Sake isn’t just a beverage to consume with a meal; it’s an essential ingredient in Japanese cooking and can be used to elevate all types of food by adding umami. Here’s everything you need to know about sake.
- What is Sake?
- Why Cook with Sake?
- Are Sake and Mirin the Same?
- Is There a Difference Between Sake for Cooking and Drinking Sake?
- What Kind of Sake Should I Use for Cooking?
- What Sake Should I Avoid?
- Will Flavored or Sparkling Sake Work?
- What Can I Use Instead of Sake?
- How Do I Use Sake in Cooking?
- Other FAQs
- More on Sake
- Comments
What is Sake?
In Japan, sake means “liquor,” but to the rest of the world, it’s become synonymous with an alcoholic beverage brewed from rice. It’s known as nihonshu (日本酒) in Japan, and it’s made through the parallel fermentation of rice using koji and yeast.
Koji breaks down the starch in rice into simple sugars, which yeast then ferments into alcohol. But its magic doesn’t stop there. Koji is packed with enzymes like proteases, which break proteins into amino acids(most notably glutamate). This not only gives sake its savory depth as a beverage, it’s also a powerful natural flavor booster in cooking. Used as a seasoning, it can amplify umami in everything from Chicken Teriyaki to Miso Butter Salmon , acting like a natural MSG while adding complexity and richness without overpowering the dish.
Why Cook with Sake?
- Umami - Due to the protein content of rice, rice wine naturally contains amino acids like glutamate, aspartate, and proline, which create the taste of umami in food and give Japanese recipes their distinctive flavor. Since grapes contain little protein, wine does not have the same flavor-enhancing effect. This makes white wine unsuitable for substitution.
- Flavor - Sake has a mild fruity flavor that compliments a wide variety of ingredients without overpowering them. This makes it a natural fit for delicate Japanese cuisine, but it can also be used as a seasoning to enhance the taste of Western dishes as well.
- Low acidity - Unlike wine, sake is not very acidic, so it won’t make foods you cook with it taste sour.
- No alcohol - Ethanol (the alcohol in sake) has a boiling temperature of 78.37°C. Since this is significantly lower than the boiling point of water (100°C), the alcohol content burns off in the cooking process.
Are Sake and Mirin the Same?
Two Japanese rice wines side by side, sake (left) and mirin (right).
Both sake and mirin are Japanese rice wines and play vital roles in Japanese cooking, but they are not directly interchangeable. Real mirin, like sake, is brewed from rice, which means it’s also rich in umami-producing amino acids. Good mirin tends to be dark amber and has a much sweeter taste than sake. The sweetness of mirin is a natural result of fermentation, and there should be no added sugar. Unfortunately, most of the rice wine sold as mirin outside of Japan has not gone through the brewing process and is just alcohol mixed with sweeteners and flavor enhancers. That’s why I recommend substituting an equal amount of sake with ½ the amount of sugar (i.e. 2 tablespoons of sake and 1 tablespoon of sugar) if you can’t find real mirin.
Is There a Difference Between Sake for Cooking and Drinking Sake?
The rabbit hole of sake is deep; there are whole books on the subject. When choosing the best sake for cooking, there’s just one important thing to remember: the polish ratio (a.k.a. mill ratio). When making premium sake, the protein-rich outer layers of rice are polished away to leave the starch-rich core, which gives a delicate flavor. This results in a more fragrant beverage; however, it comes at the expense of umami (which comes from the protein in the rice). Since the goal of using sake in cooking is to add umami to your food, you want to use sake made from rice that’s been polished as little as possible.
The polish ratio is expressed as a percentage of the remaining rice. So, for example, sake made from highly polished rice may have a ratio of 23%, which means it’s been milled down to 23% of its original weight. This type of sake will not only come with a higher price tag, but it’s also not great for cooking because expensive sake has a lower concentration of amino acids.
What Kind of Sake Should I Use for Cooking?
Good sake for cooking is one with a higher number for the polish ratio (a.k.a. “cheap sake”). Futsu-shu and Junmai-shu typically have a polish ratio above 70% (higher rice remaining), so these inexpensive bottles are good categories of sake for cooking. American-brewed Sho Chiku Bai and Japanese sake brand Hakutsuru make relatively affordable sake in these categories.
What Sake Should I Avoid?
