Everything you need to know about Chinese cooking wine.
I have always enjoyed using alcohol in my cooking. It has a way of bringing out the loveliest aromas and flavors. Plus there is something so satisfying about pouring wine from a bottle.
Some cooking wines are also nice to drink. And there is nothing wrong with a little fun in the kitchen.
French and Japanese cuisines are well known for their generous use of wine. Japanese sake and mirin are a central part of Japanese cooking. But it is not just the Japanese and the French who have a rich tradition of cooking with wine.
Some of the most underrated cooking wines are Chinese. If you have never added Chinese cooking wines to your pantry, you have no idea what you are missing. After reading this you will be ordering some Chinese wine to enrich your cooking.
An Introduction to Chinese Cooking Wine
The Chinese use rice, wheat, barley, or a mixture of sticky rice and millet to make wine. They ferment the grain using yeasts and molds as starters.
Mijiu wine is light and clear. It looks and tastes close to Japanese sake. Xiang Xue jiu is a dark and sweet wine called fragrant snow wine.
Chinese cooking wine is usually the liaojiu which is amber colored and nicknamed yellow wine. If you are looking at liaojiu from Shaoxing city, it is probably good.
Shaoxing has carved huadiao wine, called carved flower. Huadiao tastes rich and a little nutty. It is good for braising or cooking stir-fries. You will not mind sipping it as you cook.
The best cooking wine is labeled huadiao and it tastes best when it is unsalted. The unsalted wine is hard to find because most of the Shaoxing wine is added salt and spice to avoid the extra import fees and taxes that drinkable wines attract.
Salted cooking wines won’t taste as good as unsalted ones.
Why Chinese Cooking Wine is good for you
It feels wrong to waste good wine on a stew or braise. If it is the salty type, you probably won’t feel so bad about cooking with it instead of sipping it.
But there are good reasons why you would want to cook with wine instead of drinking it. For one, all the good flavors of the wine will go into the food.
Think about the sweetness, the astringency, the sourness, the opulent and nuanced aroma, and the notes of umami. Think of all that goodness in your food. The alcohol gives your dish a slightly sharp flavor.
Besides all that yummy flavor, alcohol is a good solvent that brings out all the aromatic elements inside the food. Some of the aromatic compounds won’t dissolve in oil or water, but they will dissolve in alcohol.
Food expert and author Harold McGee opines that a little alcohol makes a dish smells better because it lets out some aromatic compounds in the food and makes the final meal smell a lot better.
Chinese cooking wine is also really good for making food less funky, gamy, or fishy. This makes it a favorite for lamb dishes, marinades, fermented foods, and overpowering fish.
How to Shop for Chinese Cooking Wine
The best places to find Chinese cooking wine are Chinese markets and groceries where East Asian communities and South East Asian communities shop for their food. You are more likely to find the unsalted varieties here.
Salted Chinese cooking wine is easy to find on the internet. If you can find unsalted Shaoxing wine branded huadiao, you are in luck.
Pick the ones packaged in a ceramic jug and not glass bottles.
What are the Best Substitutes for Chinese Cooking Wine?
Maybe you just can’t find any or you unintentionally drank it all. You can still work with alternatives. One of the drinks that can give you almost the same effect as Chinese cooking wine is dry sherry. You can also try white wine or Japanese sake which will still make your food better. This works best when the wine is not the main ingredient in the meal
If you don’t use alcohol at all, you want to try something like a stock that is rich in umami which will enhance all the flavors in your meal.
How to Use Chinese Cooking Wine
You only need to flip through a Chinese cookbook to see how ubiquitous cooking wine is in Chinese cuisine.
Consider splashing the wine into your wok when you are preparing a stir-fry. The wine will help to control the temperature. You can also use the wine to marinate the pork or fish and give it a better flavor. Add the Chinese cooking wine to soup stock to make it last longer.
If you find a nice bottler of Chinese cooking wine, you want to use it in any of the wine-rich Chinese dishes. Foods that require wine baths and that are served cold. Here are some of the best things you can use with the wine – hoping you don’t drink it all.
