Oyster sauce is a thick, dark brown sauce made from oyster extract, sugar and salt, thickened with a little starch. Despite the name it does not taste of fish or seafood. It tastes savoury, slightly sweet and rich, with a deep umami that rounds off everything it touches.
The sauce was born in southern China in 1888, when a cook left a pot of oysters simmering too long and found a thick, fragrant brown sauce at the bottom. Today it is as much at home in the Thai kitchen as in the Chinese one. It is what gives Pad Krapao its glossy coating, what makes stir-fried morning glory and cashew chicken taste right, and what turns a simple plate of greens into something you want more of. Where fish sauce brings salt, oyster sauce brings body and shine.
In your kitchenFish sauce seasons. Oyster sauce makes it glossy.
How to use it
Add it late in the wok
Stir it in towards the end of a stir-fry, together with a splash of water. It coats meat and vegetables in a glossy sauce and burns easily if added too early.
Pair it with fish sauce
Use both: a spoon of oyster sauce for depth and sweetness, a dash of fish sauce for salt. Taste before adding more, since both are salty.
Glaze your greens
Blanch broccoli, pak choi or morning glory and drizzle with oyster sauce and fried garlic. One of the simplest and best side dishes there is.
Keep it in the fridge
Once opened, store the bottle in the fridge. It keeps for several months.
If you cook Thai stir-fries, you need a bottle. Choose one where oyster extract comes high on the ingredient list, and skip the cheapest ones that are mostly sugar, starch and flavour enhancers.