Thursday, October 19, 2017

Trey Yuen - Past and Future: Part 2 - Tong Cho

As I mentioned in Part 1 - I loved the food at Trey Yuen and there were a few items that I thought were outstanding.  I'm not sure when they started serving it, but ever since I tried their Tong Cho sauce, I was hooked.  I had to have it every time I went there.  It didn't matter what it was on - chicken, pork, shrimp, crawfish, or catfish - I loved it.  There was a time when they sold jars of the sauce and I bought it a few times.  However, with Trey Yuen's prices being so reasonable and the location so convenient, I usually just let them do the cooking.  The sauce was a sweet and slightly spicy dark brown sauce.  It was usually served with slices of carrots, bell peppers, and onions. 
One of my favorite combinations to get (from the lunch menu) was the Number 11 (fans will know what I am talking about) with Tong Cho pork instead of sweet and sour.  The number 11 (pictured below in front) included the sweet and sour pork, double happiness (they used to call it four happiness), fried rice, barbeque pork, egg roll and fried wontons.  All of this for a reasonable price.  It probably started at $5 or $6 years ago and probably was around $10 when they closed.  In addition to anything Tong Cho, I liked their egg roll with the duck sauce (haven't found a good substitute for that yet either), the wor wonton soup, and the sweet and sour soup. 
Even before they closed and much more now that they have closed, I have tried to find a recipe for this sauce.  I have not had time to try any of these recipes out yet, but there are others who have tried to copy (see below).  If someone else has cracked the code - please let me know.  It would really help me get over the closing of this restaurant. 
  • TONG CHO SAUCE - Recipe Circus

    recipecircus.com/recipes/CookinKat/RECIPESTOTRY/TONG_CHO_SAUCE.html
    TONG CHO SAUCE. Source of Recipe Internet Recipe Introduction Hopefully this is close to the famous Trey Yuen Tong Cho Sauce List of Ingredients Tamari Glaze
  • Recipe(tried): Trey Yuen Tong Cho (copycat recipe ...

    www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/board_14/2013/SEP/38149.html
    I adore trey yuen, ... so I cracked the code on this one. It's pretty close. TREY YUEN TONG CHO 1/2 bunch green onions, ... Tong Cho Sauce (sweet and sour sauce)
  • Recipe: Tong Cho Sauce (sweet and sour sauce ...

    www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/board_14/2010/MAY/35178.html
    ISO: Trey Yuen Tong Cho Sauce: Board: Copycat Recipe Requests at Recipelink.com: ... Tong Cho sauce is a sweet and sour sauce with the main components of sugar and ...

  • My next post will be about another special connection that I had with Trey Yuen.  Great memories.