Shaoxing wine: version with no salt?

[rotuts]

the only Shaoxing wine Ive see is sold in chinese grocery stores and for that reason has a lot of salt in it. Is there a version sold in liquor store without the salt?

Why add extra salt if you dont have to?

[kaszeta]

The reason for the salt is regulatory, there's an exemption for cooking wine that allows it to be sold in grocery stores if it has salt in it.

The good stuff is in the liquor stores. Since you're in Boston, they carry several decent brands of drinking-quality unsalted shaoxing at Truong Thanh (I have to buy my Shaoxing in MA, since the NH Liquor people don't seem to approve any shaoxing for retail sale). Pagoda is the one I prefer for cooking.

As an aside, it can be hard to find some of the stuff at Truong Thanh, but when confused I've just shown them a picture of what I was looking for.

[weinoo]

Yes - it's the only type of Shaoxing wine I buy - all the liquor stores in Chinatown have multiple varieties.

[rotuts]

thanks Ill pop into Truong next time Im in Chinatown and get a bottle of Pagoda. Is it pricy?

[weinoo]

No. I don't believe I've ever spent close to $10.

[kaszeta]

I think my last bottle of Pagoda was $8

[liuzhou]

As with anything else, you get what you pay for.

Here in China, where they certainly don't salt the stuff, prices vary widely depending on quality. Lower end cooking quality is very cheap (around $1 US for 500 ml), but prices rise dramatically at the intended-for-drinking end.

I usually buy something around $4. I never drink the stuff.

I'm guessing, but I don't know, that stuff imported to the US to be sold in licenced liquor places will display similar price differences.

[KennethT]

On 5/31/2012 at 1:14 PM, weinoo said:

No. I don't believe I've ever spent close to $10.

I know this is really old, but can you give me the name of the places you get your unsalted shaoxing?  I'm almost at the end of my bottle, and I'm so sick of using the salted stuff - it makes it so much more difficult to season properly!

[Rickbern]

When I go into the liquor store in Chinatown in NYC the guy tells me the stuff that’s only for cooking (but no salt) is around 6.50, the cheapest stuff to drink is maybe 8.50 or so. I’m an 8.50 kind of guy, I don’t drink the stuff either

 

53 Mott street. They’re really friendly, they’ll steer you right
 

Mark's Wine & Spirits Inc.
(212) 962-1993
https://maps.app.goo.gl/tzMRjdNtoGhi7z9HA?g_st=ic

[rotuts]

the ' best ' bottle they had  , which I still have 

 

from Chinatown BOS , a liquor store 

 

purchased some time ago was $ 7.89   

 

maybe nobody drinks it ?

[weinoo]

5 hours ago, KennethT said:

I know this is really old, but can you give me the name of the places you get your unsalted shaoxing?  I'm almost at the end of my bottle, and I'm so sick of using the salted stuff - it makes it so much more difficult to season properly!

 

1 hour ago, Rickbern said:

When I go into the liquor store in Chinatown in NYC the guy tells me the stuff that’s only for cooking (but no salt) is around 6.50, the cheapest stuff to drink is maybe 8.50 or so. I’m an 8.50 kind of guy, I don’t drink the stuff either

 

53 Mott street. They’re really friendly, they’ll steer you right
 

Mark's Wine & Spirits Inc.
(212) 962-1993
https://maps.app.goo.gl/tzMRjdNtoGhi7z9HA?g_st=ic

 

Sounds about the same as the liquor store I go to at 273 Grand.  Has anywhere from a dozen to 20 different bottles of Shaoxing drinking wines.

[Rickbern]

Even if I don’t drink it, I do use it interchangeably with sherry for Spanish recipes if I just need a dash. Seriously hope this confession won’t get me banned from egullet. 

[rotuts]

@Rickbern 

 

I just can say.your confession 

 

is admirable.

 

Ill just

 

suggest this :

 

for some time , very early on 

 

N.American books , 

 

the real deal books , then and now

 

suggested Sherry as a sub for Shaoxing.

 

new to me

 

if no Sherry , try Shaoxing 

 

Im out of Sherry

 

an still have that

 

Shaoxing 1

 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2023 by rotuts (log)

[liuzhou]

10 hours ago, rotuts said:

maybe nobody drinks it ?

 

Wrong.

Millions of people do, but mainly the good stuff. Like this 20-year old.

 

 

[weinoo]

12 hours ago, rotuts said:

for some time , very early on 

 

N.American books , 

 

the real deal books , then and now

 

suggested Sherry as a sub for Shaoxing.

 

I remember it often (from my older NA books) being referred to as "pale, dry sherry."