Can all dishes be cooked with oyster sauce? Which dishes are not suitable for cooking with oyster sauce?

We all know that oyster sauce is a common condiment. It is easy to use and can play a good seasoning role. Many people add oyster sauce when cooking. Oyster sauce can enhance the flavor, but not all dishes are suitable for oyster sauce. So which dishes can't be added with oyster sauce? Let's take a closer look!

Which dishes can't be cooked with oyster sauce?

Sweet and sour dishes

Because oyster sauce contains sodium glutamate, sodium glutamate is not only unable to enhance the flavor of sweet and sour dishes, but also produces a chemical reaction with the sweet and sour, causing the finished dish to have an unpleasant smell. Therefore, oyster sauce cannot be used in sweet and sour dishes.

Steamed dishes

Because steamed dishes are already fresh, adding oyster sauce is like "adding fuel to the fire". And oyster sauce mostly contains caramel, which will affect the appearance of the dish.

Boiled seafood

Boiled and steamed seafood are already very fresh. Oyster sauce is extracted from them, so there is no need to add oyster sauce.

Soup

No matter what kind of soup you make, adding oyster sauce is "meaningless". Because the ingredients in the soup have already released their umami flavor into the soup, adding oyster sauce will not only make the color look bad, but also will not improve the taste much.

Mushroom and egg dishes

Mushrooms themselves contain a lot of umami "mushroom essence", so adding oyster sauce will have the opposite effect, and you won't be able to taste the umami flavor of the ingredients themselves. Eggs are similar, and this is common sense. I've never seen anyone add oyster sauce to scrambled eggs.

Fried dishes

Because sodium glutamate is not resistant to high temperatures, it will produce bitterness if cooked at high temperatures and affect the nutrition of the ingredients. In addition, most oyster sauces contain caramel, which will produce bitterness at high temperatures, so it is not easy to add it.

The correct way to use oyster sauce

1. Oyster sauce should be added before the dish is served, so that the umami flavor of the oyster sauce can be released to the maximum extent. Because the oyster sauce itself is cooked, and sodium glutamate cannot withstand high temperature and long-term cooking, the oyster sauce should be poured into the dish before it is served for the best effect.

2. When using oyster sauce, be careful about the amount of salt you add, because oyster sauce itself contains salt. If you add too much salt to a dish, it will make the dish too salty and affect the taste.

3. Because oyster sauce is already concentrated, the amount of oyster sauce added should be controlled. Adding too much will not have a better effect of enhancing the flavor. This is somewhat similar to MSG and chicken essence.

Ingredients of oyster sauce

Oyster sauce has now become one of the indispensable condiments in the family kitchen. When used in stir-frying vegetables and mixing stuffing, it can indeed enhance the freshness and flavor.

But if you look at the recipe of oyster sauce, you will know the main ingredients of oyster sauce and how to make it. The basic oyster sauce includes concentrated oyster juice, wheat flour, sugar, sodium glutamate, and some food additives similar to soy sauce.