| Saké Serving Temperature: Some Like it Hot! |
 |
 |
| Monday, 07 February 2011 21:39 |
 By Johnnie Stroud, owner of Saké Nomi A common, often repeated misconception about saké serving temperature is that “all bad saké is served hot and all good saké is served chilled.” Like most everything else in the saké world, it’s not that simple, but this kind of thinking is understandable, since many restaurants serve a lower grade “house” saké very hot. As a visiting brewer from Japan once intimated (with a cringe), most Japanese restaurants in the U.S. heat their saké hotter than their miso soup!While a lot of folks think saké is traditionally served warm, others are of the opinion that the saké is heated to hide “flaws.” To a degree, both these opinions have some merit. The custom of heating saké in Japan actually originated in China and was tied to the belief that it was healthier to take food and drink warm, at a temperature close to one’s body temperature. Back before rice milling technology was very advanced, the saké was a lot less refined than it is today, and warming it up certainly took some of the rough edges off. Warming the saké was very much the norm, and many saké pubs employed a person whose sole duty it was to warm the saké and to know each “regular” customer’s preferred temperature. While it’s true that we suggest most premium saké be served slightly chilled, all saké show different qualities at different temperatures, and there’s no denying the pleasant warming sensation of gently heated saké warmed to just the right temperature. There are lots of qualifiers when heating saké. Not all saké are suited to warming, so the combination of the right saké correctly warmed to the right temperature can be tricky. Because they are brewed with rice that is not as highly milled as the other premium grades and can be a little heartier and sturdier, slightly sweet futsu-shu (“regular”), honjozo and junmai grades often make the best candidates for warming. When warming saké, the biggest mistake to avoid is making the saké so hot that you lose all the flavors and aromas that the brewers worked so hard to cultivate during the saké’s long, cold fermentation. At home, you can use a microwave oven to heat your saké. However, it can be difficult to heat it evenly using this method. Though it takes more time, it’s probably better and gentler on the saké to heat a ceramic tokkuri, or decanter of saké, in a pan of hot water on the stove. At Saké Nomi, we take the guesswork out of the wonderful seasonal treat that is kanzake (“warm saké”) by handpicking saké we think are well-suited to warming. And to ensure that we bring it to the correct temperature, we use a kansuke, a special machine (a kind of hot water “bath”), imported from Japan, made exclusively for the purpose of heating saké. Johnnie Stroud, is the owner of Saké Nomi, the saké shop and tasting bar in Pioneer Square. Saké Nomi | 76 South Washington Street, Seattle | Tel 206-467-SAKE |
| Last Updated on Friday, 16 September 2011 09:37 |