Poon's London WO Sauce - 118g
Poon's London WO Sauce - 118g.
Awarded Great Taste Award 1 Stars by The Guild of Fine Foods in 2023.
XO Sauce was invented in the 1980s in Hong Kong and is made from dried scallops, dried shrimp, Jinhua ham, chilli, shallots and garlic. Dried seafood and Jinhua ham are considered extremely luxurious and extravagant ingredients in Chinese cooking. The name alludes to the lofty and expensive status associated with XO cognac at the time. Dried scallops are not available in the UK now.
We decided to rework this classic condiment to make it our own, using salted shrimp instead and replacing Jinhua ham with our own Poon’s Wind Dried Bacon which we have been producing since 1970 to an old family recipe.
We called it WO sauce because W is almost X - a bit corny but so am I. It has affectionately become known as “Woooooh Sauce” in the kitchen and with the chefs who have used it. I love it on buttered bagels, fried eggs, fried rice, plain rice, noodles, pizza and sausage rolls...
118g
Ingredients
Rapeseed Oil, Tomato, Onion, Salted Tiny Shrimp (11%) (Shrimp, Brine (Salt, Sugar, Vinegar)), Sugar, Dried Shrimp (4%) (Shrimp, Salt), Wind Dried Bacon (4%) (Pork, Sugar, Pork Fat, Salt, Dark Soya Sauce (Water, Salt, Soybeans, Wheat Flour, Colour [E150a, E150c], Flavour Enhancer [E621], Sugar, Stabiliser [E415]), Rose Liqueur (Sorghum, Rose Flower, Water, Barley, Pea, Sugar), Spices, Preservative (E250), Garlic, Chilli Flakes, Taekyung Red Pepper Powder. Allergens in bold.
Allergens
Produced in a kitchen that handles eggs, fish, gluten, milk, molluscs, soya and sulphites.
About Poon's London
Our family culinary history runs deep. My father comes from a long line of chefs. Somewhere in the long distant past is a many times great grandfather who was chef to an emperor. Another many times great grandfather effectively invented the stock cube. My grandparents had a famous restaurant in Macau where my granny was famed for her knife skills.
There is an old family recipe for Chinese Wind Dried Meats, which we still produce today. My father started in the kitchen young. In Hong Kong, he trained with a Swiss pâtissier and in the mid-Sixties he came to England in pursuit of my mother. Disappointed by the quality of Chinese food in England at the time, my parents opened the first Poon’s Restaurant in 1973 in Lisle Street, Chinatown.
Three years later they opened the iconic Poon’s of Covent Garden at 41 King Street (now a Burberry store.) The great and the good dined there – from Mick Jagger to Barbara Streisand. In 1980 my father was awarded a Michelin Star. Restaurants in Geneva and The City followed. My parents retired in 2006.
I have worked in all my parents’ restaurants and swore I would never go into the business, but what chance does one stand against kismet? So, I bring you my Chinese kitchen from the depths of my heart & my family’s hearth.
Buy Poon's London WO Sauce - 118g at Ratton Pantry.
