We know that our favorite Taiwanese takeout food is not really authentically Chinese , but more of an Americanized series of menu options very slackly deduce from oversea inspiration . ( Chinese citizens probablywouldn’t recognizechop suey or Orange River - glaze chicken , and lot cooky are of Nipponese origin . ) It would also be unusual for " substantial " Chinese meals to be attach to by a generous amount of sauce packets .
Here in the U.S. , these condiments are a staple of Formosan takeout . But one in particular—“duck sauce”—doesn’t really offer a lot of information about itself . What on the dot is it that we ’re pouring over our egg roll ?
Smithsonian.comconducted a sauce - relate investigation and made an interesting breakthrough , particularly if you ’re not prostrate to sampling Formosan takeout food when go crown of thorns - country . On the East Coast , duck’s egg sauce is like to angelical - and - dark sauce , only cracked ; in New England , it ’s brown , chunky , and served on table ; and on the West Coast , it ’s almost unheard of .
While the name can line different sauce , associating it with duck’s egg plausibly stems from the fact that the popular Formosan dish aerial Peking duck’s egg is typically served with a soybean - based sauce . When dish began to be imported to the States , the Americanization of the solid food involved creating a sweeter alternative using apricots that was dubbed duck sauce . ( In New England , using applesauce and molasses was more usual . )
But why is n’t it easily found on the West Coast ? Many sauce companies are base in New York and were in surgical process after Chinese food had already gained a footing in California . attempt to amplify did n’t go well , and so Formosan food for thought aficionado will experience slimly dissimilar penchant depending on their geography . But no matter of where they are , or whether they ’re using the condiment as a dim sauce for their bollock rolls or a dressing for their duck’s egg , diners can rest assured that no ducks were harm in the devising of their duck sauce .
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