What is the best soy sauce for sushi? There are a lot of brands out there that fill different niches of taste. Nonetheless, a good soy sauce can really give the sushi roll more flavor.
How to Use Soy Sauce
Natural Flavor of Soy Sauce:
Sushi rolls are naturally very flavored already. And a strong sauce will take away the pure flavor of ingredients.
Moreover, this is true for eating in sushi restaurantsthat provide soy sauce that are too bitter. Since a bitter flavor will overpower the natural balance in the sushi roll.
Contrasting Brands of Soy Sauce
However, this also depends on the brand of soy sauce. Because after experimenting with different soy sauce, it reveals to me that there?s more than just bitterness.
In fact, for some pure sushi like cucumber rolls, soy sauce like Kikkoman can actually really add some sweetness to it. So it really depends on the type of roll and the brand of soy sauce.
Top 5 Best Soy Sauce
1. Kikkoman Soy Sauce
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Firstly, the Kikkoman Soy Sauce is by far one of the best soy sauce in my kitchen that is frequently used for applying to the rice.
And this is not an exaggeration at all, because it really has great flavoring for the rice. Furthermore, instead of tasting super bitter like the soy sauce you will find in asian restaurants.
Instead the Kikkoman Soy Sauce actually tastes sweet. Although it still retains that bitterness of soy sauce. It has the additional sweetness that?s strange to find in a condiment known for its bitterness.
Additionally, the Kikkoman Soy Sauce is fine for applying a huge amount to mix into the white rice. Generally when you do this with other brands it instantly makes the food icky and disgusting.
However, the sweet taste of this soy sauce applied to my cooking truly makes a bowl of rice so much more full of texture to enjoy. And works for a variety of other foods not just sushi.
2. Lee Kum Kee Premium Soy Sauce
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Comparatively, this flavoring has much more complex texture to it in comparison to the Kikkoman Soy Sauce.
Also it?s much more salty than sweet, but it still is great for dipping your sushi roll into without the problem of being too bitter for your palate.
Specifically, for my family this sauce is found to be best used in cooking with a variety of ingredients that need some salty taste. Besides using it for sushi rolls, I have also found it to be useful for making fried rice.
However, this brand should be used in dipping foods only sparingly. And it is the type of sauce that you?re looking for to flavor a nigiri fish roll. Since it makes more sense to balance the pure fish tastewith a saltier texture than the sweet Kikkoman.
3. Pearl River Bridge Superior Dark Soy Sauce
Firstly, the thing about Chinese dark soy sauce is that it has a rich and earthy flavor. And this is what you?re looking if you?re trying to find the best soy sauce that can really give your food some depth to its texture.
Moreover, if you never tried Chinese soy sauce, it?s less as sweet and mild than your usual Japanese soy sauce.
Especially with this dark soy sauce, it is not only less sweet you can instantly taste its saltiness. In fact, when I first began sampling the soy sauces. I only need to dip my finger in a tiny bit and I could already taste its texture.
Although from the initial tasting it has some saltiness in its flavoring, it also includes a slight bit of balancing sweetness.
4. Kishibori Shoyu
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Kishibori is a soy sauce that is imported from Japan and has a nice mild aged flavor. Probably comes from the fact that it was fermented in 100 year old barrels.
At first you probably couldn?t really taste much difference. But it has a subtle complex salty quality to its flavor.
Rather than covering the flavor already there, it brings a strong clean taste from the heavy sodium. So it?s not that great for mixing for cooking but more for adding to sushi rolls.
Moreover, you can feel the concentration/intensity of the texture if you over apply it to your rice. Hence, this is a great option for anybody interested in strong soy sauce for dipping.
5. Yamaroku Soy Sauce
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When you unpack it, you will notice that the soy sauce is actually much darker than the generic color.
Besides the color that seems a little strange, it is the taste that will really shock you. Because it really lets you taste the subtle difference that makes the best soy sauce. The underlying rich variety that makes soy sauce so special.
Additionally, it is also thicker in texture and less strong than the kicking taste of Kikkoman Soy Sauce. And really allow you explore the savory meaty taste of umami.
Although it?s bit on the high end of best soy sauce selection. However, it is well priced based on the high value the craftsmen place on the aging process of this sauce.
