Rice Wine

Japanese rice wine, sake, is the best known of Asian rice wines and is often added to mixtures of dashi, mirin, soy sauce, and sometimes miso to flavor broth-like Japanese sauces. Unless the sake is being cooked, it’s a good idea to simmer it for a minute in a saucepan to burn off the alcohol. Sake imparts freshness to sauces and functions in much the same way as white wine, except that it doesn’t have the acidity of white wine.

Chinese Shaoxing wine is made with rice but using a different process from that used for making sake. Shaoxing wine is quite strong, with a deep amber color that makes it more like sherry than sake or white wine. Sherry can be used as a substitute in recipes calling for Chinese rice wine.