Shaoxing Cooking Wine - the Best Chinese Cooking Wine
Shaoxing cooking wine is made on the basis of Shaoxing yellow wine and various spices. Since Shaoxing yellow wine is the best yellow wine in China, Shao hsing cooking wine is also the best Chinese cooking wine among many brands and varieties. It is often used to cook meat, fish and sea food to remove greasiness and fishy smell. Famous Shaoxing cooking wine brands include Kuaijishan Mountain, Pagoda, and Guyuelongshan.
Shaoxing cooking wine is used to make dishes more delicious.
1. Remove greasiness and fishy smell
There is a trimethylamine in seafood, which is the origin of fishy smell. The meat contains a fat granule, which has a greasy taste. When the Shaoxing cooking wine is added, the fat droplets and fishy substance are dissolved in alcohol so that they can be taken away along with the alcohol volatilization, thus the greasiness and fishy smell can be removed.
2. Induce the aroma of the food
Shaoxing yellow wine is fragrant and mellow but not pungent. Different from the aroma of distilled liquor, it is very harmonious with the aroma of the food. Shaoxing cooking wine not only flavors the dishes, but also induce the aroma of the food, making the dishes full of fragrance.
3. Add flavor to the food
Researchers found that this special function of Shaoxing Chinese cooking wine has a close relationship with the special nutrients from Shaoxing yellow wine. Shaoxing yellow wine is mild liquor, alcoholic and nutritious. According to the measurement, currently known ingredients in Shaoxing yellow wine include ethanol, amino acids, vitamins, trace elements and more than 10 major categories of more than 100 substances, among which the amino acid content is as high as 5,000ppm or more. The amino acid is a fragrant substance that adds flavor to the dish.
4. Make taste tender
When cooking meat, poultry, eggs and other dishes, the Chinese Shaoxing cooking wine can penetrate into the food tissue, and dissolve organic substances in a small amount, so that the meat will be tender.
5. Make the dishes fresh
Shaoxing cooking wine is not only rich in fragrant substances, but also contains polysaccharides such as disaccharide and amino acid. It forms sodium salt with edible salt, which makes dishes fresh.
Shaoxing Yellow Wine can be directly used as cooking wine.
If the cooking wine is used up, Chinese housewives also use yellow wine to cook foods. Among various Shaoxing yellow wines, the Huadiao is the most frequently used by Chinese people for its rich taste and strong effect of removing and masking the fishy flavor and enhancing the aroma of food. There are many famous Chinese dishes using Huadiao wine as seasoning, like Huadiao Drunken Shrimp (huā diāo zuì xiā), Steamed Crabs with Huadiao (huā diāo zhēng xiè), Huadiao Chicken (huā diāo jī), Chicken Feet with Huadiao (huā diāo fèng zhuǎ) and Braised Streaky Pork with Huadiao (huā diāo zhū shǒu).
However, these are just special cases. Most of the time, the dishes made with Shaoxing cooking wine taste better than those made with Shaoxing yellow wine.
Read more:
Shaoxing Wine vs Mirin: Which is better for cooking?