Sauce Simmering

Simmering in a spicy sauce is a very strong Cantonese culinary tradition. The food is then cut up and served cold as an appetizer, as a main dish with rice, or even alone as a snack. Ready to eat poultry and meat made this way—from beef tripe to squabs—are sold almost everywhere in small eateries in Canton. The Cantonese name of the spicy sauce is called lo, and the sauce simmered final produces are called lo mein. A variety of Chinese spices is simmered into a concentrated mixture, which is later combined with strong wine, rock candy, and soy sauce. The spices used vary from shop to shop for from chef to chef. Generally, the combination of spices would consist of star anise, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, fennel, Sichuan peppercorns, aniseed, white peppercorns, aged tangerine peel, gingerroot, and garlic, plus some “secret” items. The aged tangerine peel can be the most crucial ingredient: it mellows with age and is very expensive. The master sauce is used again and again, over a long period of time.