Where can you buy rice wine and what can you use instead?

[MrsHeffley]

TIA

Sake - sainsburys and waitrose i think...

or if you mean 'cooking' rice wine you may have to go to a Chinese supermarket.

vinegar is a possible substitute but they are usually used together (depends what for: dipping sauce?)...really vile cheap white wine might approximate low-quality cooking wine but would probably carry an inappropriately grapey flavour...

Says in my Chinese recipe book that you can use sherry as a replacement.

If its shaoxing you are referring to, I would use sherry as a replacement too. It's nothing like vinegar.

For rice wine substitute Sherry (or even whisky at a stretch). You can get it in larger Tesco's.

re: vinegar -

i've tasted some pretty damn cheap rice wine :) it wasn't far off..

I thought you meant Mirin-japanese rice wine, It's pretty sweet so I would suggest sherry rather than wine and then not the tio pepe type for a substitute.

I get it fro sainsburys or waitrose.

Asian supermarket would be better and cheaper, but such things are not in abundance where I live sadly.

chipmumksex you've got it pretty much nailed. There is no such thing as a generic rice wine. I thought the OP is asking about shaoxing wine as it's common for chinese cooking. Mirin and sake are common for japanese cooking. I've got all 3 in my pantry. They are all rice wines and they all tastes very different.

In fact the one that literally translate to rice wine from chinese (picture) is definitely not the one you want to buy for cooking.