The Ultimate Secret of Chaoshan Cuisine in Two Words

Chaoshan: The "Encyclopedia" of Dipping Sauces

Chaoshan people have always had their own culinary principles. Beyond the emphasis on fresh, seasonal ingredients, the dipping sauces—considered the "finishing touch"—are equally meticulous.

In Chaoshan, a small dish of dipping sauce comes in countless varieties, often tailored to specific dishes. Starting with simple bases like soy sauce, green plums, and salt, and leveraging the region’s abundant marine resources and local produce, Chaoshan has developed a rich array of sauces: fish sauce, shrimp paste, kumquat oil, garlic vinegar, satay sauce, three-infusion sauce, Puning bean sauce... With boundless creativity, Chaoshan people pair these sauces perfectly with different dishes, delivering bold and distinctive flavors.

Chaoshan people can’t dine without their "little dish of sauce."

The culinary universe of Chaoshan is dazzling. While few might think of dipping sauces when listing local specialties, no dish truly shines without them. Take the "Satay-Beef Duo" (satay sauce with beef or meatballs), which has gone national with Chaoshan beef hotpot; the uniquely flavored three-infusion sauce, inseparable from blood clams and snails; the essential plum sauce for roasted goose or duck; even seasonal sour fruits paired with licorice, chili, and soy sauce.

These carefully crafted dipping sauces are the foundation of Chaoshan’s "light yet flavorful" cuisine and a taste memory etched in the DNA of its people.

A well-prepared dipping sauce delivers double the satisfaction.

Among Chaoshan’s countless sauces, satay sauce is the earliest to gain nationwide fame and remains the undisputed star.

Originally a Southeast Asian condiment called "satay," it was introduced to Chaoshan, Fujian, and Taiwan in the early 19th century by merchants and overseas Chinese. With its complex preparation and diverse ingredients, it evolved into the aromatic, Southern-style "satay sauce" through local adaptations. Ingredients vary by region, creating distinct flavors. Today, satay sauces are broadly categorized into three styles: Southern Fujian, Chaoshan, and Malaysian, based on spice intensity.

Satay sauce shares roots with Southeast Asian satay and is popular in Fujian and Guangdong.

Its ingredients aren’t fixed, so each version tastes unique.

Satay sauce is a staple on Chaoshan tables. Best known for pairing with beef hotpot, it embodies the region’s "light yet flavorful" dining philosophy. Freshly slaughtered, thinly sliced beef, boiled briefly in clear broth, delivers the "lightness," while the rich, aromatic satay sauce ensures it’s "never bland."

Start with satay sauce as the base, then add fried garlic, fresh celery, or soy sauce to taste. A quick stir creates the perfect dip. Whether for tender beef or springy meatballs, a hot bite coated in this thick sauce blends the meat’s freshness with the sauce’s complexity for a unique experience.

In Chaoshan, no problem can’t be solved with a beef hotpot.

Beyond hotpot, satay sauce’s versatility—balancing sweet, spicy, salty, and umami—makes it the "all-purpose king" of Chaoshan’s daily meals.

Blanch fresh rice noodles, toss with satay sauce, scallions, and celery for a quick satay noodle bowl. Swap noodles for easier-to-store wheat noodles, and you get satay noodles. For more effort, stir-fry mustard greens and beef with satay for a savory dish. Add rice noodles, and it becomes "wet-fried noodles," rivaling Guangzhou’s dry-fried beef noodles.

But there’s more. As a dip, dressing, or cooking ingredient, satay sauce is key to Teochew cuisine.

Take stir-fried "bokeh" (small local clams resembling melon seeds), a summer staple. Sizzle garlic in hot oil, add the clams, Thai basil, satay, and chilies, and cook until the shells open. The tender clams, fragrant basil, and layered satay flavors define Chaoshan summers.

Due to their瓜子-like shape, these clams are also called "sea瓜子" in some regions.

In Chaoshan, loving satay is just a matter of time. Its devotees constantly explore new ways to enjoy it, but only homemade satay sauce—made to mom’s recipe—truly captures the taste of home for "ga gi nang" (Teochew for "our own people").

