postgres XO sauce is a spicy seafood condiment that appeared in Hong Kong in the 1980s, made by frying chopped dried scallops, dried shrimp and Jinhua ham with chilli, garlic and shallot; its name borrows the “X.O.” grade of cognac to signal costly ingredients. /en/concepts/xo-sauce/relation.html concept_xo_sauce concept xo-sauce XO醬 XO酱

XO sauce is a spicy seafood condiment that appeared in Hong Kong in the 1980s, made by frying chopped dried scallops, dried shrimp and Jinhua ham with chilli, garlic and shallot; its name borrows the “X.O.” grade of cognac to signal costly ingredients.

published category-food s1 Chinese Wikipedia https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/XO醬 name, origin, ingredients and uses s2 MICHELIN Guide https://guide.michelin.com/tw/zh_TW/article/dining-out/trace-the-roots-xo-sauce Wong Wing-chee at Lei Garden s3 Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XO_sauce Etymology、Ingredients、Uses s4 Chinese Wikipedia https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/李錦記 products 2026-10-30T17:23:16+08:00 2026-10-30T17:23:16+08:00 user:admin 19 XO sauce is a Hong Kong condiment made mainly from dried seafood and chillies, savoury and hot at once. It appeared in the finer Hong Kong restaurants around the 1980s, spread widely in the 1990s and came to be seen as a sauce that belongs to Hong Kong.[^s1][^s2] ## Name The name comes from the “X.O.” (extra old) grade of French cognac. Through the 1970s and 1980s European and American spirits, cognac among them, were brought into Hong Kong in quantity; the X.O. grade, matured in cask for at least ten years, was the most prized, and “X.O.” came to mean high class and luxury in Hong Kong. The sauce took the name to show that it used costly ingredients and sold above ordinary sauces. XO sauce contains no cognac.[^s1][^s3] ## Origin Who first made XO sauce is unsettled. One account says chefs at Spring Moon, the Chinese restaurant of the Peninsula Hong Kong, had been frying it for some years at the start of the 1980s; another says that in 1981 Wong Wing-chee, chef at Lei Garden, built on a Japanese dried-scallop snack and fried Jinhua ham, dried shrimp, shrimp roe and bird's-eye chillies into a sauce that the restaurant's owner named XO sauce; a further account credits a film producer who made it to entertain guests in the 1970s. None of these has been confirmed.[^s1][^s2] ## Ingredients There is no fixed recipe. Dried scallop, Jinhua or Yunnan ham, dried shrimp, shrimp roe, diced salted fish, bird's-eye and red chillies, garlic, shallot and vegetable oil are all common, and proportions vary by cook. Dried scallop and shrimp give savour, chillies give heat; each restaurant keeps its own formula, and households mix their own to taste.[^s1][^s3] ## Uses XO sauce works both as a seasoning in cooking and as a dip at table. Hong Kong restaurants, cha chaan tengs and fast-food shops use it with stir-fried rice rolls, noodles, rice and turnip cake; scallops with XO sauce and steamed tofu with XO sauce are standard restaurant dishes, and manufacturers have sold XO-flavoured instant noodles.[^s1] XO sauce is also part of the range of the Hong Kong sauce maker [[org_lee_kum_kee|Lee Kum Kee]].[^s4] [^s1]: Chinese Wikipedia, “XO醬”. [^s2]: MICHELIN Guide, “追本溯源：XO醬”. [^s3]: Wikipedia, “XO sauce”. [^s4]: Chinese Wikipedia, “李錦記”. /concepts/xo-sauce.html en zh ar de en es fr hi id it ja ko ms nl pt ru th tr vi zh-hant condiment A Hong Kong sauce made by frying dried seafood with chillies; there is no single standard recipe. dried scallop Jinhua ham dried shrimp belacan shacha sauce org_lee_kum_kee Lee Kum Kee /en/organizations/lee-kum-kee.html organization en zh ar de en es fr hi id it ja ko ms nl pt ru th tr vi zh-hant concept_kind Concept kind Condiment aliases Aliases XO醬, XO酱 related_terms Related terms dried scallop, Jinhua ham, dried shrimp, belacan, shacha sauce scope_note Scope note A Hong Kong sauce made by frying dried seafood with chillies; there is no single standard recipe. 1 50 0 0 1