How to use cooking wine correctly: master the method to make dishes fresher and more fragrant

Cooking wine is a common seasoning wine in Chinese cooking, generally made by brewing or blending yellow rice wine (huangjiu) as the base with added Sichuan peppercorns, cassia bark and other spices. Its main functions are removing fishy odors and cutting through greasiness, and boosting aroma and freshness, making it an indispensable auxiliary ingredient when cooking meat, fish and organ meats.

The most common way to use cooking wine is during the marinating stage. Before meat and fish go into the pan, mixing them evenly with a small amount of cooking wine and letting them sit for a moment can help remove fishy odors. When steaming fish, you can also drizzle a little cooking wine over the fish and steam it together with shredded ginger and scallion sections, and the fishy smell will be noticeably reduced.

In braised, red-braised and other hot dishes, cooking wine should be drizzled in along the edge of the pan after the ingredients have been stir-fried. When the pan temperature is high, the alcohol and odor-causing substances evaporate along with the steam, leaving only the mellow fragrance brought by grain fermentation, and the flavor of the dish becomes more gentle.

Two points need attention: first, cooking wine should not be added only when the dish is about to be taken off the heat; when the temperature is not high enough, the alcohol is hard to evaporate and easily leaves a raw wine taste; second, the amount should be moderate, as adding too much will instead overpower the umami of the ingredients themselves. In addition, cooking wine is a seasoning product and is not suitable for drinking directly.

When choosing cooking wine, it is advisable to read the ingredient list clearly, give priority to products that use yellow rice wine as the main raw material, and try to avoid varieties blended with edible alcohol and containing too many additives. It should be stored in a cool, dark place in daily life, and used up as soon as possible after opening to avoid loss of aroma and deterioration of flavor.