to be eaten with peking ravioli, naturally

December 29, 2020 4:38 PM

How do you make duck sauce specifically à la Chinese-American restaurants in New England? This is a variant of duck sauce ubiquitous in the Boston area but that as far as I know hardly exists elsewhere. It has the texture of a watery slurry and tastes fresh and bright. It is not viscous or syrupy. No grocery-store duck sauce that I've tried before is of this variant. I have a vague memory of being told that it is a mixture of applesauce and soy sauce, and while I don't detect soy at all, the applesauce rings true-- heck, if you told me it's just pure thinned-out applesauce that actually sounds pretty believable. Only looking for responses from people who know, or have a source that knows, about this specific type of duck sauce.
posted by dusty potato to Food & Drink (6 answers total)

Best answer: I share your pain. Try the recipe for sauce on this page -- it may need just a little tweaking to your tastes -- and resting it before consuming is a key step.
posted by vers at 6:10 PM on December 29, 2020 [3 favorites]

"Duck Sauce" - are you talking about plum sauce or drippings from BBQ/ roasted duck?

Like, the transparent plastic packets with light orange-ish coloured translucent contents? Red lettering on the plastic packet?

If plum sauce, iirc, the brand is "Wing's" and it's definitely iconic and Chinese-American. iirc, maybe out of Chicago? There's "something extra" in there that I've never been able to pinpoint.

LKK (Lee Kum Kim, an international brand) has plum sauce in jars that is similar but not the same.

T&T has a house-brand jarred plum sauce that's also pretty close.

If drippings, the secret ingredient is (whole) star anise. It may very well be very small amounts of star anise that gives Wing's it's unique flavour, but I think the mouthfeel/ viscosity is an in-house art.
posted by porpoise at 10:27 PM on December 29, 2020

Ah, if it's indeed Wing's - the secret ingredient is apparently pumpkin as the base flavour, with apricot and plum as flavour additives.

Colour me surprised, and that must be why it has a different flavour profile compared to "regular" plum sauce.
posted by porpoise at 10:30 PM on December 29, 2020

Best answer: Oh, yes, I remember this (and I routinely horrify my Chinese friends with affectionate descriptions of the thick skinned peking ravioli I adored as a kid.) I don't live in Boston anymore, so can't chase it down. One possibility - Boston Chinese food was shaped (if not "founded") by Joyce Chen, and Joyce Chen Foods does sell duck sauce, so that might be worth a shot? It's listed as "thick" which seems wrong, but perhaps the flavor combination is correct? Alternately, I looked through a bunch of online recipes, and this one seems very promising - it's thinner with an apricot and soy sauce base and claims a unique flavor note from salted pickled plum.
posted by BlueBlueElectricBlue at 11:19 PM on December 29, 2020 [1 favorite]

Smithsonian Magazine answers your question in this article on What Exactly Is Duck Sauce? Comes complete with regional duck sauce variety map.
posted by zaelic at 4:18 AM on December 30, 2020 [2 favorites]

https://www.amazon.com/China-Gallon-Maryland-Wholesale-Sticker/dp/B08BT5YBJ2
posted by maloon at 6:19 AM on December 30, 2020