What is vinegar mirin and how can it be replaced

Fans of Japanese cooking do not just like to eat its dishes, they often cook them themselves, trying to keep the composition and rules of cooking exactly, or, on the contrary, to bring their vision into the recipe. Fortunately, now any components of the same land is easy to buy. However, those who have just ventured to reproduce their favorite dish for the first time sometimes find themselves in difficulty because of confusion in the terminology or lack of any components. Most often, "begin to stumble" novice cooks, when they begin to look for vinegar mirin. On the shelf can stand sake with the same name or wine under the same name, and the amateur cook suffers doubts: is this the ingredient that he needs?

What it is

To be precise, saying "vinegar mirin" is absolutely wrong. And by designation, and by the way of production, Mirin is still the wine made most often from rice. Once upon a time it was a lightweight, "ladies" subspecies sake. Now, for more than two hundred years, as a drink it is not used and is a seasoning. Some of the alcohol in the wine is still contained, but the process of re-brewing does not go to a certain strength, but only to the desired level of sweetness. Externally vinegar mirin looks like a golden syrup and is one of the three main ingredients of Japanese cuisine. Along with it, dashi (broth from fish) and all known soy sauce are used.

Varieties of myrin

In Japan, three varieties of seasoning are manufactured and used. Khon Mirin is an old, traditional wine sauce. It is strong enough, in principle, can be used as an alcoholic beverage (although the Japanese and it does not come to mind). The next subspecies is Sio Mirin. This is a salty wine, practically free of alcohol. To taste significantly different from the first, because it does contain salt. The new subspecies is blue mirin. You can say that it is generally non-alcoholic, 1% is not a fortress. But the taste of it is identical to that of classic vinegar mirin.

Why is this seasoning necessary?

Without it, it is virtually impossible to cook anything that would have the taste peculiar to the kitchen of the Land of the Rising Sun. Sauce (vinegar) mirin is involved in almost all traditional Japanese dishes. Fish and meat are cooked with it, it is added to soups. Fruit purees also contain a few drops of cook wine. To give a shiny surface, desserts also use this sauce. Of course, the most famous trend in which rice sauce Mirin is used is for sushi and rolls. Few people know that some versions of tofu can not do without it. The famous teriyaki sauce is almost half composed of myrin: he and soy sauce are taken in equal quantities and supplemented with ginger and sugar.

What if there is no peace

With all the richness of Japanese ingredients on supermarket shelves, it is not always possible to find the necessary. And than to replace Mirin in this case? Most people believe that you can dilute the wine with vinegar, and the dish will not lose anything in taste. This is mistake! The people confuse the mirin (sweet wine) with mitsukan - rice sour vinegar. It's clear, the usual vinegar does not give the ready-made dish a sweetish note. More experienced culinary experts, fans of sushi, advise in the absence of mirin to take a dry white sherry. Given that the strength of the wine is much higher than that of the world, it should be taken in smaller quantities. If you do not like the taste of sherry too much (for example, it seems too sweet or tart), you can dilute it with a few drops of vinegar. But do it carefully, so as not to overdo it with sourness.

In general, do not be discouraged if there is not enough of a component. You can experiment and come up with your own substitute.