Cooking with Sake: A Beginner's Guide to Ryorishu and Mirin

When in doubt, reach for cooking sake or drinking sake to tame fishy or gamey flavors, and for mirin when you want sweetness and glaze. That one rule will get you through most recipes.

When a Japanese recipe calls for "sake," you can use either a drinking sake or a bottle of cooking sake, much as Western recipes work with either a drinkable wine or a salted cooking wine. The difference comes down to salt and sweetness. Ryorishu (cooking sake) contains added salt, seishu (regular drinking sake) contains none, and mirin (a sweet rice-based cooking alcohol) supplies the sweetness and glossy finish. Once you know that, the store shelf stops being confusing.

Cooking Sake, Drinking Sake, and Mirin: What Sets Them Apart

These three diverge on two points: whether they contain salt, and whether they bring sweetness. Compare them by alcohol content, salt, and role, and the choice becomes clear.

Most cooking sake comes salted, while mirin is all about sugar. Drinking sake stands apart from both: no added salt, no added sugar.

What Is Cooking Sake?

Ryorishu is, in most cases, sake with salt added for cooking. Under Japan's Liquor Tax Act, sake rendered undrinkable with salt no longer counts as an alcoholic beverage, which is why stores without a liquor license can sell it. (This treatment is known as fukain shochi, literally "rendering undrinkable," the same logic behind salted cooking wine in Western supermarkets.)

Its job is to mask fishy or gamey flavors and to tenderize. It shines when prepping fish and meat.

The thing to watch is the salt. Because cooking sake is salted, go easy when adding soy sauce or salt to the dish. Salt levels vary from product to product, so check the sodium (salt equivalent) on the label before you pour. It keeps your seasoning consistent. On the shelf, the label tells you what you're getting: if the bottle says "seishu," there's no salt; if it says "ryorishu," it's usually salted.

Note that unsalted, drinking-grade cooking sake also exists. If that's what you have, use it exactly like the drinking sake described below.

What Is Mirin?

Mirin comes in two broad kinds: hon mirin ("true mirin") and mirin-style seasoning. The names look alike, but what's inside is not.

Hon mirin is a true alcoholic product, brewed from glutinous rice and koji (mold-cultured rice) with shochu (a Japanese distilled spirit) or brewer's alcohol added. Its alcohol content is under 15% ABV (around 14% in practice), and it is rich in sugars. Together, the sugar and alcohol deliver glaze, body, and a refined sweetness.

Mirin-style seasoning, by contrast, is a blend of sugars such as glucose syrup with seasonings. At under 1% ABV, it doesn't count as an alcoholic beverage. It will give you sweetness and shine, but the flavor-masking and depth that come from alcohol are weaker. On the upside, there's no need to burn off the alcohol over heat, so you can add it even after taking the pan off the stove.

There is also a middle category: fermented seasoning (mirin type). It contains alcohol but has salt added, so it isn't classed as an alcoholic beverage. Like cooking sake, it brings salt to the dish.

What Happens When You Cook with Drinking Sake

Drinking sake works beautifully in the kitchen. If anything, the absence of salt makes your seasoning easier to design: you decide exactly how much salt or soy sauce goes in, just as you would when deglazing with a dry white wine.

Seishu carries umami and aroma from the rice. Add it to simmered dishes or broths and the flavor gains depth. Using up the last of an open bottle in the kitchen is a perfectly practical move.

There's no need to cook with an expensive bottle. Heat drives off the delicate aromatics anyway, so a modestly priced junmai (pure-rice sake) is plenty. For what junmai and ginjo mean, see the difference between junmai, ginjo, and daiginjo. For choosing a bottle, see our buying guide.

Which One for Which Dish

Choose by purpose and you'll never hesitate: cooking sake or drinking sake to mask off-flavors, mirin for glaze and sweetness.

• Simmered dishes ... add umami with drinking sake or cooking sake, then glaze and sweetness with hon mirin
• Teriyaki ... hon mirin creates the signature shine; added at the end, it makes the glaze gleam
• Prepping fish and meat ... cooking sake keeps off-flavors in check
• Sake-steamed dishes ... use drinking sake when you want the aroma to come through

On days you're using salted cooking sake or fermented seasoning, cut back on the salt in your seasoning first, then adjust.

Keep in mind that hon mirin, drinking sake, salted cooking sake, and fermented seasoning all contain alcohol. Most of it cooks off with heat, but in quickly cooked dishes some can remain. For dishes served to anyone who is pregnant or breastfeeding, to children, or to someone about to drive, either simmer thoroughly to burn off the alcohol or choose mirin-style seasoning, which contains almost none.

Substitutions and How to Measure

Run out of one? Within reason, you can swap.

• Drinking sake → cooking sake ... works; it adds salt, so reduce the salt or soy sauce
• Cooking sake → drinking sake ... works; add a little salt separately to compensate
• Hon mirin → mirin-style seasoning ... gets you close on sweetness, but glaze and depth will be weaker
• Hon mirin → sugar + drinking sake ... for 1 tablespoon of mirin, use 1 tablespoon of sake plus 1 teaspoon to 1/2 tablespoon of sugar as a starting point, adjusting sweetness to taste

Start with less and add as you taste, and you won't overshoot. When a salted ingredient is involved in the swap, balance the salt first and the dish will come together reliably.

*This article is intended for readers of legal drinking age (20 in Japan). Please drink responsibly. Avoid alcohol during pregnancy or breastfeeding, and never drink and drive.