h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Make your own!!!

7 teaspoons of dark soy sauce
14 teaspoons of sake (Japanese rice wine)
A heaped teaspoon of sugar

mix it all together, and marinade as usual - much nicer than the stuff you buy in the shops!

heck, that sounds good just like it is i can think of all kinds of cooking i would try that sauce on
monsy

Yup! Just remember anything benefits from a good long marinade - at least an hour...

I agree with the expression of disgust at sauce in a jar. But - and here's the rub - what do you do if sake is not available? In Chinese cooking, you can substitute dry sherry for rice wine, but Japanese sake has a (number of) very distinctive taste(s). Any suggestions?

Oh! BTW - if you are looking for an "authentic" Japanese marinade, try looking on a search engine for Yakitori (chicken kebabs) and you'll find a whole host of easy to prepare stuff. I've used yakitori sauce for pork and beef on BBQ's and it's brilliant!

All the recipes I've seen do suggest dry sherry if no sake is available - I've never tried it myself. Sake isn't expensive, and never, AFAIK, goes off, so I got myself a little bottle which is lasting very well!