Soy Sauce: Lachoy vs Kikkoman Cage Match

[roo_ster]

Personally, I find Lachoy to be goddawful.  I find it nastier than the soy sauce packets at the cheapest oriental restaurants.

Kikkoman is, by far, the better of the two commonly available soy sauces found in the USA.

[K Frame]

I can't stand Kikoman.

LaChoy isn't all that much better.

I buy my soy sauce from the local asian market. No hydrolized vegetable proteins.

[SADShooter]

Kikkoman is the best of the widely-available brands, and the flavor I'm accustomed to, but there are certainly better. LaChoy is a waste of packaging.

[coppertales]

I also get my soy sauce at a local Vietnamese market.  Kikkoman will do in a pinch though.  I also use alot of nuc mam......Three Crabs brand....chris3

[41magsnub]

I grew up using Chun King but switched to Kikkoman as an adult.  I don't use it hardly at all with the low sodium diet thing now.  The Kikkoman "less sodium" is still really really high.

[freedom lover]

I think Kikkoman is completely awesome. I've never had the real Asian stuff.

[Firethorn]

After buying a bottle of Kikkoman I'd rather use it than the completely free packages available at the chinese restraunts. 

Haven't ever tried LaChoy.  Still have about a year's worth in a jug, so it'll be a while before I go looking for a chinese market.

[Kyle]

I don't use soy sauce. But I do have some commentary on the stuff.

I used to work at Kona Grill. Every sunday, we dumped all the soy bottles into big buckets, sealed them, and then ran all the bottles through the dishwasher. Monday morning, the people who opened the restaurant were tasked with filling all the bottles back up (over 100 of them) and re-distributing the, to the tables. One person would fill, the other would run them to the tables.

Nobody ever wanted to be the person to stand there and meticulously pour pitchers of soy sauce into little bottles. Except me. Why, do you ask?

Because if you breathe the fumes of a big bucket of soy sauce for an hour, after the first 10 minutes it smells EXACTLY like Guinness Extra Stout.

Weird, right?

P.S. This was Kikoman. My guess is that LaChoy smells like Boddington's 

[Perd Hapley]

This discussion puzzles me greatly, as I have never discerned any redeeming quality in soy sauce of any kind.  What is it for? 

[41magsnub]

This discussion puzzles me greatly, as I have never discerned any redeeming quality in soy sauce of any kind.  What is it for? 

Rice with some soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce awesome.  Good marinade component.  Essential for a proper stir fry.  Great mixer for vodka.


okay, maybe not so much that last one...

[thebaldguy]

Kikkoman is pretty good, but like coppertales and Mike Erwin said, go check out an Asian market. You can find a better sauce (even lower sodium ones are available - check out the labels) for a great price. Our local market has over 20 types available (some brands have both light and stronger flavored regular sauce) and it's usually a lot cheaper.

I use the cheap packets mixed in with the good stuff in marinades.

[Gowen]

This discussion puzzles me greatly, as I have never discerned any redeeming quality in soy sauce of any kind.  What is it for? 

You really need to get out more and try something other than scooter pies and fried chicken.

[red headed stranger]

Of the mass produced stuff I like the Kikkoman best for marinades and recipes and such.  The main reason for this is because it is consistent from one batch to the next.  Since they make such huge volumes of sauce in various locations they must have it figured out the best way to produce a consistent product.  I personally have found that many soy sauces vary in taste greatly from one batch to the next.  

For adding to a dish after cooking or as a dipping sauce, i like the thicker chinese style soy sauces.

[crt360]

This discussion puzzles me greatly, as I have never discerned any redeeming quality in soy sauce of any kind.  What is it for? 

It's for quickly and cheaply giving some flavor to foods that either have no flavor (like white rice) or have flavor that is in desperate need of improvement.

[K Frame]

Soy sauce is a flavor enhancer. Used properly, it enhances and deepens the flavor of food. It is, in essence, liquid flavored salt.

In a lot of ways, it's Asia's answer to Roman Garum, which is an analog to Worcestershire Sauce.

Unfortunately, most Americans haven't figured that out. They use the crap like ketchup, figuring if some is OK, a quart is better. They end up with a plate of food with about 4 billion grams of sodium and taste that is completely overwhelmed by the sauce, so of course they're not going to like it, or are even going to develop an aversion to it.

Learn to use it properly, and you'll figure out that it really does make good food better.



"It's for quickly and cheaply giving some flavor to foods that either have no flavor (like white rice)"

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at the thought that rice has no flavor. You need to investigate just a few of the hundreds of "white" rices that are just teeming with flavor all their own.