One thing I implore you to avoid is using “cooking sake.” Like “cooking wine” these products have often had a large amount of sodium added to them to make them undrinkable. Using this salty sake in recipes that call for sake will most likely make the finished dish inedible.
Will Flavored or Sparkling Sake Work?
Recently, sake breweries have started producing carbonated “sparkling sake” and flavored sake. Both categories of beverages are often sweetened, which makes them unsuitable for cooking.
What Can I Use Instead of Sake?
Sake is added to Japanese recipes for three reasons: as a liquid, for flavor, and umami. Although there is no good substitute for sake in cooking, you can replace it with an equal amount of water and a pinch of MSG or a stock such as vegetable or chicken broth. Avoid rice wine vinegar, regular wine, or fruit juice as substitutes, as these are all too acidic and do not have the high amino acid content that creates the taste of umami.
How Do I Use Sake in Cooking?
Sake is a versatile ingredient that can be used as a liquid in almost any dish to add more umami and flavor. Try substituting it in place of wine, broth, or water in your favorite recipe. If you need some ideas, here are just a few of my recipes that use it:
Marinades - When used as a marinade, rice wine imparts umami to the food you soak in it, and it can also help neutralize gamey odors from meat or seafood. It’s a great addition to marinade recipes for Shogayaki and Karaage , but it can also be used to marinate things such as boiled eggs to make Ajitsuke Tamago (Ramen Egg).
Braising liquid - In the West, braising is usually done with stock or wine, but in Japan, rice wine or dashi are the preferred liquids. Nimono , Kakuni , Inari Sushi , and Umeboshi Chicken Wings are just a few of my recipes that feature sake as a braising liquid.
Soups and stews - While most Japanese soups are made with a base of dashi stock, sake is often added to boost umami in soups and stews. My Tonjiru and Chicken Udon feature meat-based stocks, but adding rice wine contributes glutamate, which creates synergistic umami with the meat’s nucleic acids. Mentsuyu is the base for many Japanese noodle soups, and a splash of sake makes the umami from the dashi pop.
Sauces - We can’t talk about sake’s role in food without discussing one of the most famous Japanese sauces. With just three basic ingredients, sake turns sugar and soy sauce into an umami rich Teriyaki Sauce . It’s such a versatile sauce and glaze so check out all of my teriyaki recipes . I also like to add rice wine to my Tebasaki Sauce , as well as my dipping sauces for cold noodles such as somen or soba .
Stir-fries - Sake or mirin also work great for stir-fries when you just need a little extra liquid that can also boost the flavors of dishes, like my Okinawa Taco Rice , Beef Yaki Udon , Garlic Butter Shrimp Rice Bowl , and Orange Chicken .
Although most rice wine is clear, it can have a wide range of complex flavors that belies its simple appearance. The taste of sake can range from light and dry with a mineral flavor to sweet and rich with aromas of melons and strawberries. Fruity aromas come from more polished rice, so you generally want to avoid these for cooking unless you want the fruity aroma. Because the alcohol in rice wine evaporates, your dishes are left with just the lovely umami flavor and without the alcohol.
Sake is a 2-syllable name pronounced as follows (read the italicized parts). sa like so cks ke like ke pt
Sake, like most brewed beverages, will oxidize when exposed to oxygen, heat, and light, so storing leftover sake in a cool, dark place is recommended. This should make it last for over a year. I usually store mine in the fridge. That being said, a small amount of oxidation will not be noticeable when you cook with it, so as long as your kitchen doesn’t get too hot, it’s okay to keep the sake at room temperature for a few months.
Because sake has not been distilled, it will oxidize over time. Telltale signs of oxidation include a yellow or amber color and a sweet caramel-like aroma. For drinking, this is generally considered undesirable (though there are exceptions where people deliberately age rice wine). However, the effects of oxidation aren’t as noticeable in food, which is why it’s generally okay to use a bottle of sake that’s gone “bad” for cooking. That being said, you should avoid cooking with any rice wine that has a rancid or sour smell.
Sake is made with only plant-based ingredients, so it is inherently vegan. However, some large producers of sake use gelatin to clarify their products. It won’t be listed in the ingredients since the final product doesn’t contain any gelatin; however, this might be off-putting if you are vegan or vegetarian. Be sure to check with the maker to see if their rice wine is vegan or not.
Yes, real sake is made with rice, koji (a type of fungus which grows on the rice), and yeast and is therefore gluten-free. It’s also a way to tell that it’s real sake.
More on Sake
