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Food in the time of a pandemic

haresfur

By haresfur
in Food Traditions & Culture

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Duvel

Duvel

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, weinoo said:

Real Mirin.


Well ... this is shio-mirin (“salted” mirin, next to no alcohol content, but added salt). It is definitely better that the aji-mirin varieties, but not a preferred choice for many dishes. If you’ll ever get your hands on hon-mirin (“real” mirin) you’ll never go back ...

ElsieD

ElsieD

Posted
Posted

Can someone please tell me when a recipe calls for mirin, and mirin is all it says, is it calling for the sweetened stuff or the unsweetened?  

Duvel

Duvel

Posted
Posted (edited)
5 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Can someone please tell me when a recipe calls for mirin, and mirin is all it says, is it calling for the sweetened stuff or the unsweetened?  


Actually, all mirin is sweet. It is similar to a sweet sake, where part of the starches have been converted into sugars. This can happen naturally (and the sugars undergo subsequent alcoholic fermentation) to produce hon-mirin.

You can cut the process short, add alcohol and sugars (HFCS if you are unlucky), and get aji-mirin or mirin-fu, which tastes very “one-dimensional”, yet has the sweetness of regular mirin.

So you can use any mirin type in cooking in light of the sweetness, adjusting a bit for your taste, of course...

Edited by Duvel (log)
  • Like 1
JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

Genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!

 

My parents had all his albums. I've been pretty indecisive about what to have for xmas day dessert along with our pizzas....zabaglione? Pink peppermint ice cream with hot chocolate sauce?  But  now at least I know what to do for New Year's Eve: I will get some thulium and thallium and go out with a bang. Here's to the end of 2020!

 

I have all but the 10 inch.

 

  • Like 1

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

ElsieD

ElsieD

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Duvel said:


Actually, all mirin is sweet. It is similar to a sweet sake, where part of the starches have been converted into sugars. This can happen naturally (and the sugars undergo subsequent alcoholic fermentation) to produce hon-mirin.

You can cut the process short, add alcohol and sugars (HFCS if you are unlucky), and get aji-mirin or mirin-fu, which tastes very “one-dimensional”, yet has the sweetness of regular mirin.

So you can use any mirin type in cooking in light of the sweetness, adjusting a bit for your taste, of course...

 

So I have these two bottles.  One is sweet, the other is not.  What is the one on the right, then?  I thought it was unsweetened mirin.

Duvel

Duvel

Posted
Posted
23 minutes ago, weinoo said:

We should all know Kimball is a liar...

 

 

 


I have no idea who Kimball is.

Duvel

Duvel

Posted
Posted (edited)
7 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

So I have these two bottles.  One is sweet, the other is not.  What is the one on the right, then?  I thought it was unsweetened mirin.


Mirin should always be sweet (either by natural fermentation or added sugars). Do you have a picture ?

Edited by Duvel (log)
ElsieD

ElsieD

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, Duvel said:


Mirin should always be sweet (either by natural fermentation or added sugars). Do you have a picture ?

Oops.  I took a picture and forgot to post it.  Here it is:

20201223_140202.jpg

  • Thanks 1
liamsaunt

liamsaunt

Posted
Posted

No CSA or fish deliveries for the next couple of weeks because of the holiday, so we placed an Eataly order to get in some festive stuff for the season.  That's a fresh truffle in the clamshell in front.  I gave my husband a truffle shaver in his stocking last Christmas and he finally gets to use it.  The fruits and vegetables are just a random assortment selected by Eataly.  They gave us two pomegranates and I just had a jar of arils delivered from Wegmans this morning.  Lots of festive salads in our future I guess.  

 

eataly.thumb.jpg.9c4a39211937b992d775baf67456f135.jpg

  • Like 9
Duvel

Duvel

Posted
Posted

The bottle on the left is aji-mirin (as you know) and should be quite sweet. This is what you want to use if your recipe asks for mirin.

The bottle on the right is ryorishu or cooking sake. It should not be sweet at all and you can use it if a recipe calls for sake.

 

 

  • Like 1
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Duvel

Duvel

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

 

Where the info about Ohsawa came from:

 

image.png.fa6e93ce82f4c5b2a2bf8ae4fc02801b.png

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Kimball


Thanks - I do not know him. It could be that Japanese cuisine is not one of his areas of full expertise. He certainly might be right that his favored product could have a deeper & more complex flavor than (at least the available) Kikkoman choices in the US.

 

And that being said: shio-mirin is a product of its own right (though often used to circumvent the import tax for alcoholic beverages), and the one you‘ve chosen seemingly comes from a reputable producer - so please enjoy !

  • Like 2
Katie Meadow

Katie Meadow

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, weinoo said:

We should all know Kimball is a liar...

 

 

 

And a cheat and an all around pompous selfish human. No one protects his recipes like he does, not that I want them.

  • Like 4
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weinoo

weinoo

Posted
Posted

Here are Japanese hon mirin brands from Just One Cookbook she says are popular and good:

 

Popular Hon Mirin in Japan

  • Like 1

Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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Duvel

Duvel

Posted
Posted (edited)

I usually buy Hinode. It is one of the more economic brands and I used to buy it when I was living in Japan, so I kept the habit. I have another (more fancy) one down in my cellar which came in a care package from a dear Japanese friend, but I haven’t gotten to try it yet.

Edited by Duvel (log)
  • Like 1
gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted
On 12/20/2020 at 4:29 AM, HardyH said:

I've started to cook every day on my own. Recently I used delivery services a lot, but now I have much more time at home

Amazing how much money you'll save and have fun too

 

gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted
On 12/22/2020 at 1:28 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Indeed I did really come home to a shrink wrapped case of 20 pounds of peanut butter, thanks to amazon and UPS.

 

You have a lot of mouse traps to bait?

  • Haha 2
KennethT

KennethT

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

Yeah, I checked online both here and Katagiri. Nada so far.

I know it's a hike, but what about Mitsuwa?  I think the closest one is in Edgewater, NJ.  I haven't lately, but years ago, I bought stuff from them online and they shipped - I was experimenting with obulato at the time after having stuff based on it at El Bulli and couldn't find it anywhere... except Mitsuwa in Chicago, who shipped it.  Now, I see it in Kalustyans!

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