My first encounter with fish sauce was several decades ago. I was utterly offended and immediately discarded the odious stuff. It smelled dangerous. Since I’m a chef and fish sauce is an essential flavor in my beloved Southeast Asian cooking I couldn’t just kick it out of my cooking life. It took another year and some courage to allow fish sauce back in my kitchen.
Fish sauce is made much like other fermented foods. Foodstuff and salt combine and ferment together in a warm spot. Salt draws out moisture and controls levels of bacteria to only the beneficial types. This assists in the breakdown of a food to its essential amino acid parts.
In the case of cabbage and lacto-fermented kraut, fermentation releases nutrients and renders the cabbage more flavorful and digestible. In the case of soy sauce, cooks mix cooked, crushed soybeans with aspergillusoryzae (mold) to break down the beans and create the flavorful liquid we call soy sauce. In the case of Asian fish sauce, fish (most popular are anchovies) and salt ferment stinkily together to render a malodorous, but deeply tasty liquid condiment. For all you foodies, this is authentic umami (Big Flavor) at its genesis.
Food historians suspect that fish sauce did not originate in Southeast Asia. Many believe that this method of fishy fermentation first began in Roman Italy, Greece and the Mediterranean and traveled to Asia via the Silk Road. The liquid was known as garum orliquamen. Garum began as a way to preserve fish in the warm Mediterranean climate. The use of salt or salt brine helped remove moisture from the fish flesh, prevented the growth of harmful bacteria and enabled the flesh to ferment. This process transformed the resulting liquid by-product into an oddly coveted and extremely popular Roman condiment.
The fall of the Roman empire (early 5th-century), high salt taxes and pirates caused fish sauce exports to Asia to dwindle. So Asian cooks got busy and, from the 14th century onward, countries like as China, Japan and Korea began a new umami love affair with soy sauce; this left Southeast Asia as the remaining bastion of fish sauce. Taste experts say that Southeast Asian fish sauces are mysteriously similar to the ancient Roman garum. Vietnam’s iconic “nuoc mam,” fermented anchovies and salt, has a similar taste, composition and texture to the garum fish sauce first produced around 100 BC.
This umami-rich condiment is a staple in Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lao, Thai, Burmese and Filipino cooking. Throughout these countries you’ll discover a huge variety of fish sauces, soy sauces and condiments customized to local tastes. If you haven’t yet invited fish sauce into your kitchen you will be surprised at how useful it can become (after you get past your initial aversion to its smell). The odor melds into a dish and becomes unnoticeable after cooking.
My all-time favorite is the “grand cru” brand Red Boat. Made on the Vietnamese PhuQuoc archipelago, this revered small batch, first press fish sauce is derived from wild-caught black anchovies, salt and water without additives like MSG or sugar. It has the designation 40°N, which denotes its high nitrogen grade and corresponds to the high ratio of protein to liquid. (Cheaper types sit at 20°N.) Opened fish sauce stored in the refrigerator will remain fresh for a year.
Start using your fish sauce by slipping it into Thai and Vietnamese dishes: Vietnamese cabbage and chicken salad, “bun” noodle salad, the Vietnamese dipping sauce, nướcchấm, pad Thai and Thai coconut curries. From there you can branch out to adding a few dashes to amp up your chicken or fish soup, tomato sauce, olive tapenade or marinades.
Quality fish sauce has become essential in my kitchen. I’ve dropped my judgments and come to befriend it. Fish sauce is my key to transforming ho-hum into full-on big flavor.
Vietnamese Nuoc Cham
This sauce is the heart and soul of Vietnamese cuisine. Its variations are numerous, but all have the basics of fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar and chilies with some water. Start with the basic proportions and personal taste to get the flavor right. If tasting becomes difficult, go away for a moment and return to taste another time, or ask for assistance.
Yields about 2/3 cup
4 T. freshly squeezed lime juice
3 T. palm sugar or maple syrup
2 T. Vietnamese fish sauce
2 T. water as needed
Optional garnish:
1 small bird’s eye chili, finely sliced
Finely shredded carrot
Whisk together lime juice, sweetener, fish sauce, and water. Taste by dipping a lettuce leaf into sauce. Mixture should be pleasantly salty and sour balanced with sweet to offset sour. If fish sauce is old or not high quality, use less or adjust sauce with more water and if necessary, lime juice and sweetener. If limes are unavailable it’s acceptable to substitute rice vinegar or traditional white distilled vinegar; it will keep fresh longer.
Thirty minutes before serving: Stir chili into the base and rest at room temperature. Garnish with a little finely shredded carrot, if desired. Pour nuoc cham into serving bowl and set a spoon into it. Serve alongside Vietnamese Fresh Rice Paper Wrapped Rolls (GoiCuon), spring rolls or as a sauce or dipping sauce for meat, rice, or vegetables.
Vietnamese Sweet and Sour Dipping Sauce
Serve with grilled food like Shrimp Mousse on Sugarcane or Chicken Satay.
Yields 3/4 cup
2 T. minced shallot
1 t. minced garlic
3 T. palm sugar or white sugar
2 T.s rice or white vinegar
1 to 1-1/2 T. Vietnamese fish sauce, to taste
Slurry: 1-1/2 T. cornstarch or arrowroot
Garnish: 1 T. each minced greens from green onions, carrot and red bell pepper
Mix 1 cup water, shallots, garlic, sugar, vinegar and fish sauce in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer sauce 5 minutes.
Stir cornstarch into 3 tablespoons cold water. Whisk this slurry into hot liquid. Simmer and stir until it thickens and clears.Remove sauce from heat and stir in garnish of minced vegetables. Cool. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Thai Chicken and Coconut Soup (Tom Kha Gai)
This soup is quick to make and brimming with flavor.
Yields 4 cups, 2 to 4 servings
3 C. chicken broth or stock
Optional: 2 Kaffir lime leaves
1 stalk lemongrass, trimmed to bottom 3 inches and lightly pounded or 2 tablespoons lemon zest
1 T. finely minced ginger root
4 oz. boneless skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced into 1-inch by 1/2-inch matchsticks
3/4 to 1 C. coconut milk, to taste
1 T. fish sauce
2 T. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 red Thai bird’s eye chili, finely sliced
Garnish: 2 to 3 tablespoons finely sliced cilantro
In a 4-quart saucepan heat stock, lime leaves, lemongrass and ginger over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer stock, partially covered 5 to 10 minutes.Lower heat to a bare simmer and add chicken. Cook until meat turns opaque, 1 minute.
Remove soup from heat and stir in coconut milk. Season with fish sauce, lime juice, chili and salt until the flavor becomes addictive. To serve: Ladle hot soup into bowls, garnish with cilantro and serve.
Fish or Shrimp-Coconut Soup
Use 3 cups fish stock instead of chicken broth and 1/2-pound shrimp, peeled and deveined, or 1/4
- pound cubed fish in place of chicken.
May 22, 2021 at 09:00PM
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The Global Chef: Befriending fish sauce yields big flavor - Traverse City Record Eagle
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