I came across this today and thought it might be of interest, especially for anyone who avoids meat:
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Thanks! My veggie son will be happy.
Saw at San Francisco Chinatown CNY street fair. Made in Hong Kong. 2 for $7.
Four types on sale, only two kinds showed up clearly.
As an aside. My brother in law’s family in Arkansas loved the Macao snacks we brought back from our recent trip. Bought some more today from the SF fair at just about the same price, sans airfare. 
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I remember I was literally eating the xo sauce by itself at Ming Court a few years ago. Suffice to say that I am the XO sauce type LOL
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You’re welcome! I might try it myself. I have a stash of dried peppers that I’ll probably die before I use up. Might as well speed the process (using them up, not dying).
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That’s excellent that they sell those Choi Heong Yuen baked goods at a good price. We usually bring some back when we go.
Sam Sifton just posted a recipe for XO sauce in the New York Times:
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020182-xo-sauce
Looks interesting. Great to know that one can keep that for 1 month in the fridge.
- 2 ounces bacon, minced
Maybe Chinese sausage is better?
Most likely.
or maybe Chinese cured ham (or any cured ham)
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You think the bacon in the recipe was lap yuk, Chinese cured pork belly? That’d be very similar to lap cheong.
Some more dried shrimps will be perfect!
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Serious Eats just posted this:
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For dried scallops, the cheaper ones are not necessary cheaper because they have milder and shallower flavor. Mid size scallops will do. Dried shrimps is less of an issue there. In fact, the tiny dried shrimps can be optimal, as they won’t need to be cut up.
I personally won’t use a food processor to shred. The article tried to minimize the shredding by pulsing the food processor on and off, but this is not even necessary.
Dried scallops, dried shrimps, cured ham (preferably Jiahua ham), and hot peppers are the four more criteria ingredients.
Recently tried two XO sauces.
Graham Mom XO sauce, from Mrs Yuen’s shop on Wing Kut Street in Central, Hong Kong. All manners of sauces, spices, etc.
I felt this XO sauce is too similar to a chili sauce. If one’s looking for a chili sauce but with some savoriness from dried seafood, this will be it. But I feel XO sauce, while can be spicy, should resemble less of a chili sauce but has more of its own identity. No Jinhua ham. That’s why I was able to bring it back.
Good Plenty brand XO sauce with mushroom, bought from either Marina, or 99 Ranch. From Taiwan. The sauce itself is pretty balanced and pleasant. I quite like it. The addition of mushroom was a little weird though as it introduced a little of an odd texture to the mix. But overall, among the common store bought versions without preservatives, I quite like this one.
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Bumping this up, looking for inspiration to eat it up!
I seem to find it, “save” it, lose it, find it, rinse and repeat. I’d love to experiment with the older of two bottles of Lee Kum Kee. I know it’s nothing special to most, but they don’t always stock it around here.
Serious Eats seems to be saying I should use that ish on everything! Not really; I just wanted to write that.
I first encountered it as one of the accompaniments at dim sum, so eating it alongside or over anything (like chilli crisp or any other sauce) is certainly an option.
My dad loved it because it reminded him of an indian dried fish pickle, so he happily ate it alongside any simple meal that was a bit bland (dal and rice, just rice, and so on).
And finally, one of the better Chinese restaurants here has a dish of jumbo prawns in xo sauce — aromatics, plump shrimp, and a healthy dose of xo sauce to season.
Now that I’m thinking about it, it would be good to season noodles / pasta too — scallion ginger sauce results in tasty scallion ginger noodles, no doubt xo sauce would be plenty of flavor in the same vein. Ditto fried rice.
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Jealous of those xlb - enjoy!
