Chinese was Cusine of the Quarter a while back, but we can keep adding to the thread like COTM!
Thanks. I’m hoping we’ll do Recipe Tin Eats soon … that’s where I found this recipe.
Nice photo. I see you are taking care of these cooking alcohol by putting them in refrigeration. I actually do not have Shao Xing liquor at this moment. I used my last one up and I do not use it very often, so not in a hurry to restock it. Aubergine’s one also does not have salt in it. In fact, it was placed in the drinking alcohol section, not the cooking alcohol section. Next time I am there, I will see if this supermarket makes the distinction based on salt alone.
FYI. The Shao Xing liquor in the drinking section has a price range from $37 down to about $10. Whereas the cooking Shao Xing price ranges from $2.XX up to $10. So $10 is their overlapping price.
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I researched this a while ago as I was unable to find Shao Xing wine in my local Asian market. If I’m remembering correctly (and I may not be), many of my Asian cookbooks discourage the use of “Chinese cooking wine” due to the addition of salt, which, the cookbooks claim (and someone mentioned it up thread), which came about because the markets wanted to be able to sell it without a liquor license. Also, to be labled as “Shao Xing”, it has to come from a certain town in China. It said that that’s why you see rice wine with names such as “Shao Shing”. So, the “real” thing can only be found in a market that has a liquor license. I finally found it at Ranch 99 in the liquor section of the market. I didn’t do a taste test, but I just trusted the word of the respective cookbook authors. As I mentioned that’s how I remember it. The brand that was recommended was “Blue Label Pagoda Brand (red label not as good)” Here is the photo I saved for when I go rice wine shopping:
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Price??
I don’t remember but probably under $10 a bottle.
I’m in the Boston area, and there is an Asian alcohol store, which carries a free select traditional Chinese wine types, along with a much bigger selection of the typical liquor and popular Asian favorites like sake and soju. Moutai had crept into some stores here, but free and far between. If you have a larger liquor store that carries a few Asian favorites, maybe that at least help order the real deal if you wanted to try it.
I went to 99 Ranch today. It has two sections (really three) for alcohol. The cooking purpose liquor section and the drinking liquor section, and there is a more expensive section.
Cooking:
Drinking:
It does seems like liquors in the cooking section have salt:
the drinking liquors do not have salt - unfortunately the resolution of this photo is not as good.
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I haven’t had a chance to go to Ranch 99 yet; where is this one?
Is one of these the blue label Pagoda brand mentioned above?
That’s quite a selection!
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This one is at San Diego. Yes, I suppose this blue one is the one mentioned by Steve (Bluesman). They are not hugely different in price. The blue one is $1 more than the others. The other three are the same price.
And the price is …?
I believe there were $6.99 for three of the four, and $7.99 for the solid blue label: supreme.
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This most be a huge 99 Ranch! We finally got one in my city during the pandemic and it took over a supermarket space, so it’s a normal supermarket size. We don’t have anywhere near that many options, and definitely no drinking alcohol. 
No. This is a normal size 99 Ranch. It may have to do with expected custom preference.
One more update. This is from another supermarket in LA. It has also a cooking alcohol selection and a drinking alcohol selection. I did not take a photo of the drinking selection because there was a promotion with people working there
Here is the cooking alcohol selection
Here the alcohol all have salt added
Finally, as you all have seen. Most Shao Xing alcohol has carmel added for coloring because it tries to give off that aged alcohol look. This one here does not carmel and this what a normal young Shao Xing liquor looks like:
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Everything is so neat and clean!
Why are you guys kept saying so clean? Are you expecting some horror shows? 
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In my experience, many Asian markets are not so clean.
In my experience mom and pop shops or even a very local market in a small or medium sized space isn’t going to be as neat or organized as the big supermarkets. 99 Ranch is a big enough chain, and other large Asian market chain like HMart or Uwajimaya that I’ve been to look like any other supermarket. Having budgets to hire a lot of workers helps a lot!
