JT Smith
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ArtZ said:I guess I would ask now: what is the simplest way to get to my endpoint?
Move on to wife #4?
ArtZ said:I guess I would ask now: what is the simplest way to get to my endpoint?
Shaoxzing wine has a very distinctive flavor profile, so you would not want to substitute some generic non-alcoholic wine.DaveE said:Why don't you just buy some non-alcoholic wine? It's readily available, and done by people with better equipment than you are likely to have.
How are Sake and Sherry low ABV?? The ones I know are in the 15-20% ABV range.ArtZ said:Aah, so where did the 4% ABV come from? Part SWAG and some experience with some low ABV wines, i.e., Sake and Sherry. With those low ABV wines, she did not complain of the 'alcohol taste' as she calls it.
You know, I just cracked up when I saw your last response! LOL! No, she's a keeper. I am trying to address a larger audience. Maybe I don't need to, I don't know. The separating of food for consumption has grown to be, in my opinion, ridiculous. At the research lab I worked at before I retired, there were separate accommodations made for vegetarian, non- vegetarian, vegan, halal, kosher, food cooked with alcohol, and many more! This included separate refrigerators, microwaves, storage cabinets, etc. Also, washable utensils (dishwasher washed) were required to be separated by use category before going into the dishwasher. Only like with like. (vegetarian, vegan, etc.) We ran dishwasher loads with 1 fork, a plate, and 5 spoons to accommodate this. Any alcohol touched glassware or utensils were washed separately in the dishwasher, alone.JT Smith said:Move on to wife #4?
PAllen said:How are Sake and Sherry low ABV?? The ones I know are in the 15-20% ABV range.
Oh, you are totally right these are in the 15-20% ABV range. Over the years, I was able to obtain low ABV versions of these wines in the 3.5 -5 % range. Cooking with these at the time, no one reported the 'alcohol taste.'
They've been pushing the Heinekin 0.0 beer on TV. I wonder if you tried that one. Many papers and articles discuss controlling the fermentation process to dial in the alcohol level. Also though, factors like temperature, days with sun, rain, etc. affect the final product's alcohol level.JT Smith said:I think it's a tough problem you're considering.
Last year I decided I'd try some dealcoholized beers. The number of them has exploded and I was able to buy 18 different types without much trouble. Many of them were horrible and went down the sink quickly. Some were okay but odd in character. And a few were actually pretty good. I liked them as refreshing beverages but there was no mistaking them with actual beer. No way!
There are different ways these beers are made. I think many have the alcohol removed via RO. One brewer claims theirs are not dealcoholized. Instead the beer ferments without producing very much ethanol. It is a proprietary process but I imagine it's a combination of mash profile and yeast selection.
You could brew your own Shaoxing-style wine. From what I just read it sounds very similar to sake production and doesn't look hard to do. It would take time and it's probably not trivial to do well. But it would open the door for experimenting with different yeast strains. Another trick is to arrest the fermentation to limit the alcohol. You end up with a sweeter wine that way. But in a cooked dish a little extra sweetener might be acceptable.I'm going to have to go and buy some Shaoxing wine. I wonder if it's hard to find? I went looking for brewed Mirin (yet another rice wine) last year and discovered that it is either super hard to find or simply not available in the San Francisco Bay Area. Lots of inexpensive fake Mirin though.
BTW, I should have mentioned that Shaoxing comes two ways- cooking only with added salt and drinking or cooking style with no added salt. The Shaoxing with salt is a lower grade and runs $4-6 a bottle. Shaoxing for drinking $8 -20 a pop.ArtZ said:They've been pushing the Heinekin 0.0 beer on TV. I wonder if you tried that one. Many papers and articles discuss controlling the fermentation process to dial in the alcohol level. Also though, factors like temperature, days with sun, rain, etc. affect the final product's alcohol level.
As far as availability, Shaoxing wine is readily available in Asian markets. I also live in the San Francisco Bay Area and in the South Bay, we have lots of them. I bought my Shaoxing wine at Ranch 99 Market for about $5.00. Mirin and Sake are available at Safeway these days. My area also has several Japanese and Korean markets making those products easy to find.
Today my replacement refractometer should arrive and I'll start with the dilution only measurements using the Shaoxing wine - no cooking yet.
Eden Mirin is readily available in Whole Foods. It is product of Japan, with ingredients water, rice, sea salt, Koji (aspergillus) and nothing else. It is traditionally brewed. Unfortunately, it does have salt.JT Smith said:I did not try that one for the simple reason that I don't like regular Heinekin. It's a marketing thing to call it 0.0. They stopped at the appropriate decimal point as the content is 0.03%. I read that there is a silly lawsuit about this.
The Mirin I found is called Aji Mirin. It's basically just a mixture of grain alcohol, sugar, and some longer chain carbohydrates. It's not brewed, it's mixed. Hon Mirin is the traditional form. It's brewed from rice, fungus, and yeast, similar to sake and Shaoxing wine. I figure it's probably a lot tastier than the cheaper stuff but I couldn't find any to try. I did find some bottles labeled "Hon" but the ingredients made it clear it was not. Oh well, I guess I'll have to visit Japan.
I'm off to one of the local Asian markets today for other reasons so I'll see what they have in the way of Shaoxing wine.
Wow, sounds like you made the whirlwind tour today! And returned empty handed? What specifically couldn't you find? The potable Shaoxing?JT Smith said:I went to Japanese markets in Berkeley, San Mateo, and Japantown in San Francisco, as well as a Korean market and a couple generic Asian places. No dice! I did find it online for $42 but decided that was too much for something I might not even like.
