Savory, sweet and flavor-dense, white miso is an absolutely essential pantry item. Winey-sweet, buttery and deeply rich, this organic version from Japanese family producer Namikura Miso Co. is more complex and less salty than other brands, which means it can be used more freely with soy sauce without dishes tasting overly seasoned.

This bourbon barrel-aged fish sauce is mellowed by seven months of sitting in oak, so the earthy, meaty funk that one expects from any fermented fish product is beautifully balanced by a complementary sweetness. BLiS's product is also rounded out with soft notes imparted by the seven-month aging process: warming spices, vanilla, and fruit woods, as well as a subtle smoky depth.

Megachef Oyster Sauce is made with premium oysters that are harvested off the Gulf of Thailand and smoked over hardwood for a deeper flavor and smoky, grilled aroma. We love its complex yet clean flavor: robust and savory, slightly briny and almost sweet. Although it's prepared by cooking down oysters until their juices caramelize, this sauce does not taste like oysters; rather, it has a molasses-like richness and sweet, savory and umami flavor that's slightly similar to soy sauce. Megachef's version has no added artificial flavors or colors—in contrast, even high-quality brands tend to augment their oyster sauce with ingredients like MSG and caramel coloring, resulting in an artificial taste.

While oyster sauce is mostly used as an ingredient for marinades, stir-fries or flavoring rice or noodle dishes, Megachef's Oyster Sauce is also delicious on its own as a condiment—the sauce's smoother consistency compared to other brands is perfect for dipping or drizzling over dishes.

Since 1879, Suehiro has used the same traditional methods to make their small-batch soy sauces in Japan’s Tatsuno City, Hyogo Prefecture. We were especially wowed by their Double-Brewed Soy Sauce, or Saishikomi, which is deeply layered in comparison to any run-of-the-mill grocery version. Unlike most on the market, this soy is brewed not once but twice, first delicately with soybeans, wheat, salt, water and koji. Then, the mixture is brewed again, this time without salt or water, yielding an earthy, rich and viscous soy sauce that stands apart. It’s salty, but less so than other brands, with funky, coffee-like notes that round out into a dark, almost burnt caramelly sweetness. Use it anywhere you would soy sauce, but we love it most served simply with dishes that have few ingredients, like hand rolls and sashimi.

A traditional condiment made from fermented malted rice, shio koji is known in Japan for packing a punch of umami into everything from marinated meats to savory soups. All shio kojis aren’t created equal, though, for Hanamaruki Foods distills the powerful flavor properties of this essential Japanese ingredient into an easy-to-use liquid form—the only Liquid Shio Koji available on the market—to create the ultimate pantry secret weapon. We love the condiment’s clean, yet bold flavor: salty rounded out with a pronounced sweetness and burst of umami. It’s made by pressing shio koji in its original paste form and filtering until it yields the clear, golden-hued liquid. The product isn’t heat-treated, so its enzymes remain active and effective in rendering meat remarkably moist and juicy, balancing bitterness in veggies like eggplant and adding amino acids for a full-flavored finish to any dish to truly change the way you cook. Use as a marinade for meats and fish, drizzle into salad dressings and sauces to balance savory flavors, or incorporate into baked goods to add a layer of tantalizing complexity.

Red Miso is stronger, saltier and more assertively flavored than yellow or white miso due to its six-month aging process and has a higher proportion of soybeans for a richer taste. This particularly interesting version has sweet flavors reminiscent of sherry and milk chocolate that are perfect for pairing with red meat and other robust dishes.

Crafted by a 330-year-old esteemed Japanese soy sauce maker, this premium unpasteurized soy sauce is packed with umami flavor. Its rich, slightly sweet, malty flavor has a subtle pleasing funkiness and strikes just the right balance of salty, deep and sharp. For the price, it fares well when compared to other brands that cost much more, and a little goes a long way. It can be used for any recipe that calls for soy sauce in cooking, but the depth of this one stands out when used raw as a dipping sauce to elevate everyday food. The Shibanuma Soy Sauce Company employs a traditional production method, brewing and aging their sauces in wooden barrels that have been in use for decades. Winner of a Superior Taste Award, this sauce will elevate any dish—meat, fish, vegetables or tofu—but it also goes particularly well with white fish sushi and sashimi.

Tamari, the liquid byproduct that results from pressing miso, is so much more than gluten-free soy sauce (a common misconception among American cooks). The distinct tamari from Ito Shoten—based in the Aichi Prefecture, a region of Japan known for deeply rich, uncommonly dark miso—is so complex it’s no wonder it has been likened to a wine. Aged in cedar barrels that are over 100 years old, Ito Shoten’s tamari develops a dark, almost inky color, as well as a wine-like depth and body. Its heady, malty aroma promises plenty of meaty savoriness, as well as caramel notes, deep umami and a lively salinity. This tamari is one to treasure: use it raw in small quantities to finish dishes where its flavor will shine, almost like a soy extract rather than a condiment. Its complexities get lost when it’s cooked into a sauce or dish.

