Sake in Cooking and its Brother: Mirin

Yakitori skewer with a mirin-based sauce

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Sake isn’t just for drinking; it plays a crucial role in Japanese cooking, bringing depth, umami, and balance to a wide range of dishes. Alongside mirin, another rice-based seasoning, sake is a staple ingredient in Japanese cuisine, enhancing everything from grilled fish to braised pork. But not all sake and mirin are created equal. Understanding the differences between cooking sake, drinking sake, and the various types of mirin can help you take your cooking to the next level.

Cooking Sake, Regular Sake, and How to Use Them

While both are brewed in essentially the same manner, cooking sake and regular sake are made a bit differently to serve different markets. Cooking sake, or ryori-shu (料理酒), contains added salt to make it exempt from liquor taxes under Japanese law, but this means you have to account for the additional sodium in your recipe. Many chefs and home cooks prefer using regular drinking sake instead for that very reason.

Much like cooking with wine, cooking with sake is about enhancing flavor. First off, it reduces strong odors, so adding a splash of sake to a seafood dish helps to neutralize fishy smells. It also boosts umami in a dish. While we’re not experts, the sources we’ve found also purport that sake interacts with amino acids in ways that boost the savory aspects of the dish. What’s more is that the alcohol in sake helps break down muscle fibers, making meats more tender.

Some of the most common dishes where sake plays a role include simmered dishes like “nimono” which include classics like nikujaga (a meat an potato stew that literally translates something like meat-tato) or buta no kakuni (braised pork belly), where sake enriches the broth. In many grilled dishes, sake-based marinades keep meats juicy and help make a more delicious caramelization. In steamed dishes like chawanmushi, which is a popular savory egg custard, a splash of sake helps out with texture, aroma, and flavor.

Mirin: Sake’s Sweeter Brother

If sake brings a pop, mirin brings depth. It adds a mild sweetness, rounds out saltiness, and gives dishes a beautiful glossy finish. You need mirin to make a proper teriyaki sauce for instance. Choosing the right mirin is important, and many supermarket versions are not the real deal.

Let’s start by saying that “hon mirin” (本みりん) is that aforementioned real deal. It’s the most widely available traditional (but mass produced) style and has a natural sweetness to it. It contains around 14% alcohol and is essential for any home cook looking to get into Japanese cuisine.

Another style you might find on shelves is called “mirin-fu” (みりん風), which means “mirin-style.” It’s a product with zero alcohol and is essentially a glucose-fructose syrup that lacks the complexity of real mirin. The other label you might see is “aji-mirin” (味みりん), which denotes a less traditional version that, much like cooking sake, contains added salt. It’s not preferred to the real thing by most chefs, but it works and is certainly better than trying to substitute something that isn’t mirin at all.

A Little History of Mirin

Mirin first appeared in Japan before the Edo era and spread during the 17th century. Nobody knows the exact origin, but there are two stories; one is that it was born in Japan, and the other is that it came from China. Regardless, the mirin of the time was known to be enjoyed by non-drinkers and by women thanks to its sweetness. Over time, it began to take on a primary reputation as an ingredient for cooking rather than a standalone beverage for drinking. After all, in 18th and 19th century Japan, sugar was comparatively expensive, and adding mirin was an easy way to achieve sweetness and flavor in popular staples like eel and soba.

Side Note: Similar, but Different

We’d be remiss to not mention some other liquid flavor-makers produced using rice. For instance, rice vinegar, while also obviously rice-based, is used for acidity rather than sweetness or depth. It’s essential for sushi rice and for pickling vegetables. Another ricey cooking liquid you may have heard of is Shaoxing Wine, which has a maltier flavor than sake or mirin. While all of these add character and depth to a dish, they’re not interchangeable.

Sake and mirin are a part of Japan’s culinary DNA, and using the real things can certainly improve your Japanese dishes. Hopefully this helps a bit in both your sake- and culinary journeys!

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