Gourmet of PPOT, help me with soy sauce please!

[javadog]

There are so many kinds of soy sauces, it's hard to pick just one. They vary from country to country and you have regular, light, sweet, thick, black, mushroom, etc. I'd suggest buying small bottles at first and just tasting it. Sooner or later, you'll land on something you like. It's always a good idea to check the label for the sodium content. I prefer the less salty ones, as you can impart more flavor with them before the dish gets too salty. The same goes for Thai and Vietnamese fish sauce.

I'd recommend having both of these around for general cooking:





JR

[herr_oberst]

[javadog]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

Anyone else use Liquid Aminos instead of soy sauce?

I've never tried it but I've heard good things about it. It's quite a bit less salty than either soy sauce or Maggi seasoning.

FWIW, there are several version of Maggi and you want the one made in China if you are cooking Asian food. The others made in Mexico and various European countries are quite different. In fact, there's at least a half dozen different flavors of the stuff, which have different uses. Note that Maggi is not a soy sauce, but a wheat-based sauce.

There are two reasons to use these sauces. They contribute salt to a dish and also something called "umami". I'll let you Google that one on your own. Suffice it to say, that's one reason that I have more than one on hand, with varying sodium levels. Soy sauces are something of a personal taste but they also have different uses, so one sauce doesn't do it all.

JR

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Steve Viegas

Have you tried Soy Vey?

Soy Vay.

I love that stuff.

We use it on just about everything.

Great for grilling pork.

[gtc]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

My mom inherited a pallet of that crap from my grandfather, who used to sell it. She always substituted it for soy sauce when I was growing up. The taste is awful - like comparing chocolate to carob.
I hate it with a passion (in case it wasn't obvious from my previous sentences).

Low sodium soy, of just about any brand, is my personal preference.

[Rufblackbird]

Originally Posted by vash

mom used to use this once in a while, but mostly kikoman growing up.

now it's aloha shoyu all the time!

[rusnak]

I know you guys know this already (my apologies), but I thought it might be good to clarify some things

Soy sauce (Japanese term is "Shoyu") is based on fermented soy bean
Fish sauce (Maggi) adds fermented fish stock for flavor, and can be based on other than soy
Teriyaki sauce based on soy sauce, adds ginger, sugar, and vegetable stock

There are of course many other sauces such as oyster sauce (very popular), hoisin sauce, plum sauce, and black bean sauce that can easily be confused with soy sauce based on appearance, to the uninformed.

oh, and since I love to pass along firsthand cooking tips: To make the "hot and spicy" sauce that you get at Japanese teppan-yaki restaurants, combine bottled teriyaki sauce, and some miso paste, or "miso dressing" (use "Red Shell"), and some red chili paste, a little bit of Shoyu, and bam. You got Hot and Spicy sauce.

[vash]

liquid amino? not so sure about that.

i like cooks to make food. chemist? not so much. simply put. SS is subjective. look at the ingredients..should just be soy beans, salt..wheat. nothing else.

this guy adds yeast? looks interesting. i'd love to try it. the stuff from bourbon county.

Bluegrass Soy Sauce, 32 fl. oz. | Bourbon Barrel Foods

[Joeaksa]

Try the thick soy sauce. I had it first while in Africa, then Asia and love it...