Mr. Joseph Littleshoes Esq. wrote:
>
>
> Jean B. wrote:
>> Joseph Littleshoes wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Jean B. wrote:
>>>
>>>> blake murphy wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, 3 Jun 2009 09:02:39 -0700 (PDT), wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> ShaoXing rice wine (not cooking wine, no salt added, likely only
>>>>>> available if your Asian market can sell wine)
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> shaoxing without the salt added has been damn hard to find in the d.c.
>>>>> area. but as you say, it may be because the don't want to fool with
>>>>> getting a beer/wine license.
>>>>>
>>>>> your pal,
>>>>> blake
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Virtually impossible in the Boston area too. I confess that I now
>>>> just use sake.
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I can get a 25.5 ounce bottle of the red labeled, Chinese Shao Xing
>>> rice wine for $1.50. square or round bottle, salt or no salt. Not
>>> that i would, but i could, did so once, awful stuff, Sake is so much
>>> better for cooking than the Shao Xing 'rice wine'.
>>>
>>> I am very fond of equal parts, sake, soy sauce & sesame oil as a
>>> sauce, marinade & etc.
>>> --
>>> Mr. Joseph Littleshoes Esq.
>>>
>>>
>> In what sort of store do you get it, Joseph? I haven't looked for a
>> long time, but did try all the places in Boston's Chinatown and that
>> general area at one point. It is easy enough to get the salted
>> ((cooking) version, but I never saw the unsalted version.
>>
>> How different is it from sake? Of course, older books would just say
>> one should use sherry, but IMO, that has its own distinctive flavor.
>>
>
>
> Just about any larger store (and quite a few small ones) in our local
> (SF bay area) "Chinatown" or Asian shopping areas carry it. Some stores
> have both the square bottle salted version and the round bottle unsalted.
>
> I bought it on a whim, just to try and was severely disappointed.
> The elderly relative though, when she found out how little i paid for it
> tried it as a cheap tipple and found the unsalted stuff pleasant enough.
>
> However if i were to compare it at this late date to sake i would have
> to say that the sake is a sort of lighter version of the taste of the
> Chinese rice wine. It seems to me that the Chinese version has a
> overpowering 'woody' taste, i don't know if the wine is aged in wood or
> not, i rather doubt it, but it has a taste i can only describe as 'woody'.
>
> A very dense, solid taste where generally i find sake to be a lighter
> more ephemeral taste, sort of a Japanese pastel to the Chinese primary
> color.
>
> THe stores around here sell a lot of it so people must like it.
>
> I have no idea what shipping costs or legalities would be or i would be
> happy to volunteer to send off a few bottles to interested parties, as i
> wrote its very inexpensive around here. However i can provide name and
> addresses of several stores that might be willing to ship.
>
> I just did a google search and apparently Amazon.com sometimes sells it
> with 'free shipping'. And it looks like there lots of places to purchase
> it through mail order. I just looked at several sites on the web
> offering it. Least expensive i found, without shipping, was $10. some
> places as high as $16.
>
> And i want to say, i assume we are talking about the "Zhe Jaing Cereals,
> Oils & Foodstuffs I/E Co., Ltd. Shaoxing Rice Wine Branch, Zhejiang
> China." "Pagoda Brand" union of Rabbi's approved, red & gold label?
>
> China does produce other traditional & European grape wines that are
> much more expensive when they are available.
>
> I don't know if its true or not but i have been told there is such a
> small market for Japanese Sake in this country that only the good stuff
> is imported from Japan. Just about any Japanese, imported Sake you will
> find in the States is going to be a decent beverage, not counting Hawaii
> or so im told
>
> Unlike the Chinese Shao Xing which is, so im told, the Chinese
> equivalent of a mass produced and cheaply sold to the masses wine, im
> not saying its a Chinese "Ripple" or even that it has a reputation for
> only being drank by drunks, it has been made by the same recipe for over
> a thousand years and in China is as often as not used as a Medicine as
> for cooking or drinking.
>
> Often the herbs of Chinese medicine are soaked in this Shao Xing rice
> wine and then that wine drank as a medicine.
>
> I just don't like the flavor of it, even when added to traditional
> Chinese recipes that call for it. I prefer to use a Japanese sake if
> the rice wine is called for and then that only if i have not already
> decided on a different wine for the particular dish.
>
> The original recipe i had for a chicken and shrimp dish called for a
> Korean wine that i use a good american white wine with.
>
> --
> Mr. Joseph Littleshoes Esq.
>
> Domine, dirige nos.
> Let the games begin!
> http://www.dancingmice.net/Karn%20Evil%209.mp3
>
Oh good! You have tried and prefer sake. It does sound like the
Shao Xing has a possibly unique flavor, so maybe I am missing
something, but I am not desperate to find out. I will, however,
try to remember that one can order such things online though.

Thanks for this most-informative post!

--
Jean B.