Fish Sauce

[liuzhou]

13 minutes ago, KennethT said:

I haven't come across any Indonesian dish that uses fish sauce (from anywhere) yet - certainly not in the regional cooking of a few areas that I've been studying. Maybe that's why they don't care about it?

 

Maybe, but someone must be using it or they wouldn't be importing it or making it.

 

Most of the fish sauce here in China is also imported.

 

Anyway, I think I'm finished with Asian fish sauces. 

 

[Duvel]

4 hours ago, KennethT said:

I haven't come across any Indonesian dish that uses fish sauce (from anywhere) yet - certainly not in the regional cooking of a few areas that I've been studying. Maybe that's why they don't care about it?

AFAIK, gado gado dressing is often made with fish sauce (and occasionally with shrimp paste) …

[KennethT]

3 hours ago, Duvel said:

AFAIK, gado gado dressing is often made with fish sauce (and occasionally with shrimp paste) …

Interesting.  None of the Aunties or Uncles I've seen make it use either a fish sauce or shrimp paste - but one thing I didn't realize is that they all used kencur - fresh sand ginger - which is nice to know that there's another application for what I brought home from Indonesia and what I'm growing.

[liuzhou]

Before leaving Asia, I have to mention this one fish sauce from Phú Quốc, Việt Nam.

 

Two of the island's top producers have cooperated in makinfg a special sauce. BLiS and Red Boat have made a smoked type. They took

 

"Red Boat 40°N and aged it in charred barrels for 7 months. The result is pretty extraordinary. It’s rich, smoky and peaty—and when I say smoky, I mean smoke for days. Like drinking Laphroaig around a campfire while smoking a brisket."

 

This quote is from a review of fish sauces from this New Zealand site.

 

https://foody.nz/blogs/news/fish-sauce-taste-test-13-brands-compared

 

The tasting and subsequent write up are more considered than is often the case with this sort of internet page. A recommended read.

 

I haven't, I'm sad to say, sampled this one but I am a Laphroaig fan. The hunt is