Reading Chinese Menus: Characters: 醬 — jiàng — sauce/paste

[kake]

醬

醬 (jiàng) isn't a character that generally appears standalone — on a Chinese menu, it's almost always part of a word. It essentially denotes some kind of jam-like or paste-like food, and is often translated as "sauce" or "paste".

The radical of 醬 is 酉 (yǒu/wine); note that it appears on the bottom of the character, rather than on the left as in most other characters with this radical. Characters with the 酉 radical are usually associated with alcohol or fermentation in some way, which certainly fits with 醬, as many Chinese pastes/sauces involve fermentation.

Here are some types of 醬 you might see mentioned on a menu, or used in a recipe:

豆瓣醬	dòu bàn jiàng	chilli bean paste
海鮮醬	hǎi xiān jiàng	hoisin sauce (literally "seafood sauce")
沙爹醬/沙嗲醬	shā diē jiàng	satay sauce (transliteration)
沙茶醬	shā chá jiàng	shacha sauce
醬油	jiàng yóu	soy sauce [see footnote]
XO醬	XO jiàng	XO sauce
黃醬 or 黄豆酱 or 磨豉醬	huáng jiàng or huáng dòu jiàng or mó chǐ jiàng	yellow bean sauce

And here are some specific dishes that use the character 醬:

醬牛肉	jiàng niú ròu	beef braised in soy sauce then sliced and served cold (see Su-Lin's post on 醬牛肉)
炸醬麵	zhà jiàng miàn	noodles with pork and fermented bean sauce, literally "fried sauce noodles" (see my post on 炸醬麵)
XO醬煎腸粉	XO jiàng jiān cháng fěn	grilled cheung fun with XO sauce
京醬肉絲	jīng jiàng ròu sī	shredded pork in Peking sauce (a sort of sweet bean-based sauce)

醬 is also used in the Chinese names of various Western sauces/condiments such as peanut butter, mayonnaise, etc — see the CantoDict entry for 醬 for a list.

Footnote: [0] sung points out in comments that the Cantonese term for soy sauce is different: 豉油 (si-yau) is the term used for soy in general and 生抽 (san-cao) for light soy and 老抽 (lao-cao) for dark soy.

醬:	jiàng	radical 164 (酉)	Cantodict	MandarinTools	YellowBridge	Zhongwen

Related posts:

• radicals,
• 海 (hǎi/sea/ocean),
• 鮮 (xiān/fresh),
• 炸醬麵 (zhà jiàng miàn/noodles with pork and fermented bean sauce)

If you have any questions or corrections, please leave a comment (here's how) and let me know (or email me at kake@earth.li). See my introductory post to the Chinese menu project for what these posts are all about.

Comments

[john]

Mmm-mmm, jingjiang rousi. I miss it so much from Beijing...and the tofu pancakes too.

[kake]

I've never actually eaten 京醬肉絲, but there are a few restaurants in London that do it[0], so I expect I will at some point! I am intrigued by the tofu pancakes... do tell?

[0] I only know this because I obsessively transcribe every Chinese menu I can get my hands on.

[john]

Same theory as Beijing duck, but made of tofu instead of grain! You just wrap them around the rousi and the usual cuke/spring onion and munch away.

[kake]

Ooh, I didn't realise they were anything other than the usual wheat-based ones! Is the tofu the kind that's usually described as 乾豆腐/干豆腐/gān dòu fu? Comes in thin sheets, a bit chewy.

[john]

Sounds about right, yes, thin and chewy, with a sort of lattice rolled pattern.

[kake]

Yep, that's the thing I'm thinking of. Hurrah!