Foodstuff: Hoisin Sauce – Asian Family Brand™ | Sybaritica

I have seen a number of Asian Family™ products turn up on our local supermarket shelves in the last little while but their Hoisin Paste is the first I have tried. Normally, I use the Lee Kum Kee™ Brand Hoisin Sauce, which is pretty good, and in my written review of that product I provided something of a discussion of Hoisin Sauces in general. Much of what I said in that post, including the comments relating to usage, applies to the Asian Family product so, today, I will limit my comments to a comparison of the relative qualities… 

The Asian Family Hoisin™ Sauce (or ‘Paste’ as they describe it on the label), is quite dark and has rather less of the slight reddish tint tone sees in some other brands. The aroma is quite fruity, with a bit of a tang, and is somewhat reminiscent of a ‘malty’ tomato paste. It is not quite as sweet as the Lee Kum Kee variety when you taste it fresh from the jar and there is a taste and texture component that is rather like the ‘floury’ quality you get with a roux that has not been sufficiently cooked. It is not unpleasant by any means, but there is a rather harsh taste near the end that rather limits the use of the product as a cold dipping sauce unless it is balanced out with something both acid and sweet.

I was surprised, after the taste test of the cold condiment, that it worked quite nicely as a stir-fry sauce. I flash-cooked some pork with green peppers and then stirred in a couple of tablespoons of the Hoisin sauce towards the end. Except for some sugar and garlic salt in the pork marinade, and a tiny splash of rice vinegar during the frying process, I kept the seasonings to a minimum and the result was very nice. I don’t think I will give up the Lee Kum Kee™ Brand Hoisin Sauce in favor of this product but it still ranks fairly well in my estimation.

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