Having spent some time in Thailand / Cambodia and enjoying cooking those cuisines, I'm now getting interested in cooking Chinese food. I buy ingredients from stores like Wing Yip in the UK. There seems to be quite an acceptance that ready-made commercial sauces are fine, but that feels weird to me - I'd never dream of making a Thai Tom Yum soup with a mix from a jar. Do Chinese people use these ready-made, jarred or tinned sauces? I've got a recipe for char siu which has a whole host of ingredients, and then says at the end "or use ready-made char siu sauce and marinate for an hour before roasting". To be honest, I'm not going to bother getting hold of Chinese malt syrup etc, if the ready-made stuff is just as good!

South East Asia: In a world increasingly fond of "instant gratification", ready-made sauces of various ethnic cooking are making inroads into more and more modern households - Chinese included. It is fast, convenient for working couples who have little time, or too tired to cook the traditional way after coming home from tedious 9-5 work.

There's no ready-made whatever that can do justice to the traditional way; even the modern clean gas fire is poor substitute for wood/charcoal fired... but no can do in my slick condo apartment right?

Ready-made stuff are really passable if you come across a good brand.