Need Mirin Substitutes Here are the 12 Fantastic Reliefs

Homemade Mirin Recipe

Last week was a wipe out because I was in Denver to tape an

Online class for Craftsy. (More on that very cool new project in the weeks to

Come!) I was somewhat brain dead from the long work days so I didn’t tune into

Some of the comments on the teriyaki chicken recipe until today. There were several points

Made about mirin, how the typical stuff sold at many markets is basically

Fructose, glucose and a little alcohol. It’s also expensive, given the amount

Of mirin that many Japanese recipes call for. “Can you make your own mirin?” Gina asked.

While I’ve had to come up

With mirin substitutes in a pinch, I’d never thought of making my own. Mirin

Seemed like such a mystery, kind of sacred. Gina put me to the task so I looked

At the glossary of several Japanese cookbooks and the best source of

Information came from Hiroko Shimbo’s The Japanese Kitchen. Hiroko

Gave the best low down on mirin and as usual, her insights were illuminating:

Real, honest

Mirin is golden yellow and sweet, with a rich mouthfeel. The alcohol content is

Roughly 14 percent, and it’s made from glutinous rice, distilled alcohol, and koji-cultured

Rice (koji refers to Aspergillus oryzae,

A fungus used to produce liquor, vinegar, and to inoculate soybeans). Mirin was

Originally used as a sugar substitute in Japan because sugar was scarce and

Expensive. Mirin came out of the production of rice wine, during which starches

Are converted to sugars (i. e., glucose and maltose). You can drink

Well-made mirin. For example, toso is

A mirin infused with various Chinese medicinal herbs. It used to be a new year

Libation. Synthetic mirin

Is the go-to these days so it’s not fit for drinking. The popularity of modern,

Synthetic mirin dates to the post World War II, when Japan’s tax on the authentic,

Boozy version of mirin rose to 230 percent; it was due to the severe rice

Shortage. People were forced to rely on the cheaper synthetic stuff and few

People looked back.

I’ve made and eaten Chinese

And Vietnamese fermented rice, so I had a sense of what the flavor of real mirin

Was like. It’s winey, sweet and thick. The difference is that there’s a higher

Alcohol content in mirin, due to the distilled liquor involved.

Hiroko suggested a mirin sub

In her book: for 1 tablespoon of mirin, combine 1 tablespoon sake and 2

Teaspoons sugar.

I wanted that rich round

Flavor so instead of white granulated sugar, I used organic sugar, which has a

More complex flavor; organic sugar is a tad more intensely sweet than white

Sugar and weighs a bit more too. I also cooked the sake and sugar up – sort of

Like a simple syrup.

To give things a slight

Roundness, I also tinkered with combining sake with pure cane syrup, an old

Fashioned sweetener that’s popular in the American South. The color was dark

But the flavor lovely. Then, I added a touch of the cane syrup to my blend of

Organic sugar and sake, which gave the mirin a bit more depth without darkening

It too much. I had to taste all the

Variations and got a bit light headed with the boozy sweetness. The purchased

Bottled stuff seemed so flat and blah by comparison. While my homemade mirin is not a true, authentic version, it has more character than the synthetic stuff. I'm going to try it out on a new batch of teriyaki sauce.

What can you do? You have

These options if you want to use DIY mirin instead of the synthetic stuff:

1) Swap out the quantity of

Mirin called for in a recipe with a mixture of 2:3 sugar and sake. If you use

Organic sugar like I did, back off the sugar in the rest of the recipe as the

Mirin will be more intensely sweet than commercially made mirin.

2) Make your own and keep the

Jar in the fridge. Below is a recipe to play with. If you have golden syrup

(a light treacle), that would work in lieu of the cane syrup and/or granulated

Sugar. Try another kind of sugar, like turbinado. Halve the recipe, if you want

To mess around with it without wasting ingredients. Do report your findings!

RECIPE

Homemade Mirin

Yield:

Generous 1/2 cup (120 ml)

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons (65

G) sugar, such as organic cane sugar 1/2 cup (120 ml)

Sake 1 1/2 teaspoons pure

Cane syrup, such as Steen’s

(optional)

Instructions:

Combine the

Ingredients in a very small saucepan, such as butter warmer/melter. Bring to

Boil over medium heat, give things a stir to ensure the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the

Heat and set aside to cool. Taste and add the cane syrup for depth, if you like.

Several VWK recipes that use mirin:

True Chicken Teriyaki Dashi Carnitas Tacos Korean Fried Chicken (sub mirin for the corn syrup or Korean syrup)

Links to Amazon from this website generate a small amount of income that supports VWK. Thanks for visiting and contributing to good food and cooking.

Reader Interactions

Comments

Very interesting. I m from Buenos Aires Argentina, and we have just a tiny 3 blocks Chinese Markets. Mirin is very expensive. In quite a few recepies in spanish use Jerez as a subtitue for sake. So I try to do something similar to Mirin using Jerez. What I use is 750gr Jerez, 200 grs sugar, 100 grs real mirin.

I place the Jerez in a cooking pot, also can use a wok, with the sugar, and place it on midum fire and make it boil, reduce the fire to minimum and let the alcohol evaporate but not all. Take the pot out of the fire and add the real mirin. This preparation wil give you arround 1L. The Jerez colour with the sugar will be very similar to the real mirin. Jerez in Argentina is not so expensive.

Marta, that is a BRILLIANT solution and workaround. I love to sip a glass of Jerez while cooking dinner so there is always some in the house. In the United States, the price for sherry and sake are roughly the same, though you wouldn’t find a bottle of Jerez as big as that bottle of sake I have in the photo.

Thanks, Andrea, will try out some of your suggestions. You’re right, with most commercial brands, you’re basically paying for HFCS.

@Marta: What a great idea! I love that musty, mushroomy aroma that you get with some types of Jerez, too – I’ll be experimenting!

Thanks for the recipe! I can’t try the variation with sherry because believe it or not the liquor stores around here don’t carry real Jerez!

Fortunately, it’s fairly easy to get cane sugar and cane syrup in the organic section of the supermarket.

Wow, you can get cane syrup where you are? In California where I am, I went to a Louisiana-centric market in South Central Los Angeles for the Steen’s. Seriously.

Brilliant. I have Hiroko’s book here, too. I have Lyle’s golden syrup and always some saké around…love this idea.

What about Eden’s mirin? It’s pricey but I find it better than using the typical supermarket brands.

Mitoku Organic Mikawa Mirin just became available on Amazon. And Amazon Prime eligible no less. It’s traditionally brewed in Japan and is one of best available here in the US. Once you take shipping costs into consideration, the price on Amazon is not bad at all. Plus, free 2-day shipping.