[Matthew Kayahara]

After our discussion of soy sauce here, and knowing that I was running low on the bottle I had in the fridge, I made a point of getting a soy sauce recommendation at Sanko in Toronto last weekend. When I told the clerk I wanted something better than the Kikkoman you can buy in the grocery store, he visibly shuddered!

Anyway, last night I did a comparative tasting of four different soy sauces:

From left to right: Yamasa usukuchi (light) soy sauce, Ichibiki, Kikkoman (both regular soy sauces) and Kikkoman tamari soy sauce.

You can really see the difference between the usukuchi and the regular here:


This usukuchi was the only one Sanko carried, so I bought it even though it has high-fructose corn syrup in it. For that matter, the tamari has glucose listed among the ingredients.

Obviously, the usukuchi and tamari sauces were very different from the two koikuchi shoyu, but I tasted them all anyway, from lightest to darkest.

The usukuchi was incredibly salty and, as its name would suggest, lighter in flavour. You could taste the alcohol, along with some grain flavour.

The aroma of the Kikkoman is pretty much what I think of as my benchmark for Japanese soy sauce, but the taste had a weird aggressive note to it that was unpleasant. Some woodsiness to it, but otherwise the whole thing was very one-dimensional.

The Ichibiki blew me away. The aroma was deep and complex, with oaky notes and a vinous character. The taste delivered on that promise, with a vinous, balanced flavour and a long finish. This is the only one of the four that I actually swallowed!

The tamari was heavy and rich, with notes of earth or mushrooms. It was definitely an umami sledgehammer, but you wouldn't want to add it anywhere you didn't want a strong flavour of soy.

Obviously, there were a lot of different factors in play here, including the fact that the tasting wasn't blind, and the Kikkoman had been opened a lot longer than the others. But I'd still buy the Ichibiki again, especially when the price difference is only 2 cents per 100 ml.

To see how they stacked up in actual use, I made teriyaki salmon for dinner, but the results were inconclusive... mostly because I was using frozen salmon that was decidedly not very good. Still, the teriyaki made with the Kikkoman seemed a little harsh compared to the Ichibiki (or did I burn it in the frying pan?). Surprisingly, the teriyaki made with the Ichibiki was lighter in colour than the Kikkoman, even though it looks darker in the bottle.

[Corgi Man]

Thank you, Matthew, for your tasting. I made a teriyaki the other day using Kikkoman soy sauce as one of the components. It was much saltier and edgier than the Sushi Chef brand I usually use. I'm afraid to really get into the soy sauce comparisons because I think the International Market near me carries 5 or 6 different brands of just Japanese varieties.

This post has been edited by Corgi Man: 27 February 2010 - 10:29 AM

[James]

Very good report!
I have several types, but I'll look for Ichibiki at a nearby Korean place P.A.T. today.
I have found that the light savory quality of Yamasa and Kikkoman (both regular, non hydrolyzed, from U.S.) tend to fade with time. Six months and I toss them or
just keep for marinades.

ed: spill ing

This post has been edited by James: 27 February 2010 - 10:45 AM

[Matthew Kayahara]

James, on 27 February 2010 - 10:44 AM, said:

I have found that the light savory quality of Yamasa and Kikkoman (both regular, non hydrolyzed, from U.S.) tend to fade with time. Six months and I toss them or just keep for marinades.

I'd have a hard time making a bottle of Kikkoman last 6 months! I bought this one only about 4 or 5 weeks ago.

[Dana]

That was really interesting, Matthew. I don't use a lot of soy sauce, but if I had a better one, I just might. I think a stop at the Asian market is in order for this afternoon.
One question - you mention that your soy was in the fridge. I don't keep mine there, but in the pantry. Should it be refrigerated?
Sounds like the tamari wuld be great in a mushroom sauce for steak.

[Matthew Kayahara]

Dana, on 27 February 2010 - 12:46 PM, said:

That was really interesting, Matthew. I don't use a lot of soy sauce, but if I had a better one, I just might. I think a stop at the Asian market is in order for this afternoon.
One question - you mention that your soy was in the fridge. I don't keep mine there, but in the pantry. Should it be refrigerated?
Sounds like the tamari wuld be great in a mushroom sauce for steak.

I've always kept soy sauce in the fridge, though I know many of them can be kept in the pantry. That said, the clerk at the Japanese grocery in Toronto told me explicitly to refrigerate the one he was recommending. If nothing else, refrigeration should help it keep its fresh character for longer, which is handy if you don't use it very often.

And I agree about the tamari!

[James]

I couldn't find ichibiki today, although there was a Kikkoman usukuchi.
I think refrigeration might be for naturally brewed, no preservative bottles.
For label readers, the only ones to avoid use hydrolyzed soy protein, a short cut method which is not really brewed.