Sweet and Sour breading or batter

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negolien

Master of the Pit
Original poster
Jan 1, 2020
1,987
1,679
Sacramento, Calif.
Sup All,

So doin the asian theme again and had a question. I seen somebody using a tempura batter like a cake mix for orange chicken. I did my sweet and sour chicken with an egg wash and flour because i didn't have corn starch last time. This time I was gonna use the corn starch like the recipe recommended. Thoughts on batter vs dry and flour vs corn starch vs tempura?

I went ahead and got a 4 lb pork shoulder this time after much debate. I am gonna use some for pork fried rice making char siu and the rest I' am gonna use for sweet and sour. Thoghts?
 
The Chinese restaurants around here that I know on a first name basis ( love my Chinese )
Make their Sweet and Sour Bo Bo balls using a thick pancake mix mostly. Don't know if that helps you at all
1660904995235.png


I like mine a little lighter on the batter instead of the big ball of batter, don't get me wrong . I could eat it this way every day. as long as the sauce is good also.

So I make mine a little thinner so it has a thinner coating and more Chicken to batter deal, lol
1660905236515.png


Not my pictures , just showing examples of said batters.
Will be posting mine from a meal coming in a couple weeks



David
 
The Chinese restaurants around here that I know on a first name basis ( love my Chinese )
Make their Sweet and Sour Bo Bo balls using a thick pancake mix mostly. Don't know if that helps you at all
View attachment 641287

I like mine a little lighter on the batter instead of the big ball of batter, don't get me wrong . I could eat it this way every day. as long as the sauce is good also.

So I make mine a little thinner so it has a thinner coating and more Chicken to batter deal, lol
View attachment 641288

Not my pictures , just showing examples of said batters.
Will be posting mine from a meal coming in a couple weeks



David
Looks great.. I think I will try both ways when I do my sweet and sour. I saved some nice hunks of shoulder probably 2 lbs worth. Last time I did dry version and it was pretty awesome for only using flour. Seems the liquid batter would be messier but i guess we'll see lol. I love experimenting. I got my char siu marinating in the fridge as we speak from putting in last night. Gonna cook the meat today probably put the fried rice togther tommorrow.
 
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I am with David probably a thinner pancake tempura mix of sorts. Pancake mix is well known being the classic "fair food" batter. Odds are they tweak the mix though. I am fairly certain the joint I like adds a little soy/sesame oil/both maybe to theirs. Here the joints serve it golden and is doughy to us, so we ask for extra crispy. I have run lemon chicken a few times (we like that over SS) and used corn starch but not even in the ball park for what we wanted. Got the sauce down at least. Gonna be stir frying and other asian stuff lots real soon hopefully with daughters furniture out of the garage. I use a wok with my propane burner... Looking forward to see more posts from guys and others into asian. I have not had any decent kung pao chicken in like a decade now so that will be my first.
 
The Lings batter looks good, like Sam zwiller zwiller said , thin but not to thin . Tempura is good for some things but for a sweet and sour batter it should have some thickness for me.
But I have also done sweet and sour with out any batter at all, just the cooked meat in the sauce with all the veg.
So for me it is more of how I want the meal to be .
When I do my sweet and sour pies , no batter as it is in the pies . no need for extra dough . lol

David
 
doughy to us, so we ask for extra crispy. I have run lemon chicken a few times (we like that over SS
I like the Bo Bo balls as a couple shops call them every once in a while, but really filling.
And I always order lemon chicken when we go out also. And also General Tao dish, some make it hotter than others

I am fairly certain the joint I like adds a little soy/sesame oil/both maybe to theirs
I am sure ours add to theirs also , but it is very plain dough if eaten without the S+S and on meat.
Our resturants we go to ,is very white so no Soya sauce maybe just a little sugar and salt


Now i'm really hungry, might have to go take out the last of my egg rolls and have a big snack

David
 
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Another post I started but forgot to hit reply... No kidding, Friday nights dinner takeout: Hot and sour soup, sweet and sour chicken (due to this thread), kung pao beef, chicken mei fun, bunch of egg rolls with fresh made house mustard.

Never heard of bo bo balls but thick tempura has it's place but all depends on the dish. Local seafood joint does a shrimp tempura/beer batter and it's killer. Really thick but light and airy.

My fave local place served "empress chicken" and it was like sweet and sour meets general tso. Have never seen it anywhere else.

Got me a new chinese cookbook and it's british. A few interesting things in there but one of them is the sweet and sour base is orange juice. Not seen that before.
 
I also posted this and the egg roll filler on your other post.

I found my recipe that I use when not lazy to make Sweet and Sour anything balls, chicken, pork, beef you get the picture
Also good for fish and or onion rings

Sweet and Sour Bo Bo Ball Batter
1 cup flour
1 tea baking powder
1/2 tea salt
1 - egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup salad oil, or what ever you like
extra flour for what ever you might need , roll the meat etc in a little flour before into the batter

David
 
I am a little scared to do the pork shoulder for sweet and sour..... The shoulder turned out ok in the fried rice but you can cook it pretty well done and still get good fried rice. I might try and take part out and then get some chicken in case it sucks lol
 
I am a little scared to do the pork shoulder for sweet and sour..... The shoulder turned out ok in the fried rice but you can cook it pretty well done and still get good fried rice. I might try and take part out and then get some chicken in case it sucks lol



I would not worry about the pork at all . The pieces of meat that you cut to make your S + S are small. And pork does not have to have the crap cooked out of it like years ago.
Same as the chicken.

If you are really concerned you could per cook the meat part way and let cool. Than dip in batter and cook again.
You will get a feel for it , on just how precooked you want it with a little trial and error.

Or just do your S + S with fresh meat and no batter. I do this quite often also.
This is a little thicker than I normally make it , but this was for the Sweet and Sour Pies I made, plus mine was smoked pork belly I had smoked first.....good

1661248896058.png

David
 
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