I love XO sauce and use it on rice (plain and fried), noodles and steamed fish. But I often struggle to finish a jar – any advice on other ways of using it?
Chris, via email
“I’m absolutely stunned that Chris has any problem finishing a jar of XO sauce,” says Fuchsia Dunlop, author of Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food. “You can literally eat the stuff by the spoonful straight from the jar, although that would feel quite extravagant.” This, of course, is because the umami condiment, said to have been invented in Hong Kong’s Spring Moon restaurant at the Peninsula hotel in the mid-1980s, is something of a luxury. As Jenny Lau, author of An A-Z of Chinese Food, explains, XO sauce “must contain three core ingredients: dried shrimp, dried scallop and preserved ham”, which don’t come cheap. “Anything else, though, and it will be an imitation.”
The powerhouse sauce, which also features chillies and alliums, is used both in cooking and as a table condiment. “It basically makes anything taste more interesting,” Dunlop says, and Chris is on the right track with what he’s been doing with it. “One of the best ways to appreciate XO sauce is to have it with plain rice; you taste that lovely, chewy texture, the delicious savouriness of the scallops and the kick of chilli heat.” And, because it’s oil-based, XO works brilliantly in fried dishes, too, although that doesn’t include fried rice in Dunlop’s book: “While it is delicious, I feel that’s a bit of a waste,” she says. “I’d rather use dried shrimp in fried rice and keep my XO sauce for having bits in your chopsticks to enjoy.” That might be in stir-fried noodles, say, or spooned into veg: “I once had some amazing stir-fried king oyster mushrooms with XO sauce in Hangzhou,” Dunlop says.
