Mirin
Mirin is a sweet Japanese rice wine used primarily as a seasoning rather than a drink, adding sweetness, shine, and depth to sauces, glazes, and simmered dishes.
How to buy
True hon mirin is naturally sweet from fermentation and contains around 14 percent alcohol; aji-mirin is a cheaper, lower-alcohol version with added sugar and salt to mimic the flavor. Check the label if you want the traditional fermented product, and avoid versions where corn syrup is the primary sweetener if you're after a more authentic flavor.
How to store
Unopened bottles keep well in the pantry. Hon mirin's alcohol content lets it keep at room temperature for months after opening, though refrigeration preserves its flavor longer; the lower-alcohol aji-mirin should be refrigerated once opened and used within a couple of months.
Culinary profile
- Flavor
- Sweet and mellow with a subtle winey depth from fermentation, helping balance salty soy sauce in dishes like teriyaki. Cooking off its alcohol concentrates its sweetness into a glaze-like richness.
- Texture
- A thin, syrupy liquid that reduces down into a sticky, glossy glaze when simmered.
- Aroma
- A faintly sweet, winey aroma from rice fermentation, similar to sake but noticeably sweeter.
How to prepare
- Simmered into glazes — Reduced together with soy sauce and sugar for teriyaki-style glazes.
- Added to dashi-based broths — Used to round out saltiness in simmered dishes like nimono.
- Mixed into dipping sauce — Combined with dashi and soy sauce for tempura dipping sauce.
- Flambéed off — Its alcohol burned off quickly in a hot pan before other seasonings are added.
- Whisked into dressings — Used in the vinegar dressing for sunomono, a vinegared cucumber salad.
Classic dishes
Japanese
- Teriyaki chicken — Chicken glazed in a reduction of mirin, soy sauce, and sugar until glossy and caramelized.
- Nimono — Vegetables and fish gently simmered in a dashi broth seasoned with mirin and soy sauce.
- Sukiyaki — A hot pot of thinly sliced beef and vegetables simmered in a sweet mirin and soy broth.
- Unagi no kabayaki — Grilled eel brushed repeatedly with a sweet mirin and soy glaze.
- Tamagoyaki — A rolled omelet seasoned with mirin for a subtle sweetness in every layer.
- Oden — A winter hot pot whose broth is seasoned with mirin alongside dashi and soy sauce.
- Chawanmushi — A savory steamed egg custard whose dashi base is rounded out with a touch of mirin.
- Tsukudani — Seafood or kombu simmered slowly in soy sauce and mirin until intensely flavored and preserved.
- Soba tsuyu — A dipping sauce for cold soba noodles built on dashi, soy sauce, and mirin.
- Tentsuyu — A dipping sauce for tempura made from dashi, soy sauce, and mirin.
- Saikyo yaki — Fish marinated in sweet miso and mirin before grilling until caramelized at the edges.
- Sunomono — A vinegared cucumber salad whose dressing is balanced with a touch of mirin.
- Yakitori — Grilled skewered chicken brushed with a mirin and soy glaze as it cooks.
- Gyudon — A beef and onion rice bowl simmered in a mirin, soy, and dashi sauce.
- Takoyaki sauce — A sweet-savory sauce drizzled over octopus balls, often built with a mirin base.
- Katsudon — A fried pork cutlet simmered in egg and a mirin-soy sauce before being served over rice.