Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is Lee Kum Kee Black Pepper Sauce and once you know you like it I recommend the 3 Pack of 12.4 Ounce Bottles.  If you just want to try it though you can get a single 8 ounce jar for 9.99 to see if you like it.  This might be one of those items you can get at your local super market for less, but no one around here seems to carry it.

Let me tell you why I love this stuff.  It is a cooking cheat code in a jar.  Here are the directions on the jar as to how to use it.  Cook your meat or choice, beef is traditional but chicken is amazing with this.  Then take the black pepper sauce and dilute it 50-50 with water and add to the meat or meat and veggies at the end of the cook.  If you do that you won’t be disappointed, but here is how to kick it up.

First take about a tablespoon of the sauce and add in a tablespoon of mirin (more on mirin in the PS) and mix it up well.  Cut your meat into small pieces open the grain when you make your cuts.  Put the meat in a bag and dump the sauce in and massage it into the meat.  Toss in the fridge for a few hours.  I usually do this first thing in the morning before work and let it sit all day.  Then cook your meat in a hot wok about 80% done.  Remove the meat and throw in your veggies, cook them to done and return your meat along with the juice that will have drained from it and finish the cook.

While this is going on mix up another tablespoon of the black pepper sauce, a tablespoon of mirin and a table spoon of Lee Kum Kee Black Bean and Garlic Paste.  As soon as the cook is done kill the heat and dump on the finishing sauce.  If you are doing rice or noodles, add them right before the sauce.  Mix it all together and serve right away.

Everyone I have made this for has been absolutely blown away by the flavor.  It is a tiny bit spicy from the black pepper but even my wife eats it and her heat tolerance is very low.  You can use about any meat and vegetable combo you like in this and I am telling you people will be blown away by it.

You could make this sauce on your own but it really isn’t worth it in my opinion.  It is way to easy to open the jar and take out a spoon full or two.  Also while “black pepper powder” is listed as an ingredient it is clear that course ground pepper is used as you catch small pieces in the meal when you eat it.  I also most certainly do add a crank or two of good fresh pepper as a “kicker” to it but it isn’t necessary.

Here is another quick use of this stuff, mix the same 50-50 ratio of mirin and black pepper sauce, add a tablespoon of honey, a tablespoon of Hoisin Sauce and a teaspoon of hot sauce.  Make either chicken or beef skewers on the grill (marinated in the same 50-50 mix of mirin and black pepper sauce for the above stir fry) and brush them with this baste right at the end of the cook.  Cook until it caramelizes, the hit one more time with baste, remove from the grill and sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Beyond simple and it will blow your family and guests away.  We hold the baste till the end because it contains honey and hoisin it is going to char up a bit when we add it.  Add it too early and you will have a sticky burnt mess.

So give this a shot the next time you are in the mood for stir fry.  It may seem expensive but as you are only using a few tablespoons to a meal a 12 ounce jar goes a long way.  Again if you have not yet tried it you may want to pick up the single 8 ounce jar to test it out, but I think if you in general like Asian stye foods you will be stocking on the the 3 Pack of 12 in short order.

Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com

P.S. –  Over the next few weeks I will be reviewing a variety of items for Asian cooking, here they are though in case you are in the market for them now.  Everything listed has been personally tested by me and is what I consider best in class at this time.

• • • Wok – If you have a gas stove or wok burner I recommend this one, if you have an electric stove only, I am still looking for a recommendation but will have one soon.
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    • Mirin – Mirin is sweet rice wine.  Most brands are shitty rice wine sweetened with corn syrup or if you are lucky cane sugar.  Real mirin is rice wine (sake) that has residual sugar left from the ferment.  Eden Mirin is about the only brand you can always find in the US that is real Mirin.  So it is what I use and recommend.  It costs more and it is worth it.  If you make your own Teriyaki Sauce, and you should, you need this.
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    • Oyster Sauce – While not listed above I will be giving out recipes soon using it.  It is an essential ingredient for Asian cooking and if you want to make your own black pepper sauce you need it for that too.  Lee Kum Kee is the original inventor or Oyster Sauce (it was initially an accident) and their L.K.K. Panda variety is the best they offer.
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    • Cooking Sake (aka rice wine) – As per usual most cooking sake is garbage, total shit.  That said I am not using 20 dollar a bottle sipping sake for cooking.  At about 9 bucks a bottle Michiu is a good balance of a good cooking sake without going overboard.  Note those are 750 ML bottles the same as a typical bottle of wine.
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    • Hong Kong Egg Noodles – I don’t eat a lot of noodles so when I do I want the best.  Fried noodles are awesome with stir fry and really carry flavors (like black pepper sauce) well.  Most of the stuff called Hone Kong Egg Noodles are hardly better than Ramen.  The real deal is uncommon and hence expensive but at 5 bucks a pack Kamfen Hong Kong Noodles are strait from Hong Kong, you won’t get a better noodle to wok fry without getting on a plane or a boat and going to Hong Kong.  One bundle is a good serving for one person so the two pack at 10 bucks breaks down to 50 cents a serving, for the best Hong Kong Noodle you will ever eat in the US.
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    • Hoisin Sauce – Often called Chinese BBQ Sauce but that really isn’t accurate.  What it has in common with BBQ is it does have a lot of sugar, hence it should always be used at the end of a cook or it will scorch and burn and trust me STICK even in a well seasoned wok or pan.  This makes it great for finishing bastes on the grill as it chars up so nicely, sort of like, yep American BBQ sauce.  The best value and quality I have found is back to Lee Kum Kee.
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    • Black Bean and Garlic Paste – Again I turn to Lee Kum Kee for this ingredient.  It is fermented so it gives that little bit of funk that sets off flavors like crazy and the garlic is just the right amount for finishing or for some marinades.  I have linked to Amazon on this one but it is likely in every major super market on the planet as well.

Next week or the week after I expect to do an entire show on Asian cooking, when I do I will have even more items that I use in my kitchen.  But the above are all items on my list to add to TspAZ.com soon that have not yet been reviewed so it is your sneak peak into my personal Asian Cooking Pantry Items.  Oh and it all stores for years and years in the pantry so it is excellent for your preps.