I like making soups and porridges. I usually add salt and pepper at the beginning to add flavor. Recently, a friend gave me a bottle of soy sauce and Im experimenting with it.
What would it make more sense? to add the soy sauce with the other ingredients before the mix boils, while boiling or only to add it before serving?
Another question is: should I use salt if I use soy sauce? Apparently, this sauce has a lot of sodium.
I’ll use both salt and soy sauce in a dish. Soy sauce adds complexity to the flavor of broths, soups, savory porridge, stir fries, dumplings, sauces, meats, etc.
When making soups or stews, I’ll lightly salt the onions I fry so they release their water faster, but not enough to season them. Salt helps pull water out of food, so it has utility outside of just seasoning. Soy sauce might do the same, but I haven’t used it that way. I’ll add soy sauce closer to the end of the cook during my seasoning adjustment step in lieu of salt, but sometimes I’ll use both as I want a mild soy sauce flavor, not a strong one.
I’ll include soy sauce in marinades to add color and flavor while salting meats. Usually with a small pinch of sugar and some Shaoxing cooking wine (though most any wine or acid would work).
I use soy sauce as a base for a dipping sauce for dumplings or steamed veggies, combining it with vinegar, sesame oil, minced green onions, stock and/or chili oil/paste.
I’ll use it in stir fries towards the end when I’m seasoning, like the soups, by jamming my thumb over the opening and drizzling some (less than half a teaspoon) around the wok before mixing thoroughly.
You don’t have to do this, but I often use two soy sauces, one light, one dark. You likely have a bottle of the light kind. The dark is thicker and has a deeper flavor and it’s less salty. I’ll use a very little bit (like a quarter of a teaspoon) of dark soy sauce to add another layer of flavor complexity and to color my food so it looks more appealing. A touch can add a lil color that somewhat mimics the browning you get from a strong Maillard reaction.
Soy sauce is a great way to add salt and umami at the same time while giving your food an appetizing appearance. I’d go light with it first, though, as you often don’t need very much in a dish and when it overpowers a dish, it’s not very pleasant, in my opinion.
To answer your question of “do I use salt if I’m using soy sauce?”, it depends. There’s a lil bit of practice with it, but, in general, I’ll use enough soy sauce to get the flavor I want, then add more salt if it still needs salt. Or better yet and sometimes in addition, a pinch of MSG. But it doesn’t always need additional salt. It usually benefits from a lil MSG though heheh