26 replies to this topic

[Shalmanese]

My friends are challenging me to create a palatable cocktail that involves fish sauce. The only other rule is that it can't be a riff on a Bloody Mary of any kind, that would be too easy.

It's open book, I'm allowed to consult any source I want as they don't believe it can be done.

As an initial thought, I'm thinking Rye & Vermouth would play off the funkiness of it and possibly some pineapple juice or lemongrass syrup to bring some SE Asianess to it.

Really, I have no idea though. Any suggestions?

[Peter Green]

Top of my head, lemongrass "margarita"? A take on what I had in Northern Thailand.

Use the fish sauce to take up a bit of the saltiness, lime juice, lemongrass infused spirit of some sort, and sugar syrup to combat the salt and bitterness?

Heck, decorate it with a lightly steamed prawn and put an umbrella in it!

[cdh]

It sounds like a riff on the Bull Shot might work. Use maybe a more southeast asian soup base than beef consomme... citrus, sriracha, fish sauce... lemongrass garnish...

[David A. Goldfarb]

My grandfather always liked a martini with an anchovy-stuffed olive, so anything that can take an anchovy-olive seems fair game for fish sauce. Just don't call it a "fishtini" or anything like that.

[KD1191]

What about some sort of Michelada? Usually there's something salty/spicy going on there.

[slkinsey]

Yea, a Thai-style Michelada (perhaps using a touch of curry paste?) is about the only non-revolting cocktail use I can think of for fish sauce.

[KD1191]

Yea, a Thai-style Michelada (perhaps using a touch of curry paste?) is about the only non-revolting cocktail use I can think of for fish sauce.

Now that you mention it, curry is probably a better idea, but I don't think I'd be able to stop myself from trying sriracha on the first go-round.

[KatieLoeb]

How much fish sauce do you have to use?? The shooter menu I created for Oyster House has several savory infusions that contain an oyster. Certainly a similar briny-ness level, if not as funky. You can borrow my "Bangkok" shooter recipe which is vodka infused with lemongrass, ginger and Thai basil and then put in a little fish sauce. Drop an oyster in the bottom instead of an olive and you're good to go. Or perhaps a different take on pho? Something with star anise infused boullion and fish sauce?

Edited by KatieLoeb, 09 August 2009 - 12:06 PM.

[KD1191]

So...

Beer Lao
Fish Sauce
Sriracha or Curry Paste
Pomelo Juice?

Salt the rim? Himalayan Pink Salt?

[Kouign Aman]

cilantro & lime flavors as well, ala ceviche?

[KD1191]

Chef Grant Achatz discusses a 'shooter' of "fish sauce, lime, bird chilies, and lemongrass" prepared via rotary evaporation in today's volume of his 8-part series on wine pairing.

[alacarte]

Can you hear us chanting? You can do it. You can do it. You can do it!

I think you're spot on to go with the "funkiness" of fish sauce, there are a handful of bartenders playing with umami tastes in cocktails, so why can't you. Maybe look at all the bacon-infused cocktails and use that as a starting point for working with sweet and salty?

Can't wait to see what you come up with... (you can do it!)

[KD1191]

Spending the last few days on the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc, I had the opportunity to try a lot of fish sauce. I was mildly surprised to find a section of our resort's cocktail menu given over to drinks involving fish sauce, but even more surprised by how tasty one of them was. It was called the Italian Fisherman and was made with Campari, Bianco Vermouth, Orange & Lime Juices & Fish Sauce. The battle between the powerful bitter and funky elements was quite delicious. I'll see if I can get the exact recipe before we leave...

ETA:

The Italian Fisherman

30 cl Campari
20 cl Martini Bianco
30 cl Orange Juice
20 cl Lime Juice
10 cl Phu Quoc Fish Sauce (45°, preferred)

Edited by KD1191, 29 November 2011 - 08:48 PM.

[EvergreenDan]

The Italian Fisherman

30 cl Campari
20 cl Martini Bianco
30 cl Orange Juice
20 cl Lime Juice
10 cl Phu Quoc Fish Sauce (45°, preferred)

I recommend either dropping a zero or getting a really REALLY big glass.

[mgaretz]

I would try something along the lines of a Pina Colada, with a dash of sriracha (or Tobasco) and a touch of cumin. I do something like this as a dip with crushed pineapple and it works very well.

[KD1191]

?

The Italian Fisherman

30 cl Campari
20 cl Martini Bianco
30 cl Orange Juice
20 cl Lime Juice
10 cl Phu Quoc Fish Sauce (45°, preferred)

I recommend either dropping a zero or getting a really REALLY big glass. :raz

Hmm...you're surely right. I just copied the recipe I was handed. I doubt they batch it, but who knows? Replace "0 cl" with part throughout for a better recipe, I guess.

[nikkib]

These all sound really good!

[Shalmanese]

I'm guessing it's mL, not cL. 30 mL ~= 1 oz.

