gunner wrote on Sat, 10 May 2008 08:58:52 -0700:


> "Sqwertz" > wrote in message
> ...
>> "J.Lef" > wrote:
>>
>>> Just picked up a new carbon steel joyce chen wok. (I
>>> also have a new cooktop, with some high output burners)
>>> Looking at the recipe included for fried rice, it says to
>>> use a tsp of chinese brown gravy syrup(and specifically it
>>> says not soy sauce) Any idea what this could be. Oyster
>>> sauce maybee. I thought I was familiar with most asian
>>> ingrediants, but this one stumps me. Can someone clue
>>> me in please.
>>
>> It's referring to liquid Maggi Seasoning. AKA Hydrolyzed soy
>> protein. AKA Really cheap soy sauce. La Choy and Chun King
>> also make it, calling it Soy Sauce (which it isn't).
>>
>> -sw

IMHO, Maggi's version is only vaguely like soy sauce but I don't
use it much. I hate to think how old is the bottle in my fridge.

Shurtleff and Aoyagi, in their very informative and interesting
paperback book, "The Book of Miso" give a long discussion of
the history of soy sauce (shoyu). They tend to be a slightly
credulous pair and their discussion of the health benefits of
Miso shows it. Anyway, they tell the tale of one Albert
Langgardt who taught at Tokyo University in the 1870s and
brought back the recipe and manufactured shoyu in Germany.
According to Shurtleff and Aoyagi, "Maggi" is a corruption of
the name of the Japanese Mogi family whose recipe he swiped. I
know nothing further about the Moggies.


--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not