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I don't understand mirin. Isn't it just sake with sugar?

fuzzybabybunny

fuzzybabybunny

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A lot of Japanese recipes call for both sake and mirin to be added, but mirin is just sweetened sake.

I bought a bottle of sake and a bottle of mirin. I dissolved white sugar in sake and also agave syrup in sake and did a taste test of all of them.

The mirin has a more syrupy consistency and is brownish in color. It's also quite sweet and lacks the punch of alcohol.

The sake mixed with white sugar had the same flavor profile as mirin, but it wasn't syrupy and it still had the alcohol taste, which would probably cook off anyway.

The sake mixed with agave syrup basically tasted and looked almost exactly like mirin, but again with the alcohol taste which would cook off.

So.... what's the point of buying mirin then? If you had sake on hand you can easily just make mirin. If a recipe calls for 1 tbsp sake and 1 tbsp mirin why couldn't you just do 2 tbsp of sake and then add some sugar?
 
JEDIYoda said:
no! Mirin (味醂 or みりん?) [mi̥ɾiɴ] is an essential condiment used in Japanese cuisine. It is a type of rice wine similar to sake, but with a lower alcohol content and higher sugar content.[1] The sugar content is a complex carbohydrate that forms naturally during the fermentation process; no sugars are added. The alcohol content is further lowered when the liquid is heated.
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Uhhh, well practically speaking, for cooking can't you just substitute sake + sugar for mirin?
 
if they taste the same, wouldn't the recipe just say sake plus sugar?

ultimately you decide what goes in your dish, if you cannot taste the diff between mirin and sake, more power to you.
 
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momeNt said:
you mirin brah?
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we're all gonna make it

j9TBlux.jpg
 
If you cooking off the alcohol, there is no difference at the molecular level at all. You'll end up with the same result. If the additional alcohol content doesn't get cooked off then no. also, if the additional alcohol content is causing a different reaction than normal, then no.

When it comes to certain reactions, like those in baking, changing the amount of an active chemical reagent can make the recipe fail. If you are just doing a savory wok style dish, then the answer would be to use whatever you have on hand, because it wouldn't make a difference to the final dish despite whatever garbage anyone may try to tell you.
 
yes, they are the same. but they do taste different and you need the taste of both, and there isn't a sake/mirin mix sold outside of japan, so go ahead and use them both.
 
DigDog said:
yes, they are the same. but they do taste different and you need the taste of both, and there isn't a sake/mirin mix sold outside of japan, so go ahead and use them both.
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Welp, I'm confused! I always thought that two things that are the same should taste the same.
 
milk and mozzarella are the same. rennet (the thing that makes milk into cheese) doesn't even have any taste. same, but not same.

mirin was fermented specifically to be sweet, while sake was brewed to be alcoholic. the two have a .. similar taste, but not identical. in most recipes, you can get away with just using mirin, but if you can add the sake, sure, why not.
 
DigDog said:
milk and mozzarella are the same. rennet (the thing that makes milk into cheese) doesn't even have any taste. same, but not same.

mirin was fermented specifically to be sweet, while sake was brewed to be alcoholic. the two have a .. similar taste, but not identical. in most recipes, you can get away with just using mirin, but if you can add the sake, sure, why not.
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Ah, yes. I forgot that you are the dude with... shall we say "interesting" ideas on categorizing culinary items. This mozzarella thing is just another great example to add to your portfolio of culinary nonsense.
 
DigDog said:
milk and mozzarella are the same. rennet (the thing that makes milk into cheese) doesn't even have any taste. same, but not same.

mirin was fermented specifically to be sweet, while sake was brewed to be alcoholic. the two have a .. similar taste, but not identical. in most recipes, you can get away with just using mirin, but if you can add the sake, sure, why not.
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Dude, rennet is enzymes. You don't eat enzymes. Rennet is what is used to coagulate milk curds so they can be separate from the whey.

You are very strange in what you posted here. Milk and Mozzarella are not the same thing at all. Liquid vs solid. One has whey and the other is cheese that has been separated and fermented. They are not the same thing in the least. That is like saying raw iron ore and a car is the same thing. It's stupid.

The OP wasn't asking for dramatically different things. Mirin uses more sugar and less fermentation to be produced. It's basically sake that wasn't fermented as long. The longer you ferment something, the more the carbs are eaten by the fermenting agent, and more alcohol is produced by that fermenting agent.
 
nah, but it's like saying an iron bar and a sword are the same thing. sure there is a tempering process but the difference is subtle. your initial clue that mirin and sake are not the same should have been the fact that one is called mirin and the other is called "not-mirin".
alterantively, you can drag yo' ass out of the laz-e-boy and to the asian shop, buy them, and taste them. i confide you will reach the same conclusion that i have.
 
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