[ThatNateGuy]

You know what? I've been playing around with making a really intricate "thai Cocktail" lately that im sure would hold up to fish sauce.

no measurements yet as I'm still trying to hone it in but the ingredients are as follows...

Yellow Curry Jalepeno infused Vodka or Rum (i played with both)
Coconut Liqueur (or just coconut milk your call i make my own liqueur)
Lemon Grass Simple Syrup (recipe straight out of PDT cocktail book)
Fresh Basil Leafs (4) muddled and (1)to garnish. Sprinkle some chili flakes on top if desired.

Also others please play around with this and give me your opinions. Hope i Helped.

[Tri2Cook]

You know what? I've been playing around with making a really intricate "thai Cocktail" lately that im sure would hold up to fish sauce.

no measurements yet as I'm still trying to hone it in but the ingredients are as follows...

Yellow Curry Jalepeno infused Vodka or Rum (i played with both)
Coconut Liqueur (or just coconut milk your call i make my own liqueur)
Lemon Grass Simple Syrup (recipe straight out of PDT cocktail book)
Fresh Basil Leafs (4) muddled and (1)to garnish. Sprinkle some chili flakes on top if desired.

Also others please play around with this and give me your opinions. Hope i Helped.

Didn't try it but it sounds like it's almost begging for some citrus to me.

[Kouign Aman]

or tamarind if its sour you are thinking of

[Tsiologist]

About a year ago, Nebraska had an epidemic of bad Peychaud's bitters. Somehow the distributors got ahold of a case of bottles which all smelled like spoiled fish sauce. So yeah, I guess it's possible to accidentally make fish sauce sazeracs, whether you want to or not.

It was shocking how nobody seemed to notice, but I went around bar-to-bar, sniffing everybody's bitters and, sure enough, all the best bars were using stanky'chauds...

Granted, in Omaha, having a case of Peychaud's at all was a big deal. I'm pretty sure the distributors are still trying to foist those bottles off on bars...

[ThatNateGuy]

@tri2cook i knew there was something i forgot to list. Yeah I use the juice of half a lime. Sorry i was posting quick on the mobile phone when i wrote that, but yes it has to have the lime.

Side note: Is there a time limit on which you can edit a post.? i tried to edit the original post of mine to include the lime but no option to edit.

Edited by ThatNateGuy, 09 December 2011 - 07:14 PM.

[Broken English]

You could use a fish sauce caramel as a base (palm sugar, chilli, garlic, lemongrass, toasted coconut, coriander, fish sauce), I have a good recipe if you want to give it a try.

I'd gently heat coconut rum and dissolve the caramel in there and go from there.

Edited by Broken English, 09 December 2011 - 11:26 PM.

[KD1191]

I was mildly surprised to find a section of our resort's cocktail menu given over to drinks involving fish sauce...

Here are the menu descriptions of the other two fish sauce drinks. I didn't get the recipe for either:

Juicy Gin - Gin, Passion Fruit Juice, Orange Juice, Fish Sauce
Vietnamese Pirate - Rum, Mint Liqueur, Lime Juice, Fish Sauce

ETA: These drinks, and the Italian Fisherman above, are from La Veranda Resort, Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam.

Edited by KD1191, 10 December 2011 - 07:31 AM.

[KD1191]

Got a new ingredient to play with...Blis and Red Boat have teamed up to release a quality fish sauce that's been aged in bourbon barrels that previously held Blis maple syrup.

When I first heard about it, I thought barrel aging may have jumped the shark, but the result is pretty awesome. It's a funky, salty, slightly sweet umami bomb that will likely be the secret ingredient in many future recipes. When I think about salt in cocktails, the Campari 'Martini' sticks out. Using some of the fish sauce in place of the saline solution (I went 7:1 Campari to Fish Sauce) produced a very interesting result. You got the diminished bitterness with a savory/sweet finish. The nose was a tad too funky, so I used a healthy amount of orange oil for garnish.

I then made up an Italian Fisherman (above), but something in the translation wasn't quite right (or, more likely, there's a significant difference in the citrus available in Chicago versus an island off the coast of Vietnam). It was tasty, but needed something more...a barspoon of Batavia Arrack on top definitely brought things together.

Edited by KD1191, 18 March 2012 - 09:41 AM.

[KD1191]

Last night it was an actual Fish Sauce Martini. A Fiddy-Fishy, if you will...

1 oz Ransom Old Tom Gin
.75 oz Cocchi Americano
.75 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
.5 oz St. George Dry Rye Gin
Barspoon Blis/Red Boat Bourbon Barrel Aged Fish Sauce
15 drops Bittercube Barrel Aged Blood Orange Bitters
Lemon Twist

The flavor of the fish sauce wasn't really discernible against the many other strong flavors going on in the glass, which was intended. What was definitely present was the salinity (a tsp of the stuff packs 65% of your daily recommended dose of sodium), a general savoriness, and the rich, rounded mouthfeel. Maybe try this on the next person to ask for blue cheese stuffed olives in a dirty martini?

Edited by KD1191, 03 May 2012 - 09:56 AM.