From Korea's doenjang and gochujang to Hong Kong's XO sauce and East Asia's fish sauce, Asian cuisines provide hundreds of ways to flavour and season dishes.

Across Asia, myriad sauces add layers of flavour, depth and instant seasoning to dishes, far surpassing any measure of salt and pepper. From Korea's doenjang and gochujang to Hong Kong's XO sauce and East Asia's fish sauce, there are hundreds of different sauces on the market. Many of these have fermentation as a common thread, creating deeply complex flavours that are a result of patience and time. This article will guide you through some of the most common and how to use them.

This elusively named condiment originated in Hong Kong, with roots dating to the 1970s and 80s. "XO", which stands for "extra-old", is a nod to XO cognac – an aged liquor that often signifies wealth and prestige in Hong Kong. However, the semblance between the sauce and the cognac ends there, as there's no actual liquor in XO sauce. "XO" simply provides the connotation of luxury, hinting at the array of expensive ingredients within the jar.

The condiment, which is a staple of Cantonese cuisine, has foggy origins. Hong Kong's Sun Tung Lok restaurants have laid claim to its invention, though it's also said that it was first created in 1986 at The Peninsula Hotel's Spring Moon restaurant.

While there's no standardised XO recipe, the ingredients typically include dried scallops and shrimp, as well as garlic, red chillies and ginger. Some variations include Chinese dry-cured ham. The resulting sauce is mildly spicy, savoury and smoky. Use it as a condiment with subtly flavoured dishes such as noodles, steamed seafood like scallops and white fish, or on dim sum dishes such as rice rolls and radish cake. XO can also be used as a seasoning to braise meats and flavour vegetables.

Originating in China about 2,200 years ago, the first known soy sauce recipe was recorded in an ancient Chinese agriculture text, with records showing that some of the first versions of soy sauce were closely linked to jiang, a soybean paste fermented with meat, millet and salt.

There are many varieties of soy sauces used worldwide, including Chinese light and dark soy sauce, Hong Kong sweet soy sauce, Japanese shoyu, Taiwanese soy sauce, Korean ganjang and Indonesian kecap manis. They all consist of the same main ingredients: fermented soybean paste, wheat, yeast and salt.

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Chinese soy sauce is brewed in two primary ways: light and dark. Made from the first press of fermented soybeans and aged anywhere from days to months, light soy sauce is thinner and saltier than dark soy and is used in everyday cooking for a pop of flavour. Alternatively, dark soy is made at the end of the pressing process. It is thick, dark and sweet, as it often includes molasses or caramel. It's used sparingly to add colour and roundness to dishes like stir-fries, braises and marinades.........

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