help replicating mild szechuan sauce

[noya]

We enjoyed a really lovely stir-fry last night--broccoli, tofu and shiitake covered in a mild szechuan sauce (at Park and Orchard in South Rutherford, NJ, if anyone is familiar). And I'm hankering to replicate. I've got it all covered...minus the sauce. I could taste the ginger..beyond that, I'm clueless. Please help! Thanks so much in advance :-)

[gala]

why don't you just go over to the restaurant and ask them what they used?

[noya]

Many times when I ask, restaurants are hesitant to provide exact ingredients...

[tommy]

Yeah, unless you are friendly with the chef or a cook, the odds of getting any decent info regarding a recipe is slim to none. Owners won't know, servers certainly won't know, and if they go to the kitchen to ask they're going to get sent away with some very vague info.

[gala]

I have found if you ask politely and show interest especially in a foreign restaurant at a time when the kitchen isn't busy, everyone has always been very glad to tell me the details. Especially if i ask what this special ingredient might be.
Generally the chef seems to be flattered that someone cares enough to ask and like sthe idea that customers are appreciative. It's not like you're asking Nobu how he makes black cod or anything

[fourunder]

At one of the restaurants I opened in the past.....during the interview process, there was a former owner of a BBQ restaurant that applied for the job of Head Chef. For the restaurant I was opening, Both Canadian Baby Back and St Louis Style Ribs were to be featured on the menu. The very first thing The applicant said to me was he had many recipes for BBQ sauce. When I asked him to share, he said he could not as they were his secret that he would take to his grave. I politely thanked him for stopping by. with a confused look, he asked....*this interview is over?*. I nodded in the affirmative. he asked why. I replied, if he thought I would put anything on the menu without complete knowledge of all recipes, he was mistaken. Since he didn't want to share...I didn't want to hire.

[scoopG]

Noya, they may have been using this: Lan Chi Chili Paste with Garlic
http://www.groceries-express.com/defa...

Available in most any Chinatown grocery. Made in Taiwan.

[noya]

bumping this up just in case it got lost in the shuffle...TIA!

[chefj]

You need to give some more detail about the sauce if you want people to try to identify it.
It would also help to know what kind of Chinese restaurant they claim to be.

[noya]

hmm...it was a brown savory sauce that tasted strongly of ginger. nothing sweet about it. it was relatively thin. does that help? thanks!!!

[fourunder]

If there was no hint of any reddish color, it's safe to assume a chili garlic paste/sauce was not used. Did the sauce adhere to the vegetables, or did it pool more onto the plate?

[noya]

It adhered completely--no pooling whatsoever. BTW--love this line of questioning!

[fourunder]

would also help to know what kind of Chinese restaurant they claim to be.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They do not claim to be a Chinese restaurant.....but here is a description by a member on another thread ...

* I'm just not a fan of Korean/Chinese/Pan-Asian/Italian/Polish/French/Mexican restaurants in general. *

It's been a popular restaurant for many years.

[scoopG]

It appears noya had the mild version of the sauce, without much heat. But one can see red sauce on some of these dishes!

http://www.parkandorchard.com/P%26O/D...

[fourunder]

With due respect to noya......Caucasians cooking Chinese badly. :)

[noya]

For us the appeal is that the food is clean and appears to be healthy. That said, it is not particularly pure in terms of countries of origin.

[fourunder]

My knowledge of Chinese cooking, and based on your details, leads me to suspect the sauce is made with the following ingredients, or a combination of ....as part of a master recipe sauce

Vegetable Oil
Minced Garlic
Minced Ginger
Sherry
Possibly some stock (Chicken or Vegetable)
Soy Sauce
Fish Sauce
Oyster Sauce
Light Corn Starch Slurry

Ground White Pepper for mild heat....or Chilis, Ginger and Scallions in Soy Sauce in place of above.

For the record, I am very familiar with Park and Orchard, as I have frequented them many times in the past. If you like this style of cooking, do you remember Jane Dooner's in Englewood. I can't say for sure, but I and many of my friends in the restaurant business, have always thought P & O got the idea for their restaurant menu from them.

[noya]

Wow! Wow.
Thank you so much--this looks wonderful. Can't tell you how much I appreciate it!

Interesting thought. Could be! Whatever the inspiration, we certainly appreciate their homey/healthy style. Especially because it seems (relatively) easy to replicate, which then inspires us :-)

[fourunder]

noya,

Although you describe the sauce as * nothing sweet about it *, it is fairly common in Chinese cooking to include a measure of sugar appropriate to the dish, hoisin sauce for brown color sauces or Dark Soy Sauce, which is made with molasses. The inclusion of any or all combined would aid in the prepared sauce adhering to your vegetables or proteins.

[fourunder]

I used to go to P & O regularly in the early days, but stopped about 5-6 years ago. My favorite dish there is/was *Le Ruth's* Crawfish Pasta in cream sauce. The last two times the dish was awful. Both miscues, the sauce had separated and the crawfish were small, dry and tough.....leaving me to suspect bot times I had received leftover portions......

I apologize for poking fun of their Stir-Frys.....never had em there and just having fun with someone who is knowledgeable with Chinese food.

[noya]

no apology necessary! my personal belief about non-American food is that it can be tasty both in its purest preparation, and also when it diverges from such. it can also be prepared badly either way. P&O would never pass as authentic anything--but it is clean and wholesome food...and the crawfish aside, tasty as well.