Duck Sauce is a sweet and tangy fruit-based sauce popular in Chinese-American cuisine that's delicious for dipping and glazing, and this homemade duck sauce recipe is easy to make.
While duck sauce is a creation of Chinese immigrants to America, it has become a popular part of Chinese-American food culture. It's used as a dipping sauce for foods such as wonton strips and egg rolls, as well as a glaze for duck, chicken, meat, and even fish.
Why bother collecting those little sticky packets from restaurants and takeout or buying jars of duck sauce at the supermarket when homemade duck sauce is budget-friendly, easy to make, and very flavorful?
It's easy to customize to your own taste, so you can make it as tangy or mild as you like.
Plus, this homemade duck sauce recipe is both vegan and kosher!
Jump to:
- What is needed to make this homemade duck sauce recipe?
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Duck Sauce
- What is Chinese-American food?
- What Is Kosher Chinese Food?
- If you like Chinese-American food and have a pork-free or kosher diet or are allergic to shellfish, try these homemade recipes!
- Duck Sauce Recipe
What is needed to make this homemade duck sauce recipe?
apricot and/or peach jam
cornstarch
white granulated sugar
rice vinegar
paprika (for color)
salt
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Duck Sauce
Is this duck sauce traditional?
This is a homemade version of the sweet and tangy fruit-based dipping sauce commonly served in small packets with Chinese-American restaurant and takeout food. It's adapted for easy preparation at home.
Is this recipe vegan and kosher?
Yes. This recipe uses fruit-based ingredients, vinegar, and spices, with no animal products, so it's vegan and kosher.
What can I use duck sauce for besides dipping?
You can use it as a glaze for chicken, meat, or fish, or add it to roasted vegetables and stir-fries. It can also be used as a flavorful base for dressings.
Which jam is best to use?
This recipe calls for apricot and/or peach jam, but some people also use plum.
Can I adjust the sweetness or tanginess?
Yes. You can adjust the amount of jam and vinegar to suit your taste. You can also add a little more water if the flavor is too strong or you want a thinner sauce.
Does the jam matter?
It can. Some are stronger or more fruity than others, so you can add slowly to your taste or you can adjust later using the vinegar and water.
How long does homemade duck sauce stay fresh?
Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It should keep well for about two weeks. Always check for changes in appearance, smell, or taste before using.
Can I freeze it?
Yes. You can freeze it in an airtight freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator and stir well before using.
What is Chinese-American food?
Chinese-American cuisine is a style of Chinese cuisine that developed in the United States as Chinese immigrants adapted their cooking to local ingredients and American tastes. As a result, many Chinese-American dishes differ significantly from traditional dishes of China.
Chinese immigrants began arriving in the United States in large numbers in the mid-19th century, including people who came during the California Gold Rush and to work on the Central Pacific Railroad. Many settled in Chinatowns and established businesses, including restaurants.
Early Chinese restaurants often served miners, railroad workers, and other American customers. As Chinese restaurant owners adapted their cooking to the ingredients available to them and the tastes of their American customers, new dishes and variations developed.
Over time, these adaptations became part of a distinct Chinese-American culinary tradition. Familiar dishes such as chop suey, chow mein, and American-style fried rice became popular in the United States.
Chinese-American cuisine isn't simply traditional Chinese food served in America. It grew from Chinese cooking while also reflecting the ingredients, tastes, and dining culture of the United States.
While duck sauce was created by Chinese immigrants in America to appeal to the American taste, since the sauce is pareve (containing neither meat nor dairy), it was being sold in jars by Jewish kosher companies by the 1960s and 1970s and became popular in Jewish American cuisine.
What Is Kosher Chinese Food?
It is well known that Jews, especially those with ties to New York, love Chinese food. You can find kosher Chinese restaurants in many predominantly Jewish neighborhoods. In Cedarhurst, New York, for example, there are two within a couple of blocks-both excellent. And don't even get me started on Brooklyn.
There's even a popular joke about the Jewish love of Chinese food:
"According to the Jewish calendar, the year is 5749. According to the Chinese calendar, the year is 4687. That means for 1,062 years, the Jews went without Chinese food."
The joke dates back to at least 1989, although no one seems to know exactly when it originated.
The connection between Jewish and Chinese food goes back to New York's Lower East Side in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when Jewish and Chinese immigrant communities lived and worked in close proximity. Chinese restaurants became increasingly popular with Jewish New Yorkers, and the tradition of eating Chinese food became an enduring part of Jewish-American culture.
By the early 20th century, Chinese restaurants were well established in New York's Jewish neighborhoods. They were affordable, often open on Sundays, and offered a type of food that was different from the traditional Jewish restaurants and delis of the time. The fact that Chinese cooking generally used little dairy also made some dishes seem more compatible with Jewish dietary traditions, although Chinese restaurant food was not actually kosher.
But what about Jews who did keep kosher?
In 1959, Sol Bernstein, the son of kosher butcher and deli owner Schmulka Bernstein, began serving Chinese food at Bernstein-on-Essex, his kosher delicatessen on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Bernstein is often credited with pioneering kosher Chinese food in the United States.
Sol adapted Chinese dishes to meet kosher requirements, using kosher beef, veal, and chicken in place of pork and leaving shellfish off the menu. His restaurant offered traditional Jewish deli foods alongside Chinese dishes, creating a unique combination that became enormously popular.
Schmulka Bernstein had operated a kosher butcher shop and smokehouse on the Lower East Side for decades. Sol's deli, which opened in the late 1950s at 135 Essex Street, became known as Bernstein-on-Essex, although many people simply called it Schmulka Bernstein's after his father.
The restaurant's slogan was "Where kashrut is king and quality reigns," and Bernstein-on-Essex became a destination for Jewish diners looking for Chinese food they could enjoy while keeping kosher.
Sol Bernstein continued operating the restaurant until his death in 1992. His contribution to the history of kosher Chinese food remains part of the fascinating connection between Jewish and Chinese food culture in New York.
If you like Chinese-American food and have a pork-free or kosher diet or are allergic to shellfish, try these homemade recipes!
Duck Sauce Recipe
Delicious and simple, tangy-sweet fruit sauce used for glaze or dipping. Vegan and kosher (no pork or shellfish).
Ingredients
- ¾ cup apricot or peach (or combination of both) jam *
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 ½ tablespoons white granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar (have more on hand) *
- ½ teaspoon paprika (for color)
- pinch (⅛ teaspoon) salt
- water
Instructions
- Pour the jam, sugar, rice vinegar, and ½ cup water into a sauce pan on medium heat and mix well.
- Mix in the paprika and salt.
- Place the cornstarch in a bowl and add ¼ cup water and mix well so there are no lumps, and pour into the jam mixture.
- Bring just to a boil while mixing and then turn off.
- Let it cool.
Notes
*How strong or mild this will come out will depend on how strong or mild your jam is. The same holds true for the fruitiness of the sauce.
Personally, while I have found that the sauce calms down after it has completely cooled, if my sauce is too strong, I add water (and then more cornstarch to thicken if need be), and if it is too fruity, I neutralize it with a little more vinegar.
You can also add a little more water if you find the flavors too strong.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 49Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 3mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 1gSugar: 8gProtein: 0g
