I had a taste for more Chinese food this week, so I made beef with oyster sauce on Thursday which I paired with some pickled orange pepper and carrots, thinking the vinegar would compliment the rich, salty sauce well. It did and along with some unusual salad ingredients like beets and radishes, (unusual for a Chinese accompaniment), with a soy and sesame dressing, it was somewhat of a hybrid dinner but tasty never the less.
Whenever I think of the Chinese meals my mum or dad would cook from our trusty recipe book back home, I am always transported back to the scent of the kitchen. The overwhelming aroma would be sweet and exotic, like soy sauce or oyster, but there would always be a faint whiff of vinegar drifting through the heavier smells. I can remember the tastes so vividly too. The magic alchemy that occurs between sugar and vinegar creating that sweet and sour taste which satiates many taste buds at once. A pickle of some kind seemed just right for this meal, cutting across the rich salty flavours with a tangy edge.
