Name: Ginger-Soy Dipping Sauce
Total time: PLACEHOLDER
Ingredients: 1/4 cup soy sauce; 3 tablespoons mirin; 1 teaspoon sugar; 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil; 1 garlic clove, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 teaspoon); 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger; 1 scallion, finely chopped

Why This Recipe Works

For a shrimp tempura recipe that would produce sweet, fresh-tasting shrimp covered in a light, crisp coating, we chose the largest available shrimp, since it’s easy to overcook small ones. Finding that a high temperature gave us greaseless tempura, we deep-fried the shrimp in a large Dutch oven in 400-degree oil. For our tempura batter recipe, we substituted cornstarch for flour, which contributed to lightness, and we substituted a surprise ingredient—vodka—for water, finding that alcohol mixed with flour didn’t produce toughening gluten and burned off during cooking, leaving no traces of alcohol flavor.