I'm sitting here reading this eating a snack of pan-grilled tofu and
green peppers, dressed very lightly with some soy sauce that I smashed
some roughly minced ginger into.

It's good. I like very simple foods.

I was wondering if, in Japanese cooking, there is an ingredient that
'counters' the saltiness of soy sauce. Don't get me wrong--I think
ginger does a decent job. But I was wondering if there's something
like mirin or a citrus juice that would mellow out the salty flavor of
this very salty Kikkoman condiment.

Thanks,
Matt

wrote:

> I was wondering if, in Japanese cooking, there is an ingredient that
> 'counters' the saltiness of soy sauce.

A bowl of hot rice?

June

In article >,
Dog3 > wrote:

> wrote in
> oups.com:
>
> > I'm sitting here reading this eating a snack of pan-grilled tofu and
> > green peppers, dressed very lightly with some soy sauce that I smashed
> > some roughly minced ginger into.
> >
> > It's good. I like very simple foods.
> >
> > I was wondering if, in Japanese cooking, there is an ingredient that
> > 'counters' the saltiness of soy sauce. Don't get me wrong--I think
> > ginger does a decent job. But I was wondering if there's something
> > like mirin or a citrus juice that would mellow out the salty flavor of
> > this very salty Kikkoman condiment.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Matt
> >
>
> There is a low sodium soy sauce available. It is very good. I'm not sure
> of the sodium content but I use it all the time and it is much less salty
> than the original sauce.
>
> Michael

Yes, Kikoman lite.
They also make a lite teryaki that is excellent!
--
K.

On 1 Apr 2005 19:34:54 -0800, > wrote:
> I'm sitting here reading this eating a snack of pan-grilled tofu and
> green peppers, dressed very lightly with some soy sauce that I smashed
> some roughly minced ginger into.
>
> It's good. I like very simple foods.
>
> I was wondering if, in Japanese cooking, there is an ingredient that
> 'counters' the saltiness of soy sauce. Don't get me wrong--I think
> ginger does a decent job. But I was wondering if there's something
> like mirin or a citrus juice that would mellow out the salty flavor of
> this very salty Kikkoman condiment.

You might try using some dashi (fish stock) as an addition to mellow
out the saltiness of soy sauce. Asian markets may carry dashi-no-moto, which
is dashi in powder/granulated form, which is very convenient and easy. It may
not be the same as making it from scratch, but it's close enough for me.

For more exact measurements, you might try the below recipe. It's
from Shizuo Tsuji's _Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art_ listed as an
accompaniment to agedashi tofu. Adding some finely minced scallion to
it is nice, and you can adjust the soy sauce/mirin content to your taste:

1 1/3 cups dashi
2 Tbsp. light soy sauce
2 Tbsp. mirin

Good luck!

Ariane
--
Dysfunction: The only consistent feature of all your dissatisfying
relationships is you.
http://www.despair.com/demotivators/dysfunction.html

wrote:
>
> I was wondering if, in Japanese cooking, there is an ingredient that
> 'counters' the saltiness of soy sauce. Don't get me wrong--I think
> ginger does a decent job. But I was wondering if there's something
> like mirin or a citrus juice that would mellow out the salty flavor of
> this very salty Kikkoman condiment.
>
> Thanks,
> Matt

Mirin, sugar, vinegar, lemon juice/lime juice...any one of these or a
combination of two or more of them...

--
***For e-mail, replace .com with .ca Sorry for the inconvenience!***

"[America] is filled with people who decided not to live in Europe. We
had people who really wanted to live in Europe, but didn't have the
energy to go back. We call them Canadians." ---Grover Norquist in
Newsweek, November 22, 2004

wrote:
>I was wondering if, in Japanese cooking, there is an ingredient that
>'counters' the saltiness of soy sauce. Don't get me wrong--I think
>ginger does a decent job. But I was wondering if there's something
>like mirin or a citrus juice that would mellow out the salty flavor of
>this very salty Kikkoman condiment.

After going on sodium restricted, I switched to Lite (not Light) low
sodium soy. And usually alter the amount. It's still salty to me,
cause I started heading towards less sodium years ago. The rest of
the group adds salt (GRRRR!). I usually also eat less of the good
stuff and more of the rice, noodles or whatever - plain.

Dog3 wrote:

> wrote in
> oups.com:
>
> > I'm sitting here reading this eating a snack of pan-grilled tofu and
>
> > green peppers, dressed very lightly with some soy sauce that I
> smashed
> > some roughly minced ginger into.
> >
> > It's good. I like very simple foods.
> >
> > I was wondering if, in Japanese cooking, there is an ingredient that
>
> > 'counters' the saltiness of soy sauce. Don't get me wrong--I think
> > ginger does a decent job. But I was wondering if there's something
> > like mirin or a citrus juice that would mellow out the salty flavor
> of
> > this very salty Kikkoman condiment.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Matt
> >
>
> There is a low sodium soy sauce available. It is very good. I'm not
> sure
> of the sodium content but I use it all the time and it is much less
> salty
> than the original sauce.
>
> Michael

FYI i just recently saw a "Yan can cook" episode where he explained the
(at least to me) secret of the highly salty commercial Chinese sauces
such as oyster of black bean.

Living as i do near a "China town" i often buy a very inexpensive bottle
of "shao xing" (shao hsing) rice wine for cooking beef & pork.
According to Yan the bottled sauces are best thinned with this wine
rather than being used "straight" and expecting the food to dilute the
saltiness.

I am very pleased with the results.

