Tonight Cindy and I were wandering in the ID (Seattle's International
District). We stopped for dinner at Hing Loon Seafood Restaurant. One
of their specialties is clams in black bean sauce, and after trying it I
can understand why. Wonderful stuff. Lots of fresh clams (one of the
benefits of living in Seattle), and the best damn black bean sauce I
have ever tried.

The sauce had a complex flavor, just the right amount of heat, and an
unusual consistency. In all of the recipes for black bean sauce that I
have seen, corn starch is used as the thickener. But Hing Loon's sauce
was more viscous - it was stickier, stretching into tendrils, more like
the effect you get with gumbo file or okra. Does anyone know how they
get this texture?

Maybe I should have asked, but I am always a bit shy about asking a
restaurant to divulge their secrets (and most of the time they don't).

--
Julian Vrieslander