Plain miso already packs a punch of umami, but Japanese miso company Kanemoto takes it a step further combining their miso with garlic. The result is salty and sweet, balanced by pops of sharp chopped garlic, alongside the addition of nutty sesame seeds, mirin and red pepper. The light miso is perfect stirred into sauces or soups, used in marinades for fish or chicken, or added to rice, stir-fry and salad dressings.

This Japanese soy sauce has a light-tasting without being too thin or watery, with a rounded, mouth-filling umami flavor and clear, bright salinity that quickly yields to a light, wheaty nuttiness. Its clarity of flavor and clean finish are perfect for delicate foods like chicken and fish, as the shoyu won't overwhelm but rather enhance other flavors in a dish.

Ubiquitous Chinese black vinegar is rich, tart and slightly sweet—with a fermented malty taste and woody character that distinguishes it from the light-colored and fruity rice vinegar. This one is crafted by one of the oldest and most well-known producers in the country, who ages the dark liquid for 6 years in traditional urns to achieve its complexity. It’s not too astringent, with a full-bodied character that yields nuanced notes of molasses and something like the brightness of a high-quality bar of dark chocolate, nothing like the other black vinegars we sampled that weren’t given time to age. A pantry staple in Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine, black vinegar contributes a unique flavor to food that (despite what you might read online), can’t be replicated with other dark vinegars like fruity balsamic.

We love this fish sauce because it is smoother and more complex than other varieties, with a unique nutty quality. To make it, Red Boat ferments wild-caught black anchovies with sea salt for 12 months in wooden barrels, then presses out and bottles the resulting liquid—that's it. All of its flavor comes from the natural aging process, not added sugar like with most commercial fish sauces. Its name is a reference to degrees N: the scale used to measure the amount of nitrogen in fish sauce, which correlates to protein content and thereby flavor. Forty degrees is up to three times the amount of protein of other brands because the company doesn't dilute its product with water, another indicator of Red Boat's superior quality. Though the initial aroma is intense and pungent, the flavor of this fish sauce isn't fishy, but rather a bold and complex hit of umami. Use this fish sauce as a savory complement to aromatic Southeast Asian curry flavors, such as in our Lemon Grass-Coconut Tofu or Singaporean Shrimp and Chicken Noodle Soup (Laksa). It's also a key flavoring for our Thai Fried Rice and adds savory notes to sweet shrimp in our Thai Grapefruit Salad with Shrimp (Som Tom O) and Grilled Skewered Cilantro-Lime Shrimp. You can also make dipping sauces, such as the dressing of our Grilled Cilantro-Lime Skirt Steak inspired by our travels in Cambodia. Or try our Southeast Asian Chicken Salad with Cashews and Coconut or Vietnamese-inspired Caramel-Braised Chicken with Ginger and Lime to add a rich, savory element to chicken.

This small-batch Yuzu Miso is aged with yuzu zest for three months, so the semi-tart, floral notes of the Japanese citrus permeate and meld with the salty tang of miso. The final product is mellow and smooth in both taste and texture, with an initial bright burst of yuzu and a salty-sweet finish of earthy fermented soybean.

Namikura's Sesame Miso is a mellow miso paste that balances the intense saltiness of fermented soybeans with the nutty, bittersweet flavor of sesame. Black and white sesame seeds, both whole and pureed, are blended into the miso and traditionally fermented for three months, resulting in a mild product that tastes like a perfect balance of miso and tahini.

Japanese soy sauce brewer Suehiro makes its intense and citrusy Ponzu Shoyu without any added water, so this version of the classic dipping sauce is bursting with a stellar balance of salty, tangy and umami flavors. Traditionally brewed dark soy sauce provides a savory flavor base along with four types of Asian citrus—aromatic yuzu, tart sudachi, bitter orange and mild, sweet yukou—which add a complex tanginess and bright floral-fruity aroma. Mirin, a type of Japanese rice wine, as well as kombu dashi, an umami soup stock, round out the flavor and add body.

There is no such thing as just “soy sauce” in Asian cuisine — there are different brews for different purposes. A good example is Japanese white (shiro) soy sauce, which is light amber in color and clearer and thinner than dark soy sauce. Made from coarsely milled roasted wheat that is mixed with steamed soybeans and inoculated with a special type of rice mold called koji, this soy sauce has a subtle flavor that can be used in salad dressings and marinades.