Not All Soy Sauces Are the Same
Hsiao-Ching Chou
Author's Note: For the month of November, I am participating in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month) and pledge to post once a day. I'm taking this opportunity to articulate some thoughts about my Chinese Soul Food cookbook, which I'm planning to self publish.
Soy sauce is an essential ingredient in Asian cooking. But not all soy sauces are the same. You have likely been to a shop where there's an olive oil tasting bar. Olive oils can be spicy and green or round and buttery or something between those ends of the spectrum. Soy sauces are just as diverse across all the Asian cuisines. There are some high-end Japanese soy sauces that are best for sushi, for example, and would not be suitable for stir-frying. In general, Chinese soy sauces are ideal for Chinese cooking. But there are many types of soy sauces: thick, dark, light, regular, etc. And each brand has its own signature flavor. If you've ever been to an Asian market, you have no doubt seen the wall of soy sauce choices.
What I would like to develop for the book are some general flavor profiles for a range of soy sauces that are likely available to most shoppers, and also for some that might require a little extra effort to track down. I am also going to test some recipes using the most common soy sauce brands (e.g. Kikkoman, Yamasa, La Choy) and store brands (e.g. Kroger, pictured above) in order to best advise home cooks on how to adjust the seasoning accordingly.
One quick tip on buying soy sauce: Be sure to read the label to ensure you're choosing a brewed soy sauce instead of one that's chemically produced and contains caramel coloring and other additives to simulate the flavor. I'm not sure why Kroger offers the Chinese-inspired soy sauce as the chemically produced version (see label below) and the Japanese-inspired soy sauce as the one that's brewed. If you've ever tasted real maple syrup next to one made of corn syrup and maple flavoring, you'll understand why it's important to choose a brewed soy sauce.
