Duck sauce


Duck sauce is a condiment with a sweet and sour flavor and a translucent orange appearance similar to a thin jelly. Offered at American Chinese restaurants, it is used as a dip for deep-fried dishes such as wonton strips, spring rolls, egg rolls, duck, chicken, fish, or with rice or noodles. It is often provided in single-serving packets along with soy sauce, mustard, hot sauce or red chili powder. It may be used as a glaze on foods, such as poultry. Despite its name, the sauce is not prepared using duck meat.

Ingredients

It is made of plums, apricots, pineapples or peaches added to sugar, vinegar, ginger and chili peppers. It is used in more traditional Chinese cuisine in the form of plum sauce.

Name

It is probably called "duck sauce" because a version of it was first served with Peking duck in China, a dish which has been served there for hundreds of years. When Chinese immigrants to the U.S. created Chinese dishes that would appeal more to the American palate, they created a sweeter version of the sauce used in China.