Apparently not so for Sunny Anderson, who created the aforementioned lettuce wrap recipe above.\u00a0 It was at once heavy (from the beef) and way too spicy; the sheer amount of heat from the garlic and red pepper flakes overpowered the sweetness of the hoisin, which should have been providing a foil against the saltiness of the soy and peanuts.\u00a0 Inedible?\u00a0 No, it was decent (I polished off leftovers for lunch), but I am an Asian food snob of the highest degree and this meal was definitely not a star (I’ve adapted Sunny’s recipe to be better; check it out here<\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n After dinner, I found myself asking the little voices in my head, “Do Americans really not know how to do light, tasty Asian?”<\/p>\n They don’t, really.\u00a0 So let me teach you.<\/p>\n Behold the Japanese Holy Trinity of Flavor:\u00a0 soy sauce, mirin, and sake.\u00a0 With these three tools, you can make anything taste deliciously light and Asian with minimal effort.\u00a0 Let’s take a moment and think about each in turn.<\/p>\n Soy Sauce. <\/strong>It’s the hooker of Asian cuisine; it’s cheap, gets you off in a hurry, and you can find it anywhere.\u00a0 Total bang for your buck.\u00a0 The pungency comes from the fermented soy beans used to make it, and the high levels of salt added to it during its creation make it a great base flavor to any dish, Asian or not.\u00a0 This is where that new-fangled Japanese loanword “umami” comes in.<\/p>\n Lots of people get ‘low-sodium soy sauce,’ and these people need to be punched in the face.\u00a0 Soy sauce is meant to be salty; it is <\/em>salt for all intents and purposes.\u00a0 If you’re using it in cooking, don’t add salt.\u00a0 If you’re using it on the side, don’t drink the bottle.\u00a0 If you’re worried about your sodium intake, stop eating so many goddamned processed foods.<\/p>\n A final note on soy:\u00a0 buy Japanese, such as Kikkoman.\u00a0 Chinese soy sauce is cheaper, but so is the flavor.<\/p>\n Mirin<\/strong>.\u00a0 Ah, lovely, lovely mirin.\u00a0 Mirin is a rice wine that has been sweetened with sugar (a great, great deal of sugar), which produces a velvety, almost syrupy consistency.\u00a0 When you combine mirin and soy sauce with some sugar, you get teriyaki sauce (yes, it’s that easy).<\/p>\n Mirin comes in several forms nowadays; the two I use are “real” (hon) mirin, which is alcoholic, or “mirin-fu chomiryo” (\u307f\u308a\u3093\u98a8\u8abf\u5473\u6599), which is actually pictured above.\u00a0 The latter means “mirin-styled seasoning,” and this is because it tastes like mirin, but doesn’t have any alcohol.\u00a0 Both are acceptable to use, and since I often add sake to my dishes anyway, I don’t miss the alcohol when using the fake stuff.<\/p>\n Sake<\/strong>.\u00a0 You should all be pretty familiar with sake; it’s Japanese rice wine.\u00a0 I buy cooking rice wine, though you could always substitute nicer sake if you have it to hand.\u00a0 This gives any dish some earthy, astringent notes that beautifully mellows out the sweetness of mirin and the saltiness of soy.\u00a0 It brings balance to the trinity.\u00a0 (I sound like I’m doing a tarot card reading.)\u00a0 I like to finish off stir-fries and sautes with sake, adding it at the end and letting it cook out for thirty seconds to a minute.<\/p>\n —-<\/p>\n So now you know the basics.\u00a0 But what do you do with them?\u00a0 Try these:<\/p>\n Teriyaki Sauce<\/strong><\/p>\n 3 tbsp soy sauce Whisk together.\u00a0 You’ve got teriyaki sauce.\u00a0 Cook anything you want in a pan — meatballs, burgers, chicken breast, fish, tofu, etc.\u00a0 When cooked, remove said meat, pour in the sauce and reduce over high heat until it’s thickened nicely.\u00a0 Return meat to the pan, until the goods are thoroughly coated and glossy (do not burn the glaze).\u00a0 Voila.<\/p>\n Basic Soy Broth<\/strong><\/p>\n 2 cups dashi (Japanese fish or seaweed stock; I use instant) Combine ingredients and heat it up.\u00a0 Can be used to simmer chicken meatballs or poach fish, or as a broth base for ramen.<\/p>\n Japanese Omelet<\/strong><\/p>\n 2 eggs Whisk together and make cook the eggs into an omelet however you fancy.\u00a0 You’ll have a lightly sweetened, delicious Japanese egg dish.<\/p>\n —-<\/p>\n So there are three super-quick recipes that create authentic Japanese results.\u00a0 If you just feel like experimenting, play with one or a combination of the flavors at different ratios.\u00a0 I add soy sauce to pasta sauces and chilis, use mirin in salad dressings, and deglaze with cooking sake instead of white wine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m fairly certain that over the course of my illustrious career, I’ve written, read, and laughed at at least one hundred papers that began with “Demystifying the East” and ended with bullshit.\u00a0 Misery loves company, so here’s one on cookery. … Continue reading ![\"Soy](\"http:\/\/www.pechism.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/holytrinity-300x225.jpg\" "\\"holytrinity\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n
\n3 tbsp mirin
\n3 tbsp sake
\n3 tbsp sugar<\/p>\n
\n2 tbsp soy sauce
\n1 tbsp mirin
\n1 tbsp sake<\/p>\n
\n1 tsp soy sauce
\n1 tsp mirin<\/p>\n