Usukuchi shoyu

Sauce soja claire (usukuchi)

What it is

Brewed at Tatsuno in the 1660s so that the clear broths of Kansai would stay clear, usukuchi is paler than ordinary shoyu and yet saltier: the brine is stronger and the mash pressed younger, so it never darkens. Amazake, a sweet rice mash, goes in at the end of brewing, which is why so pale a sauce tastes so round.

In the kitchen

Use about three quarters of what a recipe asks in ordinary shoyu and taste before adding more: usukuchi carries a couple of points more salt. In a dashi for chawanmushi or udon it seasons without browning the egg or the broth.

Goes with

Kombu Katsuobushi (dried bonito) Hon-mirin Daikon Egg Mitsuba

Same species

Chunjang Dark soy sauce Doenjang Douchi Edamame Fermented bean curd

Also used with

Fuki (butterbur stalk) Ma-kombu Japanese red seabream (madai) Maguro-bushi Urume-bushi Yakiago

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