Type | Condiment |
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Place of origin | Hong Kong |
Created by | Unknown |
Main ingredients | dried scallop, chilli peppers, Jinhua ham, dried shrimp, garlic, vegetable oil |
XO sauce | |||||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | XO醬 | ||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | XO酱 | ||||||||||||
Cantonese Yale | XO jeung | ||||||||||||
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XO sauce is a spicy seafood sauce from Hong Kong [1] with an umami flavour. [2] It is commonly used in southern Chinese regions such as Guangdong.
Developed in the 1980s in Hong Kong for Cantonese cuisine,XO sauce is made of roughly-chopped dried seafood,including dried scallops (conpoy),fish and shrimp,which are cooked with chilli peppers,onions and garlic. This dried seafood-based sauce resembles the Fujianese shacha sauce. Spring Moon,the Chinese restaurant of the Peninsula Hong Kong hotel,is often credited with the invention of XO sauce,although some claim it came from other nearby restaurants in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon. [3]
The name XO sauce comes from fine XO (extra-old) cognac,which is a popular Western liquor in Hong Kong,and considered by many at the time to be a chic product. The name is a misnomer since the condiment contains no cognac,and it is not really a sauce in the traditional,smooth sense,but more chunky,like a relish. [4] The term XO is often used in Hong Kong to denote high quality,prestige and luxury. Indeed,XO sauce has been marketed in the same manner as French liquor,using packaging of similar colour schemes.
Typical ingredients of XO sauce include dried scallop,red chilli pepper,Jinhua ham,dried shrimp,garlic and vegetable oil. [5] Some other recipes also call for salted cured fish and diced onion. [6]
XO sauce can be used as a table condiment or in cooking to enhance the flavour of fish,meats,vegetables,and otherwise bland foods such as tofu or noodles.
Cantonese or Guangdong cuisine,also known as Yue cuisine,is the cuisine of Cantonese people,associated with the Guangdong province of China,particularly the provincial capital Guangzhou,and the surrounding regions in the Pearl River Delta including Hong Kong and Macau. Strictly speaking,Cantonese cuisine is the cuisine of Guangzhou or of Cantonese speakers,but it often includes the cooking styles of all the speakers of Yue Chinese languages in Guangdong.
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Malay cuisine is the traditional food of the ethnic Malays of Southeast Asia,residing in modern-day Malaysia,Indonesia,Singapore,Brunei,Southern Thailand and the Philippines as well as Cocos Islands,Christmas Island,Sri Lanka and South Africa.
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Noodle soup refers to a variety of soups with noodles and other ingredients served in a light broth. Noodle soup is a common dish across East Asia,Southeast Asia and the Himalayan states of South Asia. Various types of noodles are used,such as rice noodles,wheat noodles and egg noodles.
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