The interesting thing about Japanese cuisine is that they can make the same dish taste and look different depending on the various seasonings and condiments that they put in. Ramen noodles can be called different things depending on what sauce was used as the base for its soup and what toppings were added to it.
There are several kinds of condiments, seasonings and sauces used in Japanese cooking, the three most common ones being soy sauce, mirin, and miso. Everyone knows what soy sauce is and how it is used, so this article will focus on mirin and miso instead.
Miso is made out of soy bean paste, which is an important part in Japanese recipes. The soy beans are fermented using salt and koji. Koji, on the other hand, is fermented grain, like rice and barley. Miso takes about a year of fermentation before it can be used for cooking.
Miso can have different tastes and colors depending on where in Japan it is made. The usual miso that people use are the white miso and the red miso, which are sweet and salty respectively.
Mirin, on the other hand is Japanese cooking wine. It has a sweet flavor to it that is different from the way sugar is sweet. Mirin is made up of steamed rice, rice yeast, and a kind of Japanese liquor are fermented together for some time.
Mirin is a good way to add a mildly sweet taste to Japanese dishes, because it is not as sweet as sugar, yet has a distinct flavor of its own. It also gives the dish a nicer aroma, as well as luster to the ingredients. Mirin is the most important ingredient used in teriyaki sauce, and is also used to hide the smell of fish when it is cooked.
These two are commonly used in Japanese cooking, and are usually found in grocery stores. They are useful in the kitchen even for non-Japanese dishes, too.
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