okay. be honest. do you put soy sauce on white rice?

[boomchakabowwow]

I am American Born Chinese. born/raised in TEXAS. and everyone I know in TEX'. first thing that happens is they dump soy sauce on rice. only when I moved to CA, did I realize that was suspect behavior. or is it?. my parents never said a thing. hahhaha. I never sauced my rice. never salted it either.

my wife thinks it is weird. yesterday I just ate corned beef with rice and my wife side-eyed me the entire time. (I didnt make enough potatoes because I KNEW my wife would invite everyone for dinner)

my wife and her friends went for a walk before dinner. they stayed out long, and while I was putting together dinner I saw my cooked rice, I saw soy sauce and I ate a spoonful with a couple of dribbles. it didnt suck. my favorite quick meal is white rice, with a fried egg and soy sauce. maybe some nori flakes.

 

[BillHanna]

My wife insists on soy sauce for her rice. My son is case by case. The Three Year Old was aghast when I did it for her. She’s a purist.

 

[stringer]

I am American Born Chinese. born/raised in TEXAS. and everyone I know in TEX'. first thing that happens is they dump soy sauce on rice. only when I moved to CA, did I realize that was suspect behavior. or is it?. my parents never said a thing. hahhaha. I never sauced my rice. never salted it either.

my wife thinks it is weird. yesterday I just ate corned beef with rice and my wife side-eyed me the entire time. (I didnt make enough potatoes because I KNEW my wife would invite everyone for dinner)

my wife and her friends went for a walk before dinner. they stayed out long, and while I was putting together dinner I saw my cooked rice, I saw soy sauce and I ate a spoonful with a couple of dribbles. it didnt suck. my favorite quick meal is white rice, with a fried egg and soy sauce. maybe some nori flakes.

I am a Midwestern raised white guy. Growing up I hated steamed white rice and would only eat it fried with lots of soy sauce. Everything changed when I worked at an Indian restaurant and got addicted to Basmati. I season it just like we did there. Pinch of salt, drop of olive oil, couple fennel seeds. That's my staple. I have learned to appreciate the simple flavors and fragrances of other types of steamed white rice. And now if I'm at a Chinese/Japanese/Thai etc restaurant I would enjoy the steamed white rice without feeling the need to add soy sauce or send it back to the kitchen to be fried.

 

[MarcelNL]

I only ever saw Indonesian Kecap being put on fried rice, but during cooking.

 

[ThirdJewel]

Chinese American from California. I don't default to putting soy sauce onto my white rice but I'm not offended if you do (as long as it's reasonable). Corned beef + rice is pretty normal. It's a remnant of British occupied Hong Kong.

 

[tostadas]

Adding soy sauce directly to rice is not common from what I grew up with.

Exception for fried rice, I add soy sauce directly to the rice, but not a lot of it. My ideal color is like a yellowish tan. I don't like it when the fried rice is like walnut color.

However for something like steamed soy sauce chicken, I absolutely love the soy sauce dripping off the chicken and soaking all up into the rice.

 

[Chang]

Seems normal to me. shiddddd, when I was younger and broke, i even did ketchup and rice.

A fried egg, rice, and soy is the ultimate lazy meal.

 

[M1k3]

Born and raised in California. Never been to Texas. I put Soy Sauce on my plain white rice.

 

[ian]

No to soy sauce! I always salt it when I cook it tho.

 

[MattPike4President]

I'm not big on soy sauce and plain rice, +1 to runny egg and soy on rice though (add some chili crisp). I was also unaware that doing this was questionable behavior, I work at a sushi restaurant and people commonly order a bowl of the seasoned sushi rice and dump soy on top.

 

[rickbern]

I’m with @stringer on this. Basmati has tons of flavor.

I do put soy sauce on tomatoes pretty often though

 

[Rangen]

Adding soy sauce directly to rice is not common from what I grew up with.

Exception for fried rice, I add soy sauce directly to the rice, but not a lot of it. My ideal color is like a yellowish tan. I don't like it when the fried rice is like walnut color.

However for something like steamed soy sauce chicken, I absolutely love the soy sauce dripping off the chicken and soaking all up into the rice.

I never add soy sauce directly to rice, because I don't like how it tastes. Even fried rice -- it's not offensive, but I prefer the purity of flavor with just salt.

But yes, absolutely putting soy-heavy dishes on top of rice is wonderful.

I think it must be the fat. A friend once took me to an "old-school" Cantonese restaurant, and we had a dish that was just plain white rice that you drizzle soy sauce and melted lard over. It was really terrific. I should probably experiment with doing that at home.

Soy sauce + white rice tastes to me like it's too hollow, too sharp, missing something. I wonder whether fish sauce or little dried fish eggs would repair the problem.

