Duck Sauce source in LA / OC

[Professor Salt]

Das Ubergeek's find of a real NY style eggroll in the city of Orange got me thinking about its sidekick, "duck sauce." I seem to recall seeing it somewhere like Wholesome Choice in Irvine, or maybe it was Surfas?

Yes, I know I can mail order it through the manufacturer of Saucy Susan, but I'm looking for a local source. Anyone?

http://www.alliedoldenglish.com/saucy...

[foodhappy]

They sell Dynasty brand "Duck Sauce" at Vicente Foods in Brentwood.

[Das Ubergeek]

And at the Albertsons on Gilbert and Malvern in Fullerton. I'm standing in front of it right now.

[Mr Taster]

OK Professor, I actually found it, in a rather unlikely place.

Emperor brand duck sauce, in a glass jar, manufactured in a plant in Maryland, with not a single Chinese character on the jar. The logo looked familiar... could it be from the countless little clear plastic packets from our youth? Perhaps. I can't confirm this.

OK, so the details. It's at.....

Assi Supermarket
8th and Oxford, Koreatown

It's on a shelf in between two refrigerated kimchee(!) displays in the east end of the store where they sell the prepared foods, directly across from the refrigerated panchan bar.

Of all the unlikely places to find duck sauce.... what possible culinary application would Korean people have for this? As it happens, I was there with a visiting Korean friend, and she had absolutely no idea.

So there you have it.

Mr Taster

[Professor Salt]

Thanks for the followup, Mr. T. Oddly enough, I was thinking about duck sauce yesterday because I was at Gelson's, and just like monku said, they sell Saucy Susan brand Peach Apricot sauce. Weird duck sauce synchronicity.

http://www.alliedoldenglish.com/saucy...

[Mr Taster]

Still, there seems something inauthentic to me about Saucy Susan duck sauce, since I never saw the SS logo on any duck sauce takeout packets. Of course I'll freely admit that this statement is based entirely on nostalgia rather than on any sort of objective, provable fact (or subjective taste).

Mr Taster

[Jwsel]

I saw a bottle labeled "duck sauce" at Smart and Final the other day. I forget the name of the maker, but it was in the aisle other jarred sauces/condiments and next to hoisin.

[soto i am]

Memories of the pork fried rice, bbq'd pork spare ribs (I think there were two) and of course "duck sauce" to flavor it all up, New York area chinese circa 1970's.

[Mr Taster]

Yup... the fact that the stuff was manufactured on the east coast (and not in Montebello, for example) gives me hope that Emperor's is the real thing. But really, what do Koreans do with it???

Mr Taster

[monku]

I always find Saucy Susan at Gelsons.

[silence9]

Hi... Oddly, I seem to recall the (small/limited) shelf of kosher-style products at either local Ralphs or Vons carrying this. I balked on purchasing it in the past, since the 'bottle' being sold was huge (like, a litre, maybe) and impractical for my particular refrigerator. I will give a look this evening, as I will be down on the westside...

[Das Ubergeek]

Just a note that said egg roll came with a condiment tub of Chinese mustard and a condiment tub of... you guessed it... duck sauce. They've GOT to be from New York or the environs, there's no other bloody explanation.

Damn it, CHOW Places isn't working.

Yang Ming Chinese Restaurant
1866 North Tustin St (btw. Taft and Meats, same plaza as Darya).
Orange, CA 92865
(714) 9989500
Delivery in limited area -- also a rarity in OC.

If you want it for home consumption, come eat one of the aforementioned egg rolls and then go to the new, better Wholesome Choice that's 5-10 minutes away from Yang Ming, on the corner of La Palma and Imperial Hwy, right off the 91. Not sure they have it though.

Have you looked in Asian markets? Its Chinese name is 酸梅醬.

[Professor Salt]

Aww yeah. Sweet. I'm going to Yang Ming tomorrow. Thanks for the Darya reference. I know exactly where it is.

I didn't buy a jar of duck sauce when I spotted it because I hadn't come across the proper eggroll out here. Putting cart before eggroll. And now it's cart to Newcastle, since Yang Ming already has it.

[Mr Taster]

Funny, I never actually realized that Saucy Susan offered a duck sauce specific version of their condiment (or that there were any variants at all). How is their duck sauce different from their standard peach/apricot sauce?

(The peach/apricot version is the one we always had in the door of our fridge when I was a kid, though I don't remember anyone ever actually opening it)

Mr Taster

[Professor Salt]

I only referenced the SS brand because it's the only one I could name. All that TV advertising in the `70's must have stuck with me.

Anyway, if you wanna pursue this, we should probably go to General Topics...