# pink sauce **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 18, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161 "2008-02-18T20:59:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161/21 "2008-07-14T13:19:49Z")
[QUOTE=arseNal] I was just reading the [uncool foods thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=455878) and it reminded me that I recently heard that pink sauce is the Italian cuisine equivalent of Kung Pao chicken for chinese food (namely, inauthentic crud that is only ordered by philistines or drunkards). [/QUOTE] I really don’t understand this sentiment. First of all, who cares if it’s authentic as long as it tastes good? Second, where do we draw the line between “inauthentic” and “fusion cuisine”? I consider myself neither a philistine nor a drunkard (well, at least not anymore…) but you can have my Kung Pao when you pry it from my cold dead chopsticks. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161/22 "2008-07-14T13:46:56Z")
[QUOTE=NicePete] Second, where do we draw the line between “inauthentic” and “fusion cuisine”? [/QUOTE] $25 a plate and up - fusion. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161/23 "2008-07-14T14:02:58Z")
Pink sauce here is ketchup mixed with mayo! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161/24 "2008-07-14T14:09:10Z")
[QUOTE=arseNal] I was just reading the [uncool foods thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=455878) and it reminded me that I recently heard that pink sauce is the Italian cuisine equivalent of Kung Pao chicken for chinese food (namely, inauthentic crud that is only ordered by philistines or drunkards). [/QUOTE] [Gong Bao](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/23/dining/23gong.html) chicken certainly is a real Chinese dish, although the chef in that article does say American versions are inauthentic. However, he also lays into Sechuan preparations of the dish, dubbing them equally inauthentic. I’ve only had Sechuan versions of Gung Bao, and I’m interested to try the Guizhou original. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161/25 "2008-07-14T14:30:22Z")
I just clicked the “uncool foods thread” and was denied “permission to access.” Am I uncool? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161/26 "2008-07-14T15:51:21Z")
Ditto. I think we’re too cool for the uncool food thread. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161/27 "2008-07-14T15:53:58Z")
I love pink sauce and Kung pao chicken. I love the former in a jar and the latter from shitty chinese takeout. ---
**Author:** ![arseNal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@arseNal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arseNal)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161/28 "2008-07-15T13:38:33Z")
[QUOTE=devilsknew] I’m tossing this zombie’s salad, motherfucker Brains!.. Brains in [Choron sauce](http://www.foodreference.com/html/walexanderchoron.html)! [/QUOTE] Extra points for St. Bernard brain. Mmm mm! > [@](#): > > Charon Sauce is basically a tomato paste pink, tinted, bearnaise. > > Salsa Rosa might be attributable to this glorious chef/musician bastard in the lineage of things. > [Alexandre-Etienne Charon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre-%C3%89tienne_Choron) > > [Choron sauce recipe](http://www.obscure.org/~jaws/cooking/choron.html) Oh, no cream? I also like how the recipe comes from a place called [obscure.org](http://obscure.org). [QUOTE=NicePete] I really don’t understand this sentiment. First of all, who cares if it’s authentic as long as it tastes good? Second, where do we draw the line between “inauthentic” and “fusion cuisine”? I consider myself neither a philistine nor a drunkard (well, at least not anymore…) but you can have my Kung Pao when you pry it from my cold dead chopsticks. [/QUOTE] Well, there’s nothing _wrong_ with it, if you enjoy it and it sates your hunger. But those who want “authentic” food should probably be aware the kung pao from **Larry Borgia** ’s shitty chinese takeout joint isn’t really it, simply due to the fact that it’s nothing like the original, having been modified and sweetened to have an ostensible wider appeal over here in the states. And there is no good line between fusion and inauthentic, except for maybe **villa** ’s cutoff. A purist will tell you that fusion is just as blasphemous as a california roll (and of course, there’s nothing _wrong_ with california rolls … 😉 ) Oh, and I, too, mourn the loss of the uncool foods thread. That was a fun read. ---
