Black Soy Sauce
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Black Soy Sauce

Black soy sauce is an ingredient often used in Chinese recipes for cold noodles, such as Barbara Tropp’s Tangy Cold Noodles. Its Chinese name, according to Tropp, translates to “old-head” soy. Black soy sauce is aged longer than other soy sauces. Toward the end of the fermentation process, molasses is added, resulting in a darker, more caramel-hued…

Barbara Tropp’s Tangy Cold Noodles
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Barbara Tropp’s Tangy Cold Noodles

My friend, Barbara Tropp, left us all too soon. Barbara was a Princeton Chinese scholar studying Chinese poetry when she arrived in Taiwan in the 1970s. Her experience there transformed her into an avid taster and translator of Chinese cuisine. My copy of her 1982 cookbook, The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking, is stained, marked, and worn….