By Yoshi | Japan Unveiled
There are two bottles in the Japanese kitchen that appear in almost every recipe for Japanese home cooking, that are purchased at every supermarket in Japan, and that are used in quantities significant enough to require replacement every few months in an actively cooking household. They are the bottles that most international visitors to a Japanese home notice and recognise as distinctly Japanese, and the ones most likely to prompt the specific question: what exactly are those?
The bottles are mirin (みりん) and ryōrishu (料理酒 — cooking sake). Together, they constitute the sweet-savoury backbone of Japanese home cooking — the specific alcoholic flavouring agents that give Japanese simmered preparations, glazes, sauces, and marinades their characteristic gentle sweetness, their specific depth of flavour, and the specific quality of their finished texture that distinguishes Japanese cooking from the equivalent preparations of other food cultures.
Most international food writing about Japanese cooking mentions mirin and cooking sake but does not explain them adequately. I want to remedy this, because understanding these two ingredients is understanding something fundamental about why Japanese food tastes the way it does.
Mirin: The Sweet Rice Wine That Is Not for Drinking
Mirin (みりん) is a specific sweet rice wine produced by fermenting steamed glutinous rice with koji and shochu — the same mould and the same spirit used in various other fermented preparations. The result is a liquid with a specific alcohol content (typically 12-14% ABV), a specific high sugar content (approximately 45-50% sugar by weight), and a specific complex flavour that includes the sweetness of the sugar, the depth of the amino acids produced by the koji fermentation, and the specific warm quality of the shochu base.
The specific characteristic that distinguishes genuine mirin (hon-mirin — 本みりん) from the cheaper alternatives: hon-mirin contains significant levels of various sugars (glucose, fructose, maltose, and various other saccharides produced by the koji’s enzymatic breakdown of the rice starch), each of which has a specific sweetness character. The combination of these multiple sugars produces the specific gentle, rounded sweetness of genuine mirin — a sweetness that is perceived as more complex and more appropriate to cooking than the single-sugar sweetness of plain sugar or corn syrup.
The three categories of commercial mirin:
Hon-mirin (本みりん — genuine mirin): the authentic product, produced by the full fermentation process described above, containing significant alcohol and classified as a liquor under Japanese law. Hon-mirin has the specific complex flavour and the specific cooking properties that the mirin tradition developed. It is more expensive than the alternatives and is the correct choice for serious Japanese cooking.
Mirin-fū chōmiryō (みりん風調味料 — mirin-style seasoning): a manufactured product that approximates the sweetness of mirin using sugar, corn syrup, and various flavourings, without the alcohol content of genuine mirin. This product is significantly cheaper than hon-mirin (it is classified as a food rather than a liquor and therefore avoids liquor tax), widely available, and adequate for basic cooking applications that primarily need the sweetness dimension.
Shio-mirin (塩みりん — salted mirin): a hon-mirin product to which salt has been added (typically 1.5-2%) specifically to classify it as a cooking ingredient rather than a liquor, allowing it to be sold in locations that cannot sell alcohol (certain supermarkets, certain retail contexts). The salt is present in small enough quantities that it does not significantly affect the cooking use.
What Mirin Does in Cooking: The Specific Functions
Mirin is not merely a sweetener — it is a specific cooking ingredient whose specific properties produce several distinct effects in the preparations that use it.
Sweetness. The most obvious function: mirin provides the specific gentle sweetness of Japanese simmered preparations and glazes. The specific sweetness is more appropriate than straight sugar for most Japanese cooking applications because it is less intense, more complex, and more deeply integrated with the other flavours of the preparation.
Glaze formation. The specific sugar content of mirin — and the specific way these sugars caramelise under heat — produces the specific shiny, slightly sticky glaze of preparations like teriyaki sauce, yakitori tare, and unagi no tare. The specific caramelisation temperature and the specific glaze texture that mirin produces cannot be replicated by replacing mirin with sugar alone — the multiple sugars of mirin caramelise at slightly different temperatures and produce a specific glaze texture that single-sugar preparations do not achieve.