**Author:** ![PharmBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@PharmBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PharmBoy)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161/29 "2008-07-15T18:31:40Z")
[QUOTE=Oslo Ostragoth] I must be a hillbilly. I’ve never heard of “pink sauce”. [/QUOTE] me either… ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161/30 "2008-07-15T18:37:34Z")
The only “pink sauce” I’ve ever come across is the stuff in prawn cocktails, and I think that’s been terminally uncool since about 1977. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161/31 "2008-07-15T20:23:23Z")
I’ve heard of various pastas a la vodka but I’ve never heard of “pink sauce.” I had something called sunrise sauce at a pretty nice Italian restaurant once. It was marinara with either cream or alfredo - can’t remember which - and I think vodka, but it was more orange than pink, hence sunrise. Wonder if it’s the same thing. (It wasn’t bad, but I did not prefer it to regular marinara, ftr.) ---
**Author:** ![arseNal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@arseNal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arseNal)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161/32 "2008-07-15T21:42:45Z")
Well, by pink sauce I do think I meant that pink (ok, orange I can see too) stuff that is also referred to as vodka sauce. Generally some tomato-based sauce with cream added. But as you can see there are variations and cousins of it. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161/33 "2008-07-15T23:14:05Z")
[QUOTE=arseNal] Extra points for St. Bernard brain. Mmm mm! [/QUOTE] Here is the [Xmas of 1870 menu at Choron’s restaurant, _Voisin_, where he was Chef de Cuisine.](http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Choron)Apparently it was the 99th day of the Prussian siege. And included such delicacies as: > [@](#): > > « Trompe d’éléphant à la sauce chasseur », « Éléphant bourguignon », « Tête d’âne farcie », « Consommé d’éléphant », « Chameau rôti à l’anglaise », « Le Civet de Kangourou », « Côtes d’ours rôties sauce poivrade », « Cuissot de loup, sauce chevreuil », « Le chat flanqué de rats », « La Terrine d’antilope aux truffes » I don’t speak a lot of French but I think I can make out Elephant, something about civet or kangarooo, maybe?Wolf and Cat and Rats? and Antelope… translation, anyone? That’s quite the Xmas dinner, and people think turducken is exotic. Enough to make the Baby Jesus cry. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161/34 "2008-07-15T23:23:24Z")
Apparently, there seems to be some internet overlap between Alexandre Étienne Choron the French Musicologist and Alexandre Étienne Choron the Chef. They are two seperate people and I was quite mistaken in my earlier assessment. The chef was born 3 years after the famous musicologist passed away, and was very likely, in my assessment, named after him, or the name Alexandre Étienne was just a popular name. ---
**Author:** ![arseNal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@arseNal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arseNal)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161/35 "2008-07-16T02:30:06Z")
[QUOTE=devilsknew] Here is the [Xmas of 1870 menu at Choron’s restaurant, _Voisin_, where he was Chef de Cuisine.](http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Choron)Apparently it was the 99th day of the Prussian siege. And included such delicacies as: I don’t speak a lot of French but I think I can make out Elephant, something about civet or kangarooo, maybe?Wolf and Cat and Rats? and Antelope… translation, anyone? That’s quite the Xmas dinner, and people think turducken is exotic. Enough to make the Baby Jesus cry. [/QUOTE] Good lord. My french is rusty but I see donkey’s head (tete d’ane), roast camel (chameau roti), kangaroo stew (civet de kangarou), roast bear coats (?) (cotes d’ours roties), wolf (not sure what a cuissot is), cats and rats (cats flanked by rats?), antelope terrine with truffles, I guess? Quite the menu indeed. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2008, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161/36 "2008-07-16T04:49:11Z")
I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t include [Brando and Broderick in the Freshman](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099615/). Quite a strange movie, not the best, but notable. The climx centers around a choronic feast. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-sauce/438161.md?page=1)