Chinese Wines and Vinegars

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Shaoxing Rice Wine

A type of sweet Chinese wine containing 18% alcohol made from rice. It is used both as a liqueur and in cooking. You will often see Chinese recipes that call for brandy or sherry. In such cases, the author is westernizing the original recipe with easy to find ingredients. As such, when you see a recipe that calls for brandy, sherry or sometimes vermouth, make it authentic by using Shaoxing rice wine.

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White Rice Vinegar

White rice vinegar is popular in Chinese, Korean and Japanese cooking. It is less acidic and has a more mild flavor than white vinegars produced in the west. As such, it is favored when a distinct but not overly strong vinegar taste is desired.

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Red Vinegar

A sweet vinegar that makes its appearance on many tables as a dipping sauce. Exquisite with shanghai style pork dumplings. It probably has many other uses, but I don't know what they are. I will keep a lookout and update this section as I learn more.

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Black Vinegar

Chinese black vinegar is an aged vinegar made from rice, wheat, millet, or sorghum. It has a solid black color and a flavor not unlike balsamic vinegar except with a subtle caramel tone. As the taste is similar, balsamic vinegar is a very acceptable substitution in cooking. Black vinegar comes sweetened (hock naw mai cho) or unsweetened (teem ding teem cho).

Chinkiang vinegar is a special type of unsweetened black vinegar. It is labeled as "Chinkiang" rather than the all encompassing "black". Although slightly sweeter with less of an artificial caramel tone, the taste is not substantially different to regular black vinegar.

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Further Reading

• Rice vinegars (Wikipedia)
• Huangjiu - A type of Chinese wines of which Shaoxing is one (Wikipedia)