Our Taste Test of Soy Sauce

soy sauce can be used in so many more things than just stir-fry sauces and marinades and Jack is here to tell us which sauce is best we use a lot of soy sauce here in the Test Kitchen it goes into everything from our favorite chili to stews all kinds of European dishes not just Asian dishes to add meaty savory notes because it's got a lot of glutamates and glutamates build big flavor sure so before we taste I want you to smell them because you're gonna learn a lot from the aroma so we rounded up the 10 best-selling brands of soy sauce made in China the United States and Japan we included tamari it's got a lot of press now because it's gluten free regular soy sauce is boiled soybeans along with roasted wheat that are fermented much like you fermented bread or pickles and it takes time to develop all those flavors tamari they leave out the wheat now what the wheat is doing is adding some sweetness to balance out the saltiness so what you're looking for is complexity obviously saltiness and meatiness but honeysuckle melon pineapple strawberry smoked never thought of it so sauce the ones that are very metallic musty and sour those are not good things those are things that we really downgraded quite substantially in the taste test we sample them the way you are sampling them here we also cooked with them the other big difference we found among the soy sauces is they can be done through a traditional fermentation process and that will take anywhere from two months to two years mhm and that really builds the flavor all the top brands that's how they're made some of the lower rated brands that are made here in the US they're using a shortcut called hydrolysis and basically they use hydrochloric acid to speed up the process and it takes two days rather than many months or many years to make soy sauce all at the bottom of the rankings you want to avoid those brands well they are all very well seasoned sure and some of them are very salt forward this one in particular when I taste it taste I almost get up cognac but you know that warm feeling that you have with a nice glass of cognac it's that same kind of secondary flavor that I'm getting there this particular one it's got a taste and I don't know if I like it or not okay and the two on the ends I'm not sure you're liking those or what your opinion is this tastes like liquid salt to me okay the tasting panel found that some were just simply too salty and it sounds like you think that one falls into that category definitely there's something underneath here and I can't put my foot on it or my finger I don't like that one I mean what don't you like or something really sharp there so it sounds like you have very definite opinions about what you'd like yes this is a hundred percent not crazy about this between these two I think this is my favorite do you want to start with what you liked yes let's go with what I liked first so you chose the most expensive one probably the most artisanal it's a Japanese brand it is fermented for two years it's about ten dollars for a little bottle of soy sauce it was fourth place we liked it it's very delicate before a dipping sauce it's really a nice choice at ten dollars for a bottle I'm not sure I want to be making a marinade with it so this one was my runner-up and you've really surprised me here so this is American major oh you're lucky this is this is the one that is hydrolyzed so it is not really fermented so what's in the middle of the pack actually people who are like this is totally familiar this is a soy sauce of my childhood but for most Americans who you know didn't grow up in a family where they were using a lot of soy sauce the soy sauce of our childhood is not necessarily a good thing and so this was a brand we're really I think it's kind of one-dimensional you're right I mean there's a little bit of the chicken some soy sauce thing going on there maybe that's what I was connecting to and then this one this was at the bottom the rankings this is one of the Tamar E's and you said it was way too salty the tasting panel said this is the problem with the tomorrow's without any of the meat you don't get any of the sweetness to balance out all of the saltiness and there really really one-dimensional and overpowering so I'm guessing this is the winner winner is Kikkoman it was the panel's favorite choice made here in the US it is fermented for six to eight months it's not as delicate as the one that you liked but it really has all those savory soy sauce notes that you want it sure does I mean it's very strong so maybe I just have a delicate palate or maybe we're not supposed to drink soy sauce out of a glass that could be true yes great advice do not drink soy sauce out of a glass but if you'd like to try the winner it's Kikkoman soy sauce and that's to 79 a bottle thanks for watching America's Test Kitchen what you think we'll leave a comment and let us know which recipes you're excited to make or you can just say hello you can find links to today's recipes and reviews in the video description and don't forget to subscribe to our Channel see you later I'll see you later

Channel: America's Test Kitchen

Views: 314,471

Keywords: soy sauce, soy sauce taste test, best soy sauce, kikkoman soy sauce, best supermarket soy sauce, ingredients, ingredient taste test, soy, condiments

Id: X0QVxuFwvxY

Length: 5min 5sec (305 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 19 2019