates, not a validated shelf life.
Control sourceCook in non-reactive cookware; the source warns against a carbon steel wok because of the vinegar.
The storage estimates are not independently validated.
- Put the oil, ginger slice and star anise in a small stainless steel or other non-reactive saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook for about 1 minute, until the ginger starts to caramelize. Do not use a carbon steel wok.
- Add the tomato paste and stir constantly for about 2 minutes, until it starts to caramelize. Do not burn the aromatics or the paste.
- Stir in the sugar, water, white vinegar and soy sauce. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sugar has dissolved. Add the optional juice or syrup.
- Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the sauce just begins to coat a spoon. Remove the star anise and ginger.
- To use as a dip, add the cornstarch slurry gradually while the sauce simmers until it reaches the thickness you like. For another dish, reheat the sauce and thicken it just before adding the other ingredients. To keep it, let it cool and refrigerate or freeze it without thickening.
Conditions
Yield8 servings
Active time25 min
Places
Unknown
Relationship not established · Place not establishedThe sauce is a Chinese-American family recipe; the source names no place of origin or date.
Hangzhou
Documented use · Locality evidenceA 2022 Hangzhou tourism feature documents sweet-and-sour ribs with their own sauce. That is a separate preparation, recorded here for comparison, and does not mean the sauce on this page comes from Hangzhou.
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Sources
The Woks of LifeRecipe · Method · Storage
Sweet and Sour SauceA sauce of oil, ginger, star anise, tomato paste, sugar, water, white vinegar and soy sauce with optional juice, thickened with a cornstarch slurry; serves eight; 5 minutes preparation and 20 minutes cooking.
For dipping, add the starch gradually; for storage, cool and refrigerate or freeze unthickened. The author estimates a few weeks refrigerated and three to four months frozen.
Cited in: One label, several sauces; The household sauce; What the sources do not settle
Hangzhou Net tourism channel / Dushi KuaibaoVariants · Geography
杭州味道第二期：糖醋排骨A restaurant cook teaches sweet-and-sour ribs: ribs cut into pieces of about 5 cm, marinated 20 minutes, coated in flour and starch at a 6:4 ratio, fried twice, then coated in a sauce of water, wine, dark soy, sugar and vinegar (sugar to vinegar 6:4) thickened with a starch slurry.
Battered ribs go in when the oil is at three-tenths (san cheng), with no Celsius figure; total quantities and yield are not given.
Cited in: One label, several sauces; The Hangzhou ribs account; What the sources do not settle