Cooking with Saké
 My mother Linda Stradley, and I toured the Sakéry together, she is a terrific chef and put together some information on cooking with Saké.  Her web site, What's Cooking America is full of great information.

The first and most important rule: Use only sakes in your cooking that you would drink. Never, never use any sake that you WOULD NOT DRINK! If your do not like the taste of a sake, you will not like the dish you choose to use it in. The process of cooking/reducing will bring out the worst in an inferior sake. Please promise yourself never, never to stoop to such a product!  Linda's rule of thumb is: I do not cook with something I will not drink.

An expensive saké is not necessary, although a cheap saké will not bring out the best characteristics of your dish. A good quality saké that you enjoy, will provide the same flavor to a dish as a good quality wine. Save the premium saké to serve with the meal. For best results, saké, just like wine, should not be added to a dish just before serving. It should simmer with the food, or sauce, to enhance the flavor of the dish. If added late in the preparation, it could impart a harsh quality.

The function of any alcoholic drink in cooking is to intensify, enhance and accent the flavor and aroma of food - not to mask the flavor of what you are cooking but rather to fortify it. As with any seasoning used in cooking, care should be taken in the amount of saké used - too little is inconsequential and too much will be overpowering. Neither extreme is desirable. A small quantity of saké will enhance the flavor of the dish. The alcohol in the saké evaporates while the food is cooking, and only the flavor remains.
 

Recipes from SakeOne
 
Saké Chicken Mango Wraps
 
Spinach Artichoke Saké Dip
 
Chocolate Pearl Saké Cake
 
Saké Teriyaki Chicken Marinade
 


How To Serve Saké

SakeOne Philosophy on serving

When you have a high quality Saké, you always serve it chilled.  Inferior sakes are often served warm or hot, to disguise the bitterness or unpleasant taste. 

There are times when Serving Saké warm is appropriate.  Such as during some sake ceremonies.  One such is where you do not pour for yourself, but pour for others, which is a sign of respect. 

The practice of serving Saké chilled started with the change in technology in the 1960’s.  Rice milling became more precise which help to produce the delicate sakés that are made today.  The more delicate saké or premium saké are actually damaged by heat.  

Rules apply when you serve sake just as in the wine world.  You would not serve a good chardonnay hot, do not heat a premium Ginjo saké.  Serving too cold or too hot can mask the flavors.  A two or three hour chilling in the refrigerator will bring it to its optimum serving temperature. 

Saké can be served in the traditional masu boxes, a square box made of cedar that was used to measure rice.  Other common ways are over ice in a tumbler, or chilled in a wine glass, which like wine enhances the aromas and flavors of premium saké. 

Store your saké in a cool place, away from strong light.  Similar to white wine, it will not age well and has a shelf life of about two years, and only a week after it has been opened and stored in the refrigerator. 

Saké can be paired with any foods that wine is paired with, but because of it’s delicate nature, it goes especially well with seafood, vegetables, fruit and of course Asian food.

 

 

 

Saké Tasting

In the sakéry, President of SakeOne, Steve Boone, presented the following basics of saké tasting.

Tasting sake is an easy lesson in anatomy, legs, nose, mouth.

Look at those legs. Swirl the saké. If rich legs form on the glass, the saké will have more body (more anatomy), generally rich flavors, and feel more full or round in the mouth. It should be clear, but occasionally may be slightly yellow.

The nose knows.  Swirling releases tiny droplets in the glass allowing us to more easily smell the saké. Try smelling saké before you swirl, then swirl and smell again. The difference in intensity should be significant. What do you smell? Think in terms of familiar aromas. Common saké aromas include honeydew, cantaloupes, peach, tropical fruits, mineral, earth, green apple, coconut, anise. If these aromas would enhance your meal (think tropical fruit salsa on grilled chicken), then the saké and the food should work well together.

Time to drink it.  You will taste flavors equivalent to some, but not necessarily all, of the aromas you noticed. The basic tastes your tongue recognizes are sweet, sour, salt, and bitter. Of course saké does not have salt and should not be bitter. But tropical spices, mineral, coconut, an earthiness, and, of course, rich creamy saké rice is often noticed on the palette. Fruit-infused sakes should have aromas and flavors true to their particular infusion. Ideally, the flavors will linger. A long finish is a sign of good saké.

