Chinese Master Sauce Recipe (Develop Your Own Lushui Brine)

Chinese Master Brine (Lushui 卤水) is a savory and aromatic brine that is infused with abundant Chinese spices and aromatics, seasoned with soy sauce, salt, sugar, rice wine, and other seasonings. It can last 100s of years if you take care of it correctly, I will explain that later. It is used to poach or braise meat and tofu, to soak eggs and vegetables. The dish that is cooked in the Lushui, we call it Luwei (卤味), is one of the most popular foods in the South of China. Sadly, it is not well known in the western world. That’s why I want to talk about it to bring a bit of awareness and hopefully, you will fall in love with it. Every family has its own version of Lushui. This is my recipe.

????BUY MY CLAY POT – https://geni.us/soupeduprecipesclaypot (Use “claypot20” for a 20% discount. Note: so far, we only launched this product in the USA, CA, and the UK. If you are not in one of these countries and you want to buy it, please email soupeduprecipes@gmail.com with a subject title “clay pot” to reserve the discount and I will notify you when the inventory is ready)

????BUY MY CHOPSTICKS – https://geni.us/Ceramic-Chopsticks (Launch Special!! Use “15soupedup” to get 15% discount)

????BUY MY CARBON STEEL WOK – https://geni.us/carbon-steel-wok

????OTHER FEATURED PRODUCTS THAT I USE – https://curatedkitchenware.com/collections/all

????MY AMAZON INFLUENCER/AFFILIATE PAGE – https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-078efbf8 (I share ingredients here)

????SUPPORT ME ON PATREON – https://www.patreon.com/soupeduprecipes

????PRINTABLE RECIPE – https://soupeduprecipes.com/chinese-master-brine-recipe/

INGREDIENTS
2 slices of sand ginger (Amazon Link – https://geni.us/sand-ginger)
1 star anise (Amazon Link – https://geni.us/star-anise)
1 small cinnamon stick (Amazon Link – https://geni.us/cinamon-sticks-8oz)
2 bay leaves (Amazon Link – https://geni.us/bay-leaves)
2 white cardamom (Amazon Link – https://geni.us/white-cardamom)
1 piece of gardenia pod, optional (Amazon Link – https://geni.us/gardenia-pods)
2 cloves (Amazon Link – https://geni.us/dried-cloves)
1 tsp of white peppercorns (Amazon Link – https://geni.us/white-peppercorns)
1 tsp of fennel seeds (Amazon Link – https://geni.us/fennel-seed)
3 tbsp of Sichuan peppercorn (Amazon Link – https://geni.us/sichuan-peppercorns)
1/2 cup red dried chilies (Amazon Link – https://geni.us/red-dried-chilies)
2 inches of ginger sliced thinly
5 cloves of garlic
2 scallions
5-6 cups of bottled water or distilled water
6 tbsp of soy sauce (Amazon Link – https://geni.us/light-soy-sauce)
3 tbsp of dark soy sauce for the color (Amazon Link – https://geni.us/dark-soy-sauce)
1/4 cup of Chinese cooking wine (Amazon Link – https://geni.us/Shao-xing-ooking-wine)
1/4 cup of rock sugar (Amazon Link – https://geni.us/rock-sugar)
1 tbsp of salt (Amazon Link – https://geni.us/pure-sea-salt)

INSTRUCTIONS

How to Make the Chinese Master Sauce

Add oil to a large pot and stir all the spices along with the ginger slices, garlic cloves, and scallions over medium heat for 2-3 minutes.

Add 5-6 cups of bottled water or distilled water then bring to a boil.

Add soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine, rock sugar, and salt. Simmer for 15 minutes and your Lushui is ready to be used as poaching or braising liquid.

How to Store Chinese Master Sauce?

After you are done cooking, strain the braising liquid and discard the solid ingredients. Bring the broth back to a full boil.

Store the broth in a clean mason jar. Chill in the fridge until the top fat layer has formed.

Discard the fat then freeze the Lushui for up to 2 months. Reuse this brine at least once every 2 months to develop the flavor .

How to Reuse Chinese Master Sauce?

Next time you want to make Luwei again, you just do the same thing. Stir fry some aromatic first. The difference is that you don’t use plain water, instead, pour in the flavorful brine that you made previously. Depending on the evaporation, you do have to add some water once in a while and replenish the spices, sugar, soy sauce, and other seasonings to keep it from diluting. This is the trickiest part because I know you will ask me how much more ingredients should I add? Well, for the spices and aromatics, you can use the same amount. For the sugar, soy sauce, and other seasonings, it is to taste because it depends on how much meat you are braising and how much water you are adding in. So I can’t give you an exact number.

If you don’t have any plans to reuse the brine, you still need to take it out of the freezer every 2 months. Defrost it and bring it back to a full boil to kill any microorganisms in the stock. Store it in the mason jar and freeze it again. This way, it will renew it is storage time for 2 more months. It is better to label it so you don’t forget. In theory, your master brine could be sustained indefinitely if due care is taken to ensure it does not spoil. If you missed the schedule by accident, you have to discard the brine and start new again.