Bean Curd Juice

A relatively new ingredient, this bottled “juice” is a boon to Chinese cooking. It is a mixture of fermented red wet bean curd liquid, rice wine, red rice, salt, and sugar—ingredients traditionally used separately to flavor and color foods—and is from the same fertile part of east-central China below Shanghai that produces Shaoxing wines (see “Serving Wines”). Once opened, it should be refrigerated, where it will keep indefinitely.