FOOD: Kikkoman is Soy Versatile

Kikkoman were on hand to promote their fantastic soy sauce at a dinner hosted at Kurobuta by Scott Hallsworth. Kikkoman’s Bing-Yu Lee conducted a “kikimi” – Japanese Soy Sauce Tasting and gave some top tips for better enjoying soy sauce. You’ve tasted fine wines and talked about the bouquet but did you know that naturally brewed soy sauce has over 300 aroma compounds?

Here’s how to find the best soy sauce:

Colour

The colour of naturally brewed soy sauce such as the renowned Kikkoman versus a chemically produced soy sauce is vastly different. Kikkoman is delicately transparent with a reddish brown colour and chemically produced “brand B” is opaque and almost black. Test on a small white dipping plate to see the difference.

Kikkoman is delicately transparent with a reddish brown colour and chemically produced “brand B” is opaque and almost black.

Viscosity

Naturally produced soy sauce is easy to swirl and releases its aroma easily. Test both with a chopstick and see that chemically produced soy sauce forms a thick and dark drop at the end of the chopstick and naturally brewed hardly sticks at all.

Smell

Swirling soy sauce enriches it with oxygen which has positive effects on releasing the complex bouquet and core aroma, typically a fruity citrus tang, with roast and vanilla notes from a naturally brewed soy sauce but the same strong smell all the time from a chemically produced sauce.

Taste

Taste with your finger or a spoon. Naturally brewed has a full bodied flavour which is called “umami” or the fifth nuance of taste. Other soy sauces taste overwhelmingly intense and dense.

So naturally brewed wins, especially Kikkoman. Well they have been making it for over 300 years so they must be doing something right. Their  logo represents the turtle a symbol of long life.

Here’s some interesting uses for soy sauce:

Brush the soy sauce over the Sunday Roast before cooking or add a splash to the gravy;  add to the pan while frying mushrooms or add a dash to a salad dressing of sesame oil, orange juice, grated ginger and garlic.

Michelin star chef Simon Hulstone mixes soy sauce with egg yolk before glazing pastry and bread for a savoury taste and golden colour.

Use instead of sea salt when making a caramel sauce; even use in sticky toffee muffin with soy caramel icing, brownies and chocolate soufflé.

Our soy sauce sommelier Mr Bing-Yu Lee of Kikkoman.