Thanks for the heads up about the salted version of Shaoxing. They do that with other wines too and I avoid them. Mediocre wine plus a denaturant isn't a tasty combo even for cooking.
PAllen said:Eden Mirin is readily available in Whole Foods. It is product of Japan, with ingredients water, rice, sea salt, Koji (aspergillus) and nothing else. It is traditionally brewed. Unfortunately, it does have salt.
ArtZ said:Wow, sounds like you made the whirlwind tour today! And returned empty handed? What specifically couldn't you find? The potable Shaoxing?
I did receive the replacement refractometer - just tried it. in cal mode read 0.0 with the supplied distilled water. With the Shaoxing it read 4.0 on the PA scale. Adding a drop of water to the Shaoxing sample, reading was 1.4. Doesn't look promising. :-(
Obviously, no salt and meant for possible drinking would be better (the Eden has only 10% alcohol). But it sure seems a lot better than what you were describing. I’ve found it quite nice in cooking, but I am no expert.JT Smith said:Thanks for that. Whole Foods, for better or worse, is my closest supermarket so I go there often. I'm pretty sure I looked at what they had. And from what I've read, right or wrong, Hon Mirin should be at 14% alcohol and contain no salt. So even though it's fermented I would have rejected the Eden product based on that. Maybe I should give it another look since it's what's available.
PAllen said:Obviously, no salt and meant for possible drinking would be better (the Eden has only 10% alcohol). But it sure seems a lot better than what you were describing. I’ve found it quite nice in cooking, but I am no expert.
Yes, my Shaoxing has 1.5% salt added; not potable. Geez, your chart is exactly what I expect though you are plotting Brix against wine fraction not PA against wine fraction. I will need to experiment more with my refractometer; didn't try it yesterday on the Brix scale.JT Smith said:Yours says "cooking wine". Does that mean it has salt added?
I wonder what's up with your refractometer? It's 5X the price I paid, you'd think it would work better. I'm not sure what you were hoping to achieve by measuring dilutions though. Wouldn't you expect a straight line heading toward zero? That's what I imagined would happen.
I tried it with the wine I bought and, yes, that's exactly what I got:
View attachment 324048By the way, the Washington Post recently published a timely article on the subject of dealcoholized wines. Maybe it won't be that much longer before you can just go and buy a reduced alcohol Shaoxing.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/03/25/nonalcoholic-wine/
ArtZ said:I will need to experiment more with my refractometer; didn't try it yesterday on the Brix scale.
Mirin's alcohol content, about ten percent, quickly evaporates when cooked with food or may be removed by heating it to the boiling point, and allowed to cool before adding to uncooked foods.
ArtZ said:I watched the video this morning and didn't get that it was either funny or irresponsible - did I miss something?
My error. https://store.edenfoods.com/mirin-rice-cooking-wine/ is not a video. sorry. I will try my ShaoXing on the Brix scale. Also bought a bottle 0% ABV. Chardonnay at BevMo. Will chill and try tonight. The Kendall Jackson low-alcohol was $14.99 and still came in at 9.0% ABV. Didn't buy this one.JT Smith said:I think I see the Shaoxing wine I bought in one of your photos.
I found a bottle of the Eden Mirin at a different Whole Foods today. It's kind of expensive at $14 / 300ml. I tasted it and it is definitely better than the cheaper stuff. I'm going to throw that junk out. Mirin is very sweet! The Eden measured 46% Brix. Even accounting for the alcohol that's a lot of sugar.
One problem with these wines is US regulations: if a wine is to be sold at a store that lacks a liquor store license, it must have salt or something similar to discourage drinking. Fortunately, there is a growing trend for grocers to have liquor licenses, but I don't know about Asian markets. In any case, an importer of a wine mostly used for cooking narrows their market considerably if they import the superior product (the one with no salt).JT Smith said:I think I see the Shaoxing wine I bought in one of your photos.
I found a bottle of the Eden Mirin at a different Whole Foods today. It's kind of expensive at $14 / 300ml. I tasted it and it is definitely better than the cheaper stuff. I'm going to throw that junk out. Mirin is very sweet! The Eden measured 46% Brix. Even accounting for the alcohol that's a lot of sugar.
PAllen said:One problem with these wines is US regulations: if a wine is to be sold at a store that lacks a liquor store license, it must have salt or something similar to discourage drinking. Fortunately, there is a growing trend for grocers to have liquor licenses, but I don't know about Asian markets. In any case, an importer of a wine mostly used for cooking narrows their market considerably if they import the superior product (the one with no salt).
Last night, I did some testing with the refractometer. All tests were on the Brix scale. Using distilled water, the instrument was checked for zero. This reading was correctly displayed. Both the Shaoxing at 15% ABV and the Free wine at 0.0 ABV were tested with Brix values of 7.2 and 6.7 respectively. I am thinking that Brix values are useless for anything I am trying to do.JT Smith said:It is kind of annoying. Is it just a U.S. thing, denatured wine for cooking?
All of the Japanese/Korean/Asian markets I visited and of course Whole Foods have full liquor licenses. I know that alcohol in supermarkets isn't universal in the U.S. There's a patchwork of regulations.
ArtZ said:Last night, I did some testing with the refractometer. All tests were on the Brix scale. Using distilled water, the instrument was checked for zero. This reading was correctly displayed. Both the Shaoxing at 15% ABV and the Free wine at 0.0 ABV were tested with Brix values of 7.2 and 6.7 respectively. I am thinking that Brix values are useless for anything I am trying to do