Shiitake XO sauce.

XO sauce is a Cantonese luxury condiment — traditionally dried scallop and shrimp, chilli, garlic and shallot, slow-fried in oil until everything is crisp and the oil is saturated with flavour. A shiitake version is not a compromise; the mushroom’s guanylate does much the same umami work as the dried seafood.

It takes an hour, keeps a month, and gets used on everything: noodles, rice, eggs, roast vegetables, dumplings, toast.

What you need

Base

• 2 oz dried shiitake (or 6 oz fresh stems and trim)
• 10 garlic cloves
• 6 shallots
• 2 inch piece ginger
• 1½ cups neutral oil

Heat & seasoning

• 3 tbsp dried chilli flakes
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp five-spice (optional)

Optional, traditional

• 2 tbsp dried shrimp, soaked and chopped
• 1 tbsp dried scallop, soaked and shredded

Method

1. Rehydrate the shiitake in hot water for 30 minutes. Keep the soaking liquid — strain it and save it for something else; it is excellent stock.
2. Chop everything very finely — shiitake, garlic, shallot and ginger, all to a rough mince. A food processor works in short pulses; do not let it become a paste.
3. Squeeze the shiitake dry in a towel. Wet mushroom will spit violently in hot oil.
4. Start the oil at medium-low with the shallots. Fry gently 10–12 minutes until pale gold — patience here decides how crisp the finished sauce is.
5. Add garlic and ginger, and fry 6–8 minutes more, keeping the heat low so nothing burns.
6. Add the shiitake (and shrimp or scallop if using), and fry 15–20 minutes, stirring often. Everything should turn deep brown and genuinely crisp.
7. Season off the heat: chilli flakes, soy, sugar, wine, salt and five-spice. It will hiss. Stir well and let it cool completely.
8. Jar it with the solids submerged in the oil. Refrigerate.

Low and slow is the whole technique

The temptation is to speed it up. Do not — this is a forty-minute fry at low heat, and the goal is that everything dehydrates and crisps before it browns. Hot oil gives you burnt garlic and soft mushroom, which is the opposite of what you want.

Keep the solids covered by oil in the jar. That oil layer is what makes it keep for a month, and the oil itself becomes as useful as the solids — use it to dress noodles or fry an egg.

On the shrimp question

Traditional XO uses dried shrimp and scallop, and they add a distinct funky depth. Left out, the shiitake version is genuinely good rather than a poor substitute — the mushroom carries enough umami on its own. Make it whichever way suits who is eating.

Uses

A spoonful through plain noodles with a little of the oil. On rice with a fried egg. Stirred into a stir-fry at the end. On roasted vegetables, in dumpling dipping sauce, on avocado toast, or into a bowl of soup.

Common questions