One caveat, don't buy the square bottle of rice wine that is labelled
"cooking wine" it has a large dose of salt in it. The round bottle of
the same brand can be drank as well as cooked with.

One of my favourite marinades/sauces is equal parts of Japanese sake,
sesame oil and soy sauce. Substituting the Chinese rice wine for the
sake is equally good.
---
Joseph Littleshoes

On 1 Apr 2005 19:34:54 -0800, wrote:

>I'm sitting here reading this eating a snack of pan-grilled tofu and
>green peppers, dressed very lightly with some soy sauce that I smashed
>some roughly minced ginger into.
>
>It's good. I like very simple foods.
>
>I was wondering if, in Japanese cooking, there is an ingredient that
>'counters' the saltiness of soy sauce. Don't get me wrong--I think
>ginger does a decent job. But I was wondering if there's something
>like mirin or a citrus juice that would mellow out the salty flavor of
>this very salty Kikkoman condiment.
>
Have you considered a different brand, maybe a Japanese shoyu?

On Sat, 02 Apr 2005 06:40:21 GMT, Dog3 >
wrote:

>
>There is a low sodium soy sauce available. It is very good. I'm not sure
>of the sodium content but I use it all the time and it is much less salty
>than the original sauce.
>
I have yet to taste the difference between regular and lite Kikkoman.
Their Lite tasted saltier to me, so I thought it must mean something
else - like less dark.

In article .com>,
wrote:

> I'm sitting here reading this eating a snack of pan-grilled tofu and
> green peppers, dressed very lightly with some soy sauce that I smashed
> some roughly minced ginger into.
>
> It's good. I like very simple foods.
>
> I was wondering if, in Japanese cooking, there is an ingredient that
> 'counters' the saltiness of soy sauce. Don't get me wrong--I think
> ginger does a decent job. But I was wondering if there's something
> like mirin or a citrus juice that would mellow out the salty flavor of
> this very salty Kikkoman condiment.
>
> Thanks,
> Matt

You find in Asian food market Ajipon (by Mitsukan for example), which is
a soy sauce mixed with vinegar and dashi (fish stock), flavored with
yuzu (citron?) juice or other citrus. You can also make your own as
follows:


Ponsu

Category: Japanese|Dressing
Nb persons: 4

1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup dashi
Optional:
1/4 cup tangerine juice - or other citrus fruit juice

Mix, let rest 1 hour.

Author: Mathilde Rufenacht, http://www.rufenacht.com

----------

Exported from Shop'NCook 3.0.2 beta (http://www.shopncook.com)

To make dashi, you can buy aji-no-moto powder and dissolve a little bit
in warm water.

Mite
http://www.shopncook.com

Todays NYTimes Magazine hapopens to have an article on Japanese
ingredients-- including a recipe for Ponzu-- by Amanda Hesser:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/magazine/03FOOD.html

I agree on the ideas of using sweet (mirin) or sour (citrus) to balance
the saltiness of shoyu. And dashi, definitely.

sf wrote:
> On Sat, 02 Apr 2005 06:40:21 GMT, Dog3 >
> wrote:
>
> >
> >There is a low sodium soy sauce available. It is very good. I'm not
sure
> >of the sodium content but I use it all the time and it is much less
salty
> >than the original sauce.
> >
> I have yet to taste the difference between regular and lite Kikkoman.
> Their Lite tasted saltier to me, so I thought it must mean something
> else - like less dark.

Exactly. Kikkoman "Lite" refers to lighter color, but actually higher
salt content. For low salt get "Lower Sodium" Kikkoman.

http://kikkoman.com/products.html

Sheldon

>>Exactly. Kikkoman "Lite" refers to lighter color, but actually
higher
salt content. For low salt get "Lower Sodium" Kikkoman.>>

I have here a bottle of "Kikkoman Lite" which is lower-sodium: half
that of regular Kikkoman.

Mite wrote:

> In article .com>,
> wrote:
>
> > I'm sitting here reading this eating a snack of pan-grilled tofu and
>
> > green peppers, dressed very lightly with some soy sauce that I
> smashed
> > some roughly minced ginger into.
> >
> > It's good. I like very simple foods.
> >
> > I was wondering if, in Japanese cooking, there is an ingredient that
>
> > 'counters' the saltiness of soy sauce. Don't get me wrong--I think
> > ginger does a decent job. But I was wondering if there's something
> > like mirin or a citrus juice that would mellow out the salty flavor
> of
> > this very salty Kikkoman condiment.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Matt
>
> You find in Asian food market Ajipon (by Mitsukan for example), which
> is
> a soy sauce mixed with vinegar and dashi (fish stock), flavored with
> yuzu (citron?) juice or other citrus. You can also make your own as
> follows:

Remembering how valuanble salt were in ancient times im wondering how
difficult it would be to make a couple of gallons of soy sauce and leave
out the salt? Fermented is it not?
---
JL

>
>
> Ponsu
>
> Category: Japanese|Dressing
>
> Nb persons: 4
>
> 1/4 cup rice vinegar
> 1/4 cup soy sauce
> 1/4 cup dashi
> Optional:
> 1/4 cup tangerine juice - or other citrus fruit juice
>
> Mix, let rest 1 hour.
>
> Author: Mathilde Rufenacht, http://www.rufenacht.com
>
> ----------
>
> Exported from Shop'NCook 3.0.2 beta (http://www.shopncook.com)
>
> To make dashi, you can buy aji-no-moto powder and dissolve a little
> bit
> in warm water.
>
> Mite
> http://www.shopncook.com


--
---
Joseph Littleshoes
may be consulted at
---
http://finblake.home.mindspring.com/tarotintro.htm