Conference turris::cooks

    I don't recall ever having had hot and sour soup that had either
    a dark, beefy broth or (worse yet) a gravy-like one, but there are
    lots of recipes for it; it is sort of "garbage soup", almost anything
    might be found in it.  I'll look up a couple of my recipes and type
    them in later.                                 

    Ingredients:
    1/2 lb lean pork or roast prok, shredded
    1 small can bamboo shoots, shredded
    1 oz tiger lily (golden needles) (about 3/4 c or more)
    1/2 c woodears (1/2 oz)
    1 oz black mushrooms
    2 large fresh beancurds, cut in cubes
    1 large can chicken broth (use College Inn)
    1 egg, beaten
    1 t salt
    1-2 T dark soy sauce
    1 t sugar
    1/4 t MSG (I never use this, but you can)
    2 T white vinegar or to taste
    1 t black pepper or more to taste
    2 t sesame oil, or more
    1 t hot chile oil
    3 T cornstarch mixed with 1/4 c cold water
    
    Soak the tiger lily and woodears in hot water for an hour.  Also
    soak the black mushrooms.
    
    Combine the chicken broth and all the ingredients down to the egg
    in a large pot.  Bring to a quick boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
    
    Add: salt, dark soy sauce, sugar, MSG, and cornstarch mixture.
    
    Turn off heat and add beaten egg, slowly, in a circular motion above
    the pot.
    
    Stir well.
    
    Add vinegar and black pepper.
    
    Remove from heat and add sesame oil to taste.
    
    Add chile oil and mix well.
    
    This serves 4-10 depending on how much soup they eat.  You can make
    it ahead of time and fesh it - stop the recipe before adding the
    vinegar, etc., and add those ingredients just before serving.
    
    I probably have a couple of dozen recipes for hot and sour soup,
    but this is the one I usually make and is fairly typical.  I'll
    look up a couple of others when I get a chance so you can see if
    one of them is what you are looking for.  I don't recall any of
    them having a beef broth base (though sometimes you see pork broth),
    but the broth will be dark because of the dark soy sauce.

    Don't know about a sweet & sour soup, but my version of sweet &
    sour sauce contains the following (in quantities that vary according
    to taste):
    
    Honey			- tablespoon or more
    Cider vinegar       	- tablespoon or more
    Soy sauce           	- a dash     
    Arrowroot (to thicken)      - teaspoon or more
    Pineapple chunks            - as many as you want                 
    
    Gently heat the honey with a bit of vinegar, add more vinegar as
    necessary until the honey goes runny. Throw in the pineapple chunks,
    leave to simmer for a short while, taste and adjust sweetness/sourness
    with honey/vinegar. When the goo you're left with tastes all right,
    add a little soy sauce, to make the sauce taste/look darker. Stir
    a teaspoon or more of arrowroot in a cup with a dribble of water,
    and add to the simmering sauce. Add more arrowroot if you want
    to thicken the sauce some more. 
    
    Your sauce should then be ready. I then add some ready-cooked
    vegetables, stir, and serve. For soup I should imagine you add some
    water as well.
    
    John.

RE: .0

Is the problem with the recipe you have with the consistency of the soup
being too thick, or with the color of the soup being wrong?

Consistency problems can be fixed by varying the amount of cornstarch used,
or by eliminating it entirely.

Beef broth should never be used in hot and sour soup (flavor is too assertive).
The color can be changed by adding soy sauce, or by using Chinkiang malt
vinegar (which is a dark brown color) instead of cider vinegar or rice
vingear.

--PSW

    There is a recipe for sweet & sour soup that uses beef broth  at
    note # 139.
    
    Ray

>    The basic problem had more to do with color than consistency.
>    The tips contained in these answers will undoubtedly help to solve
>    this problem.

Sorry for the late reply; couldn't resist throwing in my 2� worth...  I recently
made hot and sour soup, from a recipe much like Charlotte posted in .2, and made
the same observation that you did:  the color was much lighter than that soup I
was used to, though my soup tasted every bit as good as the restaurant variety.
A few days later I had a bowl of the latter, and the difference in color bacame
clear:  They must use easily two or three times the amount of soy sauce.  (This
must also account for the fact that I've never been able to get fried rice as
dark, either.)

/john

    Restaurant fried rice usually has molasses soy (=thick soy) in it;
    that is why it is so brown.  Also why it is too salty!  I have seen
    hot and sour soup recipes that call for it, also, so if you can
    handle the sodium (not on my diet) and like it that way, go ahead
    and use it.

    ..as for color in fried rice, we have had excellent results by adding
    a little gravy master to the frying pan...try it, youll see the
    difference...with no salt taste
    
    Rick

Either gravy master or blackstrap molasses will do in a pinch in place of
thick soy sauce.

--PSW

    	Although an old note, I came across something of interest. The
    recipe in 2319.7 (Adobe Chicken) produces a stock which is about as
    close as I've ever tasted to a home made chinese hot & sour soup. 
    
    	I thought the Adobe Chicken was excellent on it's own merits. There
    is an abundant amount of sauce from this recipe. You could remove a lot
    of it for a soup stock and still have plenty for the meal. All you'd
    have to do is add your meat, vegetables, and possibly some hot chili
    peppers to this and you'd have a prety good hot & sour soup.
    
    	Ray

    .11
    
    I also tried this recipe. A lot of sauce left over. I think, if you
    take the cover off, you will get less. I'll try this next time.