Seeking sake brand for preparing Chinese stir fry sauce, etc. Normally would buy whatever’s at Trader Joe’s but they recently stopped carrying sake. We rarely drink. We do venture near San Jose markets including Ranch 99, Mitsuwa, H Mart, etc where the variety is even more bewildering!
A recommendation for mirin would also be helpful. I was planning to use sherry from–you guessed it–Trader Joe’s.
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I’ve found these ingredient guides pretty helpful - they have pictures which is sometimes easier at the store:
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We use Kikkoman mirin because it is easy to find. It seems to add good flavor in stir fried dishes.
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I am not a Chinese guy so don’t keep Sake or Mirin in my pantry, but I can usually come pretty close to both with soy sauce, sherry, rice wine vinegar, sugar, vermouth, fresh fruit.
So while I can’t recommend a brand for saki or mirin, you can make some pretty flavorful subs with what you may already have if you just taste as you go.
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I’m not sure I’ve ever come across a Chinese recipe that calls for sake or mirin - both are Japanese. Can you share what it is you’re looking to make?
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I always have mirin in my pantry. I buy whatever I can find. At the moment I have an almost empty bottle of Kikkoman and Mizkan, which I have not tried yet.
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A regular old Gordon MacGyver.
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Mirin or sake is often suggested as a sub for Shaoxing wine. Of course, eliminating sugar from your ingredients if using Mirin, But in the larger scheme of things…
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My favorite use of mirin is my “cheating ramen.” Vegetable broth. Simmer shiitakes, carrot strips, green onions, and ginger. Add mirin and soy. When mushrooms and carrots are soft, add thinly sliced sirloin, ramen noodles, a halved 7 minute egg, and topping of more green onions and some sunflower sprouts. The mirin really comes through.
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I use dry sherry in place of sake in recipes, although I can’t recall making too many recipes that call for sake, truth be told. It’s also my go-to sub for Shaoxing cooking wine.
Mirin is another story - its flavor is a bit more difficult to duplicate IMO. Off-dry or even dessert sherry are decent subs, as are sweet marsala or tawny port. It keeps for a long time, though, so I usually keep a small bottle around. Right now I have Sushi Chef brand and it’s fine, but nothing special. https://www.sushichef.com/sushi-chef-mirin
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Thanks all for helpful suggestions!
For Sake, I use Gekkikan. It’s inexpensive and readily available everywhere here in Hawaii. Sake keeps well, so we always have a bottle of it open somewhere.
For Mirin, I have used both the inexpensive Kikkoman which is readily available in a good asian section of a supermarket or the more expensive Mitoku mirin. I dont notice a big difference, so saving your money and using the Kikkoman is ok.
If you’re cooking chinese recipes, you perhaps should look at Shaoxing wine. Other substitutes add a flavor, (in my opinion only…) Shaoxing is what the recipe calls for, and is best with it. That said there are some really nasty pre salted Shaoxing cooking wines you can buy at chinese grocery stores. It’s as nasty as “cooking wine” that you buy at the grocery store. Salty, nasty stuff. Andrea Nguyen wrote a nice article about Shaoxing wine, and I agree with her recommendation of using Pagoda brand. https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2010/02/shaoxing-rice-wine-where-and-how-to-buy-it.html There are some aged Shaoxing wines out there, (it’s a fortified wine, so it doesnt go bad like regular wine once opened) that are really tasty. If you can find a bottle of it, it keeps for a long time.
I hope all this helps.
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Question. You mentioned about sake and also mentioned about Chinese cooking. Are you using the term sake as a general term for rice wine? Or do you specifically mean Japanese style rice wine: sake?
If you mean Japanese sake, then I recommend using Sho Chiku Bai or Gekkeikan Sake. High quality sake is unnecessary for cooking.
Same for Mirin.
Those are great. Thanks 
There’s a pretty big sake section at my local grocery store but I walk past because I know literally zero about the subject.
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Yeah. Some higher end and expensive sake and some cheap large bottle sake…etc.
I am a novice at sake, but I hope this diagram help others.
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I’ve always been happy with Sun Luck brand mirin. One time we had some Kikkoman mirin (a daughter bringing home her college apt. stuff) and I’m not positive this memory is correct but I think it tasted sweeter - too sweet, like a lot of added sugars.
Haven’t bought sake for cooking.
Edit - I did some googling and apparently Kikkoman have two products, one Mirin and the other labeled “Aji-Mirin” which according to computer translations means “it’s like mirin”. I’m guessing that what my daughter brought back was the tastes-like product rather than their real mirin product. The Aji-Mirin ingredients are “Glucose Syrup, Water, Alcohol, Rice, Corn Syrup, Salt”.
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In his wok-oriented videos, Kenji Lopez Alt often uses sake and mirin in stir fry. Hence my initial post, where I now regret saying “Chinese stir fry”. Thanks for educating me about Shaoxing wine!
I wish I can take credit for that. I think it was others who suggested it. In all honesty, Chinese people tend to use simple rice wine or Shaoxing win. Japanese sake is an excellent substitution for regular Chinese rice wine.
Shaoxing wine does have more unique taste. A better substitution is dry sherry, I think. If Kenji was talking about sake, then his recipe is probably more based on simple Chinese rice wine. Get whatever you can get hold of. Have fun.
I think people start out using what’s already available to them (hence the suggestions to use dry sherry or vermouth if you already stock those), and then add things as their cuisine-specific ingredient pantry grows.
They last a long time, and each does bring nuance to dish, but depending on whether you’re a frequent user or not, you can easily substitute something else.
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That’s a cooking sake guide - I think for drinking sake (assuming that’s what you’re describing at the grocery store) you definitely want a different guide!
I’m a novice sake drinker, so if you find a good guide, please share!
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