 


 

Sakétini Recipes
Momokawa & Moonstone
From Saké One
First rule of thumb if it sounds good it probably is, so experiment!


Sakétini
 

Saké Margarita
 

Moonstone Truffle
 

Wasabi Mary
 

The Geisha
 

My day at the Sakéry

 

Despite the fact that my parents own a vineyard, and every season I am out there with them picking and poking at grapes, I do not really call wine my drink of choice.  Nor do I really care for beer.  It got me thinking, “Maybe I could like Saké?” 

A good friend of mine, Eileen, has mentioned several times her passion for Saké  She was studying to be a Saké master, and often talks of sampling of fine Saké  I had suggested she write an article for the KitchenSlave web site. She suggested we go to the Sakéry.

Arriving on Sakétini Saturday was a promising way to start.  Martinis made with Saké,  Yep.  Our first sampling was the Lychee Margarita, then the Wasabe Mary, and finally a Saké latte.  I found out right there that Saké does not have to taste like rubbing alcohol. 

I further discovered that cooking with Saké is like the new pink!  My mouth started savoring at the idea, of the Saké Pearl chocolate cake, and Teriyaki Saké glaze that I could baste across the slow grilled chicken ka bobs.  I see the light!

Now you are thinking where on earth did she visit a Sakéry in the United States?  Well in California there are Four Japanese owned Sakérys that produce a high volume product that is what you are likely drinking when you try Saké for the first time. However, here in Oregon, Forest Grove is home to the only US owned award winning Saké brewery, SakéOne.  They are the proud brewers of Momokawa and Moonstone Saké. 

President Steve Boone, is a 30 plus year wine veteran, working in retail, education and marketing of wine.  Steve has lectured about wine marketing at several universities and business schools internationally, including the University of San Francisco, and the University of California at Davis, and Monash University in Australia, where he is the executive-in-residence of their Executive Wine Program.

Steve has served on numerous profit and non-profit boards, from the American Institute of Wine and Food to 800wine.com and is a member of the World Presidents’ Organization. A lifelong wine aficionado, collector and retailer, he has been named a “Retail Superstar” by Market Watch and one of the wine industry’s “100 Most Influential People” by Wine Spectator. He is a Senior Trustee at Pacific University and a member of the board of directors at Kunde Estate Winery.

Steve’s passion now is helping to produce America’s most honored Saké at SakéOne.  Brew masters at SakéOne have studied with the prestigious Momokawa Brewing in Japan. 

Momokawa Brewing was originally established in the Edo Period (c. 1603-1868).  By the 22nd year of the Meiji Period (1889), it had launched full-scale saké brewing operations. At the time of the company's founding, Momokawa saké was brewed with the pure water of the Oirase River, also known to the local residents as the Momoishi River. It is from this source of sparkling fresh water that Momokawa Saké derives its name.

The Saké One brew masters have brought back to the US, with the blessings of Momokawa Brewing, the secrets to making top quality Saké, known as Ginjo.  What sets SakéOne apart from the Japanese owned Saké breweries in the US is the production of Ginjo Saké.  Steve Boones explains, during our tour of the brewery, that using the heart of the rice and the right yeast are the key.

 

Saké - pronounced "sa-kay" - not "sak-ee"

How Saké Is Made:

The process of Saké is similar to making beer because it is brewed. However, like the best wines, which are made from the best grapes, the finest Saké also is made with the finest ingredients, the purest water, high quality Saké rice, special yeast and koji.  These four ingredients used in brewing of Saké is known as Junmai “Pure Rice”.   

 

Water:

The first ingredient is water.  Unlike grapes, rice has low moisture content so water must be added.  The water needs to be pure; mineral free, fresh and sweet in the mouth like it came from a mountain stream.  The Saké One chose Oregon to build their Sakéry for that very reason.  We have water, lots of water, lots of pure water from the east coast of the costal mountain range, which is the best water available in America to produce premium Saké.

