Some of the often requested questions I get as a meals author based mostly in Taiwan is, “What’s in that scrumptious brown sauce?” As in, the brown sauce drizzled over the fried smelly tofu on the night time market, or the brown sauce that comes with egg crepes or scallion pancakes for breakfast. In case you ask the seller instantly, they’d most definitely say it’s a home mix of many issues. That may be true. However the base of a memorably delectable brown sauce is all the time soy paste.
Soy paste is exclusive to Taiwan and, simplistically talking, it’s a kind of viscous soy sauce—a condiment historically thickened with glutinous rice flour and seasoned with sugar and maybe a little bit of licorice. It’s texturally just like oyster sauce, however with none of the seafood. (On that word: In any recipe that requires oyster sauce, be happy to swap in soy paste.)
Due to its imprecise identify in English, it’s usually confused for fermented soybean pastes like doenjang or miso. These are fully completely different substances. Taiwanese soy paste is definitely extra of a thick glaze than a real paste.
“The technical definition of soy paste is soy sauce thickened to a viscosity of 250 centipoise at 25 levels Celsius,” says Melody Chen, the advertising director of Kimlan Meals, Taiwan’s largest soy sauce producer.
Regardless of that definition’s specificity, soy paste varies relying on the place it’s produced. In southern Taiwan, it’s often (however not all the time) product of soy sauce made with black soybeans—thickened and sweetened till virtually caramel in coloration. Some variants of southern Taiwanese soy paste will be fairly candy, reflecting the area’s love for sugar. Up north, soy paste is made with soy sauce from yellow soybeans, and tends to be saltier and darker with hints of licorice.
Kimlan, which is headquartered in northern Taiwan, produces their soy sauce utilizing the latter formulation, and claims to be the primary firm to have invented the condiment. “In 1958, a fish ball vendor in Tamsui requested our firm to make him a sauce just like soy sauce however with viscosity,” says Chen. “Our boss thought this was a fantastic thought.” The paste clung properly to the fish balls and it turned a success.
At present, Kimlan sells over 10 million bottles of soy paste a yr. And whereas they dominate the soy paste market each domestically and internationally, together with within the US, they aren’t the one ones producing the condiment anymore. There are dozens of various manufacturers in Taiwan, from Wan Ja Shan and Dongcheng.
Because it was invented, soy paste has developed to turn out to be way over only a dipping sauce. Many house cooks like throwing it into lengthy braises so as to add wealthy savoriness. It will also be utilized as a glaze on barbecued meats, or tossed into stir-fries. “It has a glistening impact and makes meals shine,” says Chen.
In contrast to China, Taiwan doesn’t have darkish or mild soy sauce, which are sometimes used collectively in Chinese language cooking. In Taiwanese cookery, soy paste offers that a lot wanted counterbalance. It’s that further one thing that’s splashed in a pot alongside soy sauce in order that the dish isn’t one-note.
“I examine it to balsamic discount, which is used as a drizzle and a ending condiment,” says Lisa Cheng Smith, the founding father of Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry, one of many few importers of artisan southern-style Taiwanese soy paste in the USA. Yun Hai’s various line of soy paste contains enjoyable flavors like ghost pepper, and miso, although the plain one is most conventional.
When cooking with the paste at house, style, dilute it with just a little water, and add some sugar for those who’d like. Many road distributors prefer to swirl in minced garlic or candy chili sauce, to make their soy paste much more thrilling.
Clarissa Wei is writing a cookbook on Taiwanese delicacies, forthcoming Fall 2023.