Flavour development. The amino acids and various other compounds produced by the koji fermentation process contribute to the Maillard reaction in the same way that the amino acids in the protein of meat and fish do — producing the specific browning and the specific flavour complexity of a properly caramelised preparation. Mirin contributes to the specific flavour development of grilled preparations in ways that pure sugar cannot.
Tenderisation. The specific alcohol content of hon-mirin and its specific interaction with the proteins of fish and meat have a specific tenderising effect when mirin is used as a marinade component. The alcohol partially denatures the proteins on the surface of the ingredient, allowing the subsequent flavouring components to penetrate more effectively.
Odour reduction. The specific alcohol in mirin, when heated with fish or meat, helps to carry away specific volatile odour compounds (trimethylamine and various other compounds) that can produce specific fishy or gamey smells. The mirin used in a fish simmering preparation performs this specific odour reduction function in addition to its flavouring function.
Ryōrishu: Cooking Sake and Its Functions
Ryōrishu (料理酒 — cooking sake) is sake that has been specifically produced or modified for cooking use rather than for drinking, typically with the addition of salt (approximately 2-3%) that, as with salted mirin, classifies it as a seasoning rather than a liquor.
The specific functions of cooking sake in Japanese cooking parallel several of mirin’s functions but with different flavour emphasis:
Odour reduction. The most specifically important function of sake in Japanese cooking: the alcohol denatures and carries away the specific volatile odour compounds of fish and meat. A fish simmered with sake is significantly less likely to have the specific “fishy” smell that bothers some diners than a fish simmered without sake. This specific deodorising function is the primary reason that sake appears in the vast majority of Japanese fish preparations.
Umami addition. Sake — particularly genuine sake rather than the lowest-quality cooking sake — contains significant amino acid content from the fermentation process, which contributes specific umami depth to preparations that contain it.
Flavour extraction. The alcohol of sake functions as a specific solvent that extracts fat-soluble flavour compounds from ingredients — particularly from aromatics like ginger and garlic, which contain specific flavour compounds that alcohol extracts more efficiently than water. The sake marinade that contains ginger extracts the specific gingerol and shogaol compounds of the ginger more completely than a water-based marinade, producing a more flavourful result.
Texture. The specific interaction of sake’s amino acids with the proteins of meat and fish produces a specific tenderising effect and a specific moist texture in the finished preparation. The chicken that has been marinated in sake, mirin, and soy sauce before cooking retains a specific juiciness that unwashed chicken does not.
The Fundamental Combination: Sake, Mirin, Soy Sauce
The specific combination of sake, mirin, and soy sauce — the three-element foundation of Japanese simmered preparations — is so fundamental to Japanese home cooking that the proportion of these three ingredients in specific preparations is one of the most specific pieces of culinary knowledge that the Japanese home cook carries.
The specific nikujaga (meat and potato stew) proportions: sake 2, mirin 2, soy sauce 2, sugar 1 (though sugar is often replaced partially by additional mirin). The specific teriyaki sauce proportions: sake 1, mirin 1, soy sauce 1. The specific sukiyaki warishita: sake 1, mirin 1, soy sauce 1, sugar to taste.
These specific ratios are not universal — each household, each cookbook, each regional tradition has specific variations — but the three-element structure of sake-mirin-soy is as fundamental to Japanese home cooking as the salt-acid-fat structure of Western cooking. Understanding that these three elements work together — that the sake’s depth, the mirin’s sweetness, and the soy sauce’s umami and salinity are the specific components of the specific Japanese home cooking flavour — is understanding something that makes every subsequent Japanese recipe more legible.
— Yoshi 🍶 Central Japan, 2026
Enjoyed this? You might also like: “Japanese Soup Stock: Why Every Japanese Kitchen Starts With Dashi” and “Fermented Japan: Miso, Natto, and the Foods That Foreigners Fear” — both available on Japan Unveiled.
