Best substitutes for Mirin – For those of you who have been in the cooking world for a long time, mirin is not something strange. Mirin is a typical Japanese rice wine, the taste is sweet and unique. Usually to be more unique, mirin is mixed with soy sauce so that it tastes sweet and salty. We will see what products can be the best substitute for mirin. If at some point you cook and don’t find mirin, you can continue cooking using one of the best mirin substitutes.
Mixing mirin with soy sauce is also one of the Asian recipes for stir-fry. For example, teriyaki sauce, and is also suitable for seasoning and flavoring other dishes. Mirin is similar to sake in that it is made from rice, but mirin is less alcoholic and higher in sugar. In the process of making it by traditional fermentation, there is no added sugar at all to this.
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About Mirin
There are three variants of Japanese mirin: Among them is hon mirin, the alcohol content is about 14%, Shio mirin with alcohol is around 1.5% and another one is shin mirin, the alcohol content is only 1%. Shin mirin is one of the best substitutes for mirin because it has the closest and closest taste to it.
Shin mirin is cheaper because it is produced on a large scale and is very easy to find outside of Japan. The traditional way of making mirin is by combining steamed glutinous rice, culture rice, and distilled rice liquor. This mixture is allowed to ferment for about a few months to several years.
This mirin, the longer it is stored, the darker the color will be and the stronger the taste will be. Mirin production like this will give a complex taste, umami and maknyos.
Mirin is usually paired with soy sauce. This will give great flavor to grilled dishes and so on. This alcohol content will be very good if in baked goods. Mirin can be used in a variety of recipes, and it will give it a distinctly Japanese taste. Among the dishes that are given mirin as a flavoring are ramen, fish, pork, and seafood, mushrooms and tofu. The use of mirin in fish will reduce the amen taste as well.
Best Mirin Substitutes
At certain times it is inevitable that you run out of mirin, and it is not possible to buy it due to distance and other reasons. So, with a little knowledge about this mirin, you can replace the absence of mirin with other products because it provides a similar taste and benefits. Instead of going to the store to buy mirin and wasting a lot of time, it’s better to try one of these best mirin substitutes that match your cooking.
1. Aji-Mirin
This can be said to be not the original mirin, but there are similarities with mirin and can be used as a substitute for mirin when you run out of mirin. Aji-mirin customs are found outside of Japan. Mirin is original and traditional, its availability is very rare and the price is also very expensive.
Aji mirin contains lower alcohol, or sometimes alcohol free, or contains higher sugar, it is very different from hon-mirin.
Aji-mirin isn’t the real mirin you’d find in Japanese cuisine, but it has almost the same taste as the real thing. You can use this as a substitute for mirin to improve the taste of dishes.
Kikkoman Manjo Aji Mirin
Kikkoman Manjo Aji Mirin is one of the aji-mirin brands that you can use as a substitute. The taste is mild, and it’s still a good Japanese rice wine for your cooking. The recommended use of aji mirin is in teriyaki, stir fry, sukiyaki, and tempura dishes. But there are also those who say that aji-mirin with the Kikkoman Manjo brand Aji Mirin is also added to boiled white rice, and steak. There are also those who add it in desserts to add a nice taste.
2. Sake
Sake is one of the best substitutes for mirin, the taste is very similar to real mirin. However, it is not sweet enough, to balance the sweet taste of sake to be similar to mirin, it is necessary to add white sugar to increase the level of sweetness.
Mirin contains less alcohol than sake, so adding white sugar can also lower the alcohol level in sake.
For use in cooking, if your recipe calls for a spoonful of mirin, then add a teaspoon of sake and two tablespoons of white sugar. The use of sake in fish seasoning can eliminate fish and meat odors. The use of sake is usually before starting to cook, this is so that it can lower the alcohol content as well. Sake is an excellent ingredient for tenderizing meat, and can add flavor to dishes.
Kikkoman Ryorishi Cooking Sake Seasoning.
This is one of the sake products, it contains 13% alcohol. Kikkoman Ryorishi is more of a spice, and is much like wine. So, you should not drink this product. But for Japanese cuisine, adding sake or Kikkoman Ryorishi in cooking is something very good.
