(repost from August 2015)

Q: What’s the difference between light and dark soy?

A: If you answered “salt,” you’re right, but may be wrong, since light soy is saltier than dark soy.  Besides the difference in salt, dark soy makes me think of molasses…it has more richness and depth of flavor.  The difference is in the usage:  light soy is used for quickly cooked (stir-fried) dishes, and dark soy is used for longer-cooked dishes like stews.

Q: If dark soy has more depth of flavor, why isn’t it used in every dish?

A:  Good question!  I don’t know.  My guess is that someone with more experience with Chinese food than me (e.g., someone who’s Chinese) might say the the complexity of dark soy conflicts with the relatively simple flavors of the meat and (especially) vegetables of a stir-fried dish, but that’s just a guess.

I tried a few varieties of soy sauce, and based on my experience, have settled on Pearl River Bridge as my go-to soy sauce:

This stuff is great, with a real depth of flavor, and it’s reasonably priced.

Occasionally I try a bottle of something else:

…but haven’t found anything I like as good as Pearl River Bridge, so my experiments languish in my fridge for six months, then get thrown out.

You DO keep your soy sauce in the fridge, don’t you?  Probably unnecessary, but it might preserve some freshness.

As much as I love soy sauce, it’s very salty, so I generally reduce the amounts in recipes by about 1/3.  The “low-sodium” versions that I’ve tried have been woefully bad, and you can always add more at the end of the cooking time, then stir briefly.

The other brand I love is Kikkoman, which I use for Japanese recipes:

It’s the only American-made soy sauce that’s fermented, rather than being manufactured from chemicals (I’m looking at you, La Choy).  I was delighted to find out that Kikkoman is made in my home state of Wisconsin, otherwise unknown as a hotbed of Japanese artisanal foodstuffs.

 In the end, in a finished dish, I doubt that I could taste the difference between any of these (except nasty La Choy) but my palate is improving, and it’s always fun to try new things.

-R