 

Rice:

There are only 200 varieties of rice out of the thousands of kinds that are good for brewing Saké.  Saké rice is brown, short grain, almost round.  In the center of the rice grain, is where the starch is found that produces the best flavors.  This center or heart looks similar to a white pearl, referred to by the Japanese as the shinpaku or “white heart”.

In order to produce the highest quality Saké, Ginjo, 40 % of the outer hull must be polished away.  All the fat and proteins are found there, and that is where the unpleasant taste may come from.  To make sure you are drinking the highest quality look for the term Ginjo on the label.  The even finer quality Sakés, like the one’s produced by the Momokawa brewer in Japan polish away 50% of the hull, producing a rare and expensive Saké referred to as “Daiginjo”.

Notice also that the term used in perfecting the rice grain to Ginjo, or Daiginjo, is polishing, not grinding.  Polishing is a gentle process where the rice grains are rotated against each other to prevent cracks in the grain.  If the rice is ground, cracks occur which can cause the fermentation to happen at different rates in different grains, which causes the loss of the subtle fruit flavors that are common to good Saké.

After polishing, the rice is then washed and soaked to bring up the water content before it is steamed.  After steaming a part of the steamed rice is set aside for the koji process the rest goes directly into the brewing tanks.

 

Koji:

Koji is one of the keys in the Saké making process.  Koji is a mold that is cultivated on a bed of steamed rice.  This process releases enzymes that bread down the starches into smaller sugar molecules that act as food for the yeast.  The final product is small BB sized powdery pearls, which are sweet and spongy.  

 

Environment:
The humidly and temperature are key in the koji process.  This was explained to us as we wandered into the biggest sauna I have ever seen.  Traditional cedar planked walls are used as a natural deterrent of bacteria.   Since Saké One has the only cedar lined koji rooms in America, it ensures a higher quality of koji, it allows brew master to come in and hand turn the rice with wooden paddles over a period of several days.  This helps to avoid clumping of the rice.  The other breweries use large stainless steel tanks with metal paddles that turn the koji, which causes clumping.  Clumping causes un-uniform inoculation and can affect the product. 

 

Yeast:

The yeast used is also critical in the outcome of the Saké.  Saké One imports and then grows a special strain of Momokawa yeast that they add with water and sent to the moto, or starter tank.  Brewers that produce Saké for the ‘hot’ Saké market brew quickly at higher temperatures.  For premium Ginjo Saké, multiple batches are made and cold brewed at temperatures of about 35 degrees F. for about a month. 

 

Filtration:

After a month of bubbling and brewing in the tank, the Saké is filter and pasteurized to stop the fermentation process. 

 

Aging:

The filtered and pasteurized Saké is then aged for three months to a year; the aging process adds complexity and depth to the final product.   

 

Bottling:

After the Sake master is content that the Saké has aged properly to ensure the best flavors, the Saké is then pasteurized once more and then bottled.

Before the pasteurization process was invented, Saké was consumed for centuries as Nama Saké “fresh”.  Nama, since it is not aged or pasteurized has a short shelf life, because it will begin to ferment again.  Nama offers some surprising and intensely wonderful flavors that are definitely worth trying.  It was my favorite and I prefer it to wine.  

Fresh Nama should be refrigerated and will have an expiration date on it, which ensures the fullest of flavors.  Some Nama is sold without being refrigerated.  It has been cold filtered which keeps the yeast from being bottled.  The cold filtration process also filters out the big flavor molecules that make the real thing so spectacular to drink. 

I was very impressed with Saké One; they seemed to take the extra care in producing the finest quality, Ginjo, Saké possible.  They have taken many steps not only to ensure tradition in Saké brewing, but they also bring an American touch to the process that makes the product uniquely their own. 

 

  


Yeast Starter produces trillions of yeast cells from the imported test tube.

Test tube containing imported yeast, and the bag with the trillions of reproduced yeast cells

Cedar lined koji room, like a giant sauna

Finished koji, like tiny white pearls

Top of fermenting tank

A look down inside at the fermenting saké

Moromi press, containing a series of metal screens and heavy cheesecloth.  Solids build up on the cloth which enables the saké to naturally filter itself.

Storage tanks where saké is stored for three months to over a year

Bottled saké ready to go