The other night I made the "Bejing-Style Meat Sauce and Noodles" from the most recent (May-June 2018) issue of Cooks Illustrated. Usually their recipes come out quite good, even if they are often a bit involved.
I've done Asian-style food before but it is not something I do a lot. It's a basic recipe where you brown some ground pork, add some scallions, garlic and mushrooms (ground up in a food processor) to the mix and once browned add the sauce:
- 5 Tbsp red miso paste
- 5 Tbsp soy sauce
- 3 Tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 Tbsp molasses
- 1/2 cup water
I've never cooked with miso before but everything else is familiar. Unfortunately the resultant sauce, especially when cooked down a bit as the recipe calls for is just much to salty. Not to the point of being inedible but still just too much.
Wondering if anyone has some thoughts on what to do with this sauce mixture to lessen or dilute the saltiness without losing the umami that the sauce ingredients provide?
Best Answer
The first thing that caught my eye was the soy sauce. However, I think the real culprit here is the miso.
From Wikipedia:
About red miso, from the same article:
(Emphasis mine.)
The base ingredients for miso can vary widely. Also from the Wikipedia article:
I would try a different variety or a mixture of more than one. An example from the Wikipedia article:
Do a little research and find one or more varieties of miso that suit your taste.