On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:49:04 -0400, cshenk wrote:

> "amandaF" wrote
>
>> I have never used it in anything. The Kung pPao Chicken recipe asked
>> for it and I was curious about it, assuming that the Chinese
>> restaurant used it in their cooking.
>
> A translation there. Most asiatic recipes get translated to use dry sherry
> vice 'rice wine' (sake or mirin are japanese names for it).
>

mirin, with its added sugar, is not a good substitute. sake would likely
produce a good result, but different. amanda would be better off buying a
dry sherry from taylor or gallo, which probably costs about the same as
'cooking wine' sold at the grocery, given the size of the bottles. sherry
keeps well.

a chinese restaurant may use rice wine with added salt, but almost never (i
would think) cooking sherry.

your pal,
blake