# Duck sauce or sweet and sour? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2005, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-sauce-or-sweet-and-sour/293534 "2005-03-08T15:18:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-sauce-or-sweet-and-sour/293534/1 "2005-03-08T15:18:40Z")
When I was growing up in Ohio, on very special occasions, such as when people were visiting from out of town, we would go out to a Chinese restaurant. As most of you know, it is common at such restaurants for all tables to be set with a twin sauce server – one of the sauces is bright yellow and the other bright orange. Well, the yellow sauce is, of course, Chinese mustard sauce. But what is the other one? While growing up, everyone in my family and everyone we dined with always referred to it as “sweet and sour sauce.” Now, though, when I go to a Chinese restaurant or order takeout, I see that this sauce is always referred to as “duck sauce” and “sweet and sour” is reserved only for those menu items featuring a batter-fried chicken or shrimp accompanied by a sweet orange-colored sauce. Was “sweet and sour sauce” ever a common alternative name for duck sauce? Or were we just crazy? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-sauce-or-sweet-and-sour/293534/2 "2005-03-08T15:27:19Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Was “sweet and sour sauce” ever a common alternative name for duck sauce? Or were we just crazy? To my experience – and speaking only of budget Chinese fare local to New Orleans and central Mississippi – there is some difference. “Duck sauce” – which I assume is ersatz Peking duck glaze – is pale orange in color and significantly translucent. Whatever the flavor of duck sauce, it strikes me as fairly muted. “Sweet and sour sauce” is a much more vivid reddish-orange, and has strong citrus overtones. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-sauce-or-sweet-and-sour/293534/3 "2005-03-08T15:35:39Z")
I’ve only seen duck sauce, which in my experience is grotesquely sweet, and is only fit for dunking in the fried noodles they give you as appetizer. Sweet and sour sauce isn’t much better, but I’ve never seen it presented as one of the on-table choices. We never use it, or the soy sauce. When we get Chiese takeout we routinelty throw those packets away. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-sauce-or-sweet-and-sour/293534/4 "2005-03-08T15:54:28Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > “Duck sauce” – which I assume is ersatz Peking duck glaze – is pale orange in color and significantly translucent. Whatever the flavor of duck sauce, it strikes me as fairly muted. Isn’t duck sauce just another name for plum sauce? I love but don’t really use it on anything but egg or spring rolls. Or I just drink it straight when no one is looking. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-sauce-or-sweet-and-sour/293534/5 "2005-03-08T16:00:36Z")
I realize that there is a difference between the orange sauce put on the table and the orange sauce served with, say, sweet and sour shrimp. I’m not saying that the citrusy sauce on the shrimp was served on the table. My point is that we used the _name_ “sweet and sour” for the sauce that’s served as a condiment on the table. My question is whether anyone else did that or did my family and our acquaintances somehow just _always use the wrong name_? So far as I know, plum sauce is a thick, dark-colored sauce, not the bright orange that we’re talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-sauce-or-sweet-and-sour/293534/6 "2005-03-08T16:18:38Z")
My experience has been the opposite. Sweet & sour sauce is the grotesquely sweet one that is spooned over the popular S&S dishes (not usually available as a table condiment), and duck sauce has a mildly sweet, fruity flavor and used almost exclusively as a condiment for dipping. Sweet & sour is usually very dark orange, sometimes red. Duck sauce is light orange and translucent. It’s made from plums, apricots or peaches (sometimes all three) and originally meant to be used ON duck. There is another type of duck sauce called _anitra in sugo_ that is made _from_ ducks, and meant to be used on pasta. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/duck-sauce-or-sweet-and-sour/293534/7 "2005-03-08T16:22:48Z")
> [@Patty O'Furniture](#): > > Sweet & sour sauce is the grotesquely sweet one that is spooned over the popular S&S dishes (not usually available as a table condiment) … Sweet & sour is usually very dark orange, sometimes red. Yeah, I’ve run into sugary S&S sauces, too. I’ve always considered them decidely subpar, and not indicative of true S&S sauce.