3. Shao Xing Cooking Wine (Chinese Rice Wine)
Shao Xing Cooking Wine is equivalent to a sack, Chinese rice wine, this type of mirin substitute requires more sugar.
Shao Xing Cooking Wine is a rice wine specially made for cooking or the needs of various recipes. It tastes like a salty and hard alcohol, and is not made for drinking but for cooking. It is used in most Chinese dishes, usually in stir-fry sauces, stir-fry broths, marinades, and dumplings.
4. Rice Vinegar
Another product that can replace mirin is rice vinegar. It is also famous for its rice wine vinegar, and it is non-alcoholic.
Rice wine is made by fermentation, in this case the alcohol then turns into acetic acid. Rice vinegar is very suitable as a product that can replace mirin in various dishes that require mirin.
The taste is light and slightly slightly sweet. As vinegar, it tastes sour, so it is necessary to add a teaspoon of sugar in every one spoon of rice vinegar to counteract the taste and make it more like mirin.
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5. Balsamic Vinegar
It is one of the best mirin substitutes. Balsamic is an Italian vinegar made from boiled white wine including the skin, stem and seeds. Furthermore, it is cooked in wooden barrels for 12 years so that it can be called balsamic vinegar.
The best quality balsamic vinegar is vinegar that is 18 or 100 years old. The longer it is stored, the better and better the quality and the more expensive the price.
Balsamic vinegar as a substitute for mirin has a viscous nature, due to the evaporation of water during the ripening process. The taste is strong and dark in color, with a rich and slightly sweet taste.
Balsamic vinegar is used in salads, marinades, dipping sauces, and in soup broths. In addition, balsamic vinegar is also used as the best substitute for mirin in various Japanese dishes.
The nature of balsamic vinegar is not too sweet, requiring you to add a little sugar to get a taste similar to mirin.
6. Dry Sherry
Dry sherry wine is a product made to add flavor to dishes, it can be used as a substitute for mirin in various Japanese recipes. Dry sherry is made from wine and brandy. It tastes like mirin, stiff, sour, and less sweet.
So, cooks recommend adding sugar to the sherry to get a taste that’s more like mirin. But this all depends on the preferences of each.
For every spoonful of dry sherry, we must add half a spoonful of sugar.
7. Vermouth
Vermouth, is a type of wine that has been enriched with brandy. It’s the same as dry sherry and both are also the best substitutes for mirin.
Vermouth is a product that is sweetened and added with herbs and spices, this will add a delicate flavor to the food. There are two types of Vermount: Red, sweet, and white and dry. All good for cooking.
To replace mirin with vermount, add sugar to your recipe. This is to add sweetness to the vermouth.
The general recommendation is: For every 1/2 cup of vermouth, add 2 tablespoons of sugar. That’s the general rule, but it’s all up to your individual taste. The use of vermouth as a substitute for mirin is suitable for dishes such as dressings, glazing, and dipping sauces.
8. Marsala Wine
Marsala Wine is the perfect type of wine as a caramel rich, spicy and rich sauce. Marsala Wine is actually of two types, sweet marsala is the best substitute for mirin in your cooking.
When you use Marsala Wine as a substitute for mirin, here you don’t need to add sugar like the other substitutes we mentioned above. This is because it tastes sweet just like real mirin.
Marsala can be a substitute for mirin in any of the foods that use mirin. In addition, marsala is also great for adding to stir-fried vegetables, marinating meats, Marsala Wine is a versatile ingredient for a rich cooking taste.
9. White Wine
White wine is one of the kitchen ingredients that can be used as a flavoring dish that can replace mirin. The result is very similar to mirin, and you can experiment more with white wines either with sweet wines or with dry white wines.
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If you are using white wine, either sweet or dry, please add some sugar to increase the sweetness. For every one spoonful of white wine you have to add two spoons of sugar to stabilize the taste and make it similar to mirin. You can try one of the white wine brands such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris.
10. White Grape Juice
In addition to using white wine as a substitute for mirin, we can also use White Grape Juice. White Grape Juice has a sweet taste and it is alcohol free. This is a great taste to mimic the actual taste of mirin. For one cup of white grape juice, add a spoonful of lemon juice, and it will match the taste of mirin.
Indeed, white grape juice gives a taste that is almost the same as mirin, but still it cannot match the original mirin.
