You could be making your food tasteless simply by using soy sauce incorrectly.
Soy sauce is used in various dishes and is most commonly found in East Asian foods such as cuisine from China, Japan, and Korea. It is made from a fermented paste of soybeans and is known for its salty and umami flavours.
However, a food expert has claimed that many of us don’t actually use this condiment correctly, and not doing it the right way can actually make our dishes taste bland.
The incorrect use of soy sauce doesn’t usually come from the way the sauce itself is used. But instead, it’s more likely that you’re using the wrong kind of condiment entirely. There are two kinds of soy sauce, light and dark, and each has a very specific use.
Using light soy sauce when you need to use dark, or vice versa, can hugely impact the food you’re making and can completely change the flavour of your dish – potentially ruining the entire meal.
In a video shared on TikTok by the European account for Hong Kong-based food company Lee Kum Kee, one expert in the field explained the key differences between light and dark soy sauce and when to use each one.
She said: “Light soy sauce is salty, thin, is used for flavour, and has a light brown colour. Dark soy sauce, on the other hand, is sweeter, thicker, and darker. And that’s why you’re using it – to add some nice golden colour to your food.”
These differences might seem obvious just based on the names alone, but the thickness and colour of the sauce actually make a huge difference when they’re used in cooking.
The expert continued: “Next time you’re cooking your stir fry, remember: A splash of light soy sauce for taste, and a splash of dark soy sauce for that nice, glossy golden finish.”
Lee Kum Kee’s website also provides more information on different types of soy sauce. They state that light soy sauce has a “strong aromatic umami and savoury flavour,” which makes it ideal for stir-fry recipes and noodle dishes.
Dark soy sauce, meanwhile, is “mainly used for adding colour to dishes and usually paired with light soy sauce to achieve ideal colour and taste”. When cooking with dark soy sauce, it makes a “great addition” to pork recipes and stews.
The experts state: “To put it simply, light soy sauce is used for seasoning and dark soy sauce is used for adding colour to dishes. Light soy sauce is golden brown in colour and rich in taste to add flavour during the marinating and seasoning stage. It uplifts the flavour of any meat, noodles or rice dishes.
“On the other hand, dark soy sauce is used to add deep colours to meat stews and casseroles and often paired with light soy sauce to achieve the perfect taste and colour.”
While each type of soy sauce does something different, they are most effective when used in tandem, so you can’t go wrong by adding a splash of both dark and light varieties to your next dish.