[Perd Hapley]

Wow.  Answers!  Thanks. 

Now, what is a scooter pie?  Oh, never mind.  Google is friend.   

[erictank]

Personally, I find Lachoy to be goddawful.  I find it nastier than the soy sauce packets at the cheapest oriental restaurants.

Kikkoman is, by far, the better of the two commonly available soy sauces found in the USA.

Personally, I also prefer Kikkoman's flavor.  However, we keep and use LaChoy exclusively at home.  Seems that Kikkoman, like so many other brands available at the local megamart grocery stores, uses wheat in their soy sauce - and my wife is allergic to wheat (she reacts similarly to sufferers of Celiac disease - it's not an anaphylactic-shock kind of allergy).  LaChoy is wheat-free.

I don't think it's BAD, or anything, mind you, so I don't feel terribly put-upon by this  .  It'd be nice, though, if Kikkoman's didn't have wheat in it.

(after reading the rest of the thread) I've been living in the DC area for THREE YEARS now, and never once even THOUGHT of hitting one of the Asian markets in the area to find something better! D'OH!!<slaps forehead>  Thanks for the tip, guys.

[K Frame]

When buying soy sauce, READ THE INGREDIENTS LIST!

Many "soy" sauces will say "Naturally Brewed" which is bull crap. They're about as natural as a Safeway tomato in February.

Read the ingredients list.

If the list says "Hydrolized Vegetable Proteins" drop the bottle and RUN.

That's ingredients speak for vegetable protein that's boiled with sulfuric and other acids for the better part of a day, decanted, neutralized, salted, colored, and bottled into something that is cheap as hell to produce and doesn't even come remotely close to being soy sauce.

[bedlamite]

Kikkoman has more than one plant in Japan that makes the stuff and one of them still makes it the traditional way. My parents have a friend in Japan who's father is in upper Management there. We've been getting a couple bottles a year from them, and I can't stand the stuff you buy in stores anymore. We usually send back some pure maple syrup.

[Regolith]

I usually get Kikkoman.  Despite a fairly high Asian population, we don't really have any asian markets here; nearest one is four hours away in Portland (I think) and I HATE driving in Portland.

[red headed stranger]

I HATE driving in Portland.

I hate driving in the local Asian megamart parking lot.  It's like I moved back to Seoul. 

[Northwoods]

Personally, I also prefer Kikkoman's flavor.  However, we keep and use LaChoy exclusively at home.  Seems that Kikkoman, like so many other brands available at the local megamart grocery stores, uses wheat in their soy sauce - and my wife is allergic to wheat (she reacts similarly to sufferers of Celiac disease - it's not an anaphylactic-shock kind of allergy).  LaChoy is wheat-free.

SWMBO and both kids have Celiacs, so no Kikkoman in our house.  LaChoy is what we usually get.  I tend to use it mostly for marinades, occasionally for a stir fry. 

I'll have to check into some of the Asian markets in Seattle when I get back.  See if there's something I like better.

[RocketMan]

Where are you, Regolith?  There is a fairly decent Asian market in Corvallis if that's closer.

Ajipon Citrus Seasoned Soy Sauce is a favorite of mine when I can find it.

[Regolith]

Where are you, Regolith?  There is a fairly decent Asian market in Corvallis if that's closer.

La Grande;  I'm on the other side of the state.

Corvallis is a good 7 or 8 hour drive, depending on traffic.  And I have to go through Portland to get to it. 

[Firethorn]

If the list says "Hydrolized Vegetable Proteins" drop the bottle and RUN.

I happened to be in the store today so I checked out the LaChoys* and Kikkoman's ingredients lists.  LaChoys consisted of water, hydrolized something, corn syrup, salt, food coloring, basically a bunch of artificial stuff.

Kikkoman's consisted of: Water, Wheat, Soybeans, Salt, and 'less than 0.10% Sodium Benzoate as a preservative'. (I cheated and used the internet).
Lachoy: WATER, SALT, HYDROLYZED SOY PROTEIN, CORN SYRUP, CARAMEL COLOR, POTASSIUM SORBATE(PRESERVATIVE) (from internet, I don't remember the bottle in the store mentioning protein). 

So, basically Mike doesn't think that LaChoy produces soy sauce.  I think I'll stick with the Kikkoman, assuming I don't hit up an asian market.

Oh and I don't use all that much soy sauce in my cooking, normally only a few tablespoons.