Puning soybean paste, garlic oil, fish sauce

In the world of Chaoshan dipping sauces, while satay sauce dominates, it cannot completely overshadow other "contenders." After all, Chaoshan people are renowned for their meticulousness and dedication to cuisine, tirelessly seeking the best flavors to pair with different ingredients and cooking techniques. Naturally, the variety of dipping sauces is vast. In Chaoshan households, the kitchen is typically stocked with the "Big Four": satay sauce as the leader, followed by Puning soybean paste, fried garlic, and fish sauce.

It’s no secret that Chaoshan people excel in gastronomy, but their ability to create a非遗-level Puning soybean paste in an environment not naturally suited for soybeans is truly impressive. The soybean and soybean paste techniques introduced from the north have been refined over generations by Chaoshan people, gradually blending with local flavors. Today, this mellow and sweet light-yellow paste, stored in small jars, can be scooped and eaten anytime, adding the perfect finishing touch to dishes.

The "destined partner" of Puning soybean paste is fish rice. Commonly found in Chaoshan cold stalls, fish rice is not the "fish + rice" combination imagined by inland dwellers but whole fish eaten as a meal. Un-gutted sea fish are salted in brine, boiled in concentrated saltwater, and served with firm, fresh flesh. Without extra seasoning, it relies solely on a small dish of Puning soybean paste for flavor, achieving Chaoshan cuisine’s ultimate pursuit of "freshness without fishiness."

Dishes seasoned with Puning soybean paste are endless: mandarin fish braised in Puning soybean paste, crab baked with Puning soybean paste, bitter gourd stewed with Puning soybean paste, chicken with Puning soybean paste… Even when simply paired with congee or rice, its unique savory taste satisfies the palate.

Photo/ Lao Zhong Photography, Image/ Tuchong Creativity

Another ingredient Chaoshan people have mastered is garlic. Found nationwide, garlic is meticulously processed into garlic oil and crispy fried garlic in Chaoshan. Minced garlic is fried until golden, its pungency dissolved by heat, leaving only rich aroma and crispy texture in the oil.

Crispy fried garlic adds rich aroma to hotpot dips without overpowering; garlic oil is even more versatile, used in garlic oil noodles, garlic oil rice noodles, garlic oil beef soup, and more. Though simple, garlic oil enhances other ingredients’ flavors, making it a "secret weapon" in Chaoshan kitchens. Whether stir-frying, making soup, or preparing fish porridge or meatball soup, a spoonful of garlic oil is essential.

A "random combo" of garlic oil seaweed wonton.

Finally, the grand finale—fish sauce, one of the "Three Treasures of Chaoshan" alongside preserved radish and pickled mustard, is the perfect match for Chaoshan oyster omelet. This homemade seafood snack uses fresh oysters fried with sweet potato starch until golden, dipped in fish sauce for a juicy, crispy bite. Early fish sauce was made from fish brine collected during salted fish production, earning it the nickname "fishy soup." Highly versatile, it’s not only paired with oyster omelets but also used in stir-fries and soups.

Chaoshan cuisine holds its own against Cantonese and Hakka cuisines in Guangdong, thanks to Chaoshan people’s relentless pursuit of culinary perfection and their "super detail-oriented" standards.

Here, every dish can have its "exclusive dipping sauce" tailored to its flavor.

Chaoshan’s specialty green plums, with thin skin, thick flesh, and rich aroma, are ideal for making salted plums and plum sauce.

Salted plums, soaked in brine, add aroma and remove fishiness; plum sauce, made with sugar and plum flesh, is the "best partner" for roast goose. The sweet-sour plum sauce complements the crispy, juicy roast goose, cutting through the richness.

Drying and grinding leftover plum sauce ingredients, then mixing with galangal, rice vinegar, chili sauce, and sugar creates the uniquely complex "three-infusion sauce," balancing sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, and salty flavors.

Three-infusion sauce pairs well with seafood, especially raw fish and blood cockles boiled in water for tenderness. Golden orange oil, made from natural orange juice, sugar, and salt, is the go-to for cutting through the greasiness of fried shrimp balls.

Blood cockles are simple to prepare, with flavor relying entirely on the sauce.

These dipping sauces elevate Chaoshan cuisine’s "light yet flavorful, fresh yet not fishy" character, leaving a lasting mark on China’s dipping sauce universe as an indispensable part of Chaoshan flavors.