Chinese cooking wines are inexpensive versions of drinking wines and are used liberally in braising, for sauces, or just to splash into a stir fry in place of water to add moisture. Many have salt, caramel and other additives added so read the labels carefully if you don’t want these.
The most popular is Shaoxing wine, which is the two bottles with red label at top right of photo above.
For marinating meat I prefer to use better quality, drinking wine. My go-to is sake in place of Chinese rice wine. You may also use sherry or brandy. On the rare occasions I saw my mother cook, she put VSOP in her stir-fried meats. It was phenomenal (or so she told me) and in my young, impressionable eyes, she became an instant gourmet cook.
Sold in Asian supermarkets, the cooking wines are usually in the aisle selling soy sauce and vinegar, not in the liquor section.
Shaoxing cooking wine
Sometimes spelled Hsiaohsing, Shaoxing wine is a red, rice wine favored by cooks in Taiwan. Named after a region in eastern China.
Mi Jiu cooking wine
Wine made from glutinous rice, it is preferred in southern Chinese cooking. Mi Jiu is a clear, colorless wine, like sake. Many families still make their own rice wine at home by fermenting glutinous rice.
