My Hiro.

My mom has a cookbook from Terra, a spectacular restaurant in Napa Valley. One of my favorite recipes in the whole world (duck breast with a heavenly sour-cherry red wine reduction) comes out of this book, as well as other tasty delights. In his book, Chef/owner Hiro Sone uses a spectacular marinade in several recipes - it's a version of a classic Japanese "mother" sauce, meaning it's used as a flavor base or starter for many other sauces and stocks. It's become a fridge staple for my mom (how appropriate) and now me, as well as some other avid cooks in my family. The marinade is amazing on duck, all kinds of fish (including seared ahi tuna), and I can only imagine what else. Full-bodied or delicate as the protein may be, I've never been disappointed...and it goes conveniently well with a wide variety of wines (standing up to a Pinot Noir and not covering a fruity Sauvignon Blanc).

Here it is (pictured above), used to marinate a halibut filet: I marinated the fish for an hour (in about 2 T of the marinade), then pan-seared it and served with sesame bok choy over steamed rice, alongside a bowl of egg drop soup. The marinade caramelizes when it cooks, giving a wonderful sweet yet savory flavor, cut by the refreshing ginger. Delicious.

*

Chef Hiro Sone's Sake Marinade
Yield: about 3/4 c
¼ c soy sauce
3 T sugar
2 T mirin
2 T sake (lacking sake, I used white wine)
¼ t grated peeled fresh ginger
¼ t grated garlic

Put ingredients in a jar and shake to blend. Keep the jar in the fridge, and you'll use it up long before it approaches expiration :).