Shaoxing wine
Used in 4 recipes on RecipeWiki.
Shaoxing wine is a Chinese fermented rice wine, named after the city in Zhejiang province known for it. It is amber, with a nutty, sherry-like, faintly sweet and savoury flavour, and is one of the defining aromas of Chinese cooking. A splash added to a hot wok sizzles off and leaves fragrance behind, as in Beef Chow Mein and Kung Pao Chicken. It also marinates meat and gives depth to the long braising liquid of Red-Braised Pork Belly. The cooking version sold in supermarkets is often salted, so taste before seasoning. If you cannot find it, dry sherry is the usual substitute.
Most often cooked with
Soy sauce
Spring onion
Garlic
Ginger
Sugar
Chinkiang vinegar
Cornflour
PeanutRecipes with shaoxing wine
Beef Chow Mein
Beef coated in cornflour and seared in batches in a pan hot enough to smoke, with the sauce going in only at the very end.
Beef
Chinese
Leafy greens
Dan Dan Noodles
Noodles over a pool of chilli oil, sesame paste and vinegar, topped with crisp fried pork and preserved vegetable.
30 minutes
Pork
Kung Pao Chicken
Diced chicken stir-fried fast with dried chillies and peanuts in a sauce that is sour, sweet and salty in that order.
Chicken
Red-Braised Pork Belly
Pork belly caramelised in sugar and braised in soy and wine until the fat turns to jelly and the sauce to lacquer.
Stews