 

[Chang]

I have to clarify two things:

1.) I don’t put soy on my rice all the time, actually less now that I’m older. But will I if I want to? Yer.

2.) It also depends if we’re talkin’ Chinese vs. Japanese soy.

 

[Bodine]

Not if I have some gravy on hand

 

[parbaked]

Better than plain soy sauce is a soy based sauce like either the one Chinese put on cheung fun at dim sum or the dashi based one Japanese put on their onsen tamago.

Cheung fun sauce:
Simmer scallion, ginger, light and dark soy, sugar, oyster sauce and water; strain and cool. Lasts a few weeks in the fridge...
Really good with a fried egg on rice.

Onsen egg sauce:
Combine dashi, light soy, mirin and katsuobushi

 

[Delat]

I never put soy directly on rice and didn’t know it was a thing. But I’m also not fond of plain white rice either, so I almost always cook the main course with plenty of sauce/gravy, then serve it directly on top of the rice. Love me a good beef stew or curry where the rice is soaked in sauce. Rice for me is really just a carrier for a good sauce or gravy, not a thing to eat on its own.

 

[coxhaus]

I never put soy sauce on white rice. A long time ago growing up I put salt and pepper with butter on white rice to eat after cooking.
I do salt my rice cooking it. I even add butter the Martha Stewart way cooking it sometimes, depending on my target dish.

 

[coxhaus]

I have to clarify two things:

1.) I don’t put soy on my rice all the time, actually less now that I’m older. But will I if I want to? Yer.

2.) It also depends if we’re talkin’ Chinese vs. Japanese soy.

What are the differences between Chinese and Japanese soy sauce? How can I tell besides reading the label?

 

[Chang]

What are the differences between Chinese and Japanese soy sauce? How can I tell besides reading the label?

That's a whole rabbit hole of a convo, but Japanese soy tends to be "cleaner, sweeter, not as salty" and Chinese soy is "saltier, thicker, not as refined".

If I'm going to be using a soy sauce as a condiment by itself, I'll go Japanese. If I'm using it to cook, or to mix into a dipping sauce, then I'll lean more Chinese.

 

[Rangen]

What are the differences between Chinese and Japanese soy sauce? How can I tell besides reading the label?

If you have both around, taste a bit of each. If you have more than one kind of each, taste them all. It's a pretty stark distinction, and you'll probably never guess wrong after doing that little test. To Chang's excellent description, I'd also add that Chinese soy sauce has a heavier palate feel in the mouth, and Japanese soy sauce, even the fancy stuff, is lighter. Not dilute, necessarily, but more refreshing.

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

Japanese "artisan" barrel aged soy sauce (shoyu) is ABSOLUTELY worth it!

 

[noj]

And there's this

https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/soy-sauce-chinese-japanese-etc-needing-some-wisdom.48897/

 

[Chopper88]

And these:

A Guide to Soy Sauce Varieties

https://thewoksoflife.com/soy-sauce/
I add light Chinese soy sauce when making fried rice. Watched a bunch of videos a while ago and came across this, it surely upped my fried rice game:

 

[Jovidah]

You could simplify the process and just toss the soy sauce in with the water you boil the rice in. Or go one step further and toss in a blend of soy sauce, fish sauce and oystersauce.
Maybe toss in some fried aromatics too...
Though I guess at that point you're halfway to making a pilav.

 

[WildBoar]

I always disliked white rice growing up. But in my 20s I started mixing some sweet & sour sauce, kung pow sauce, etc. with plain rice and it was much more palatable. Then I developed a taste for fried rice as well. For me to eat white rice it need sauce/ flavor added to it, and that usually also includes some salt. I've never been a fan of soy sauce, so adding that is a desperate last resort. My 10 year old son absolutely loves white rice with a couple gallons of soy sauce poured on it, though. My wife is similar, but only needs about one gallon.

 

[ian]

 

[blokey]

Soy sauce and melted Lard/Butter is a real treat, it's a real dish called lard rice (猪油饭), invented when pork is luxury. Soy sauce and butter is more a Japanese thing with similar root.

 

[spaceconvoy]

Korean soy sauce is better than both Japanese and Chinese

And yeah I'll put soy sauce on rice but only when I'm making a really lazy dinner, often just a fried chicken cutlet with rice. The soy sauce is the only flavoring

 

[Heckel7302]

I never put soy sauce on plain rice. Fried rice, sure. Tamago kake gogan, yes.

My kids refuse to eat plain white rice. When they were little I introduced them to Thai sweet soy sauce. Now they won’t eat rice without it. They just call it sweet sauce.

 

[nakiriknaifuwaifu]

butter and soy sauce in rice is common in japan
its good

edit: @blokey already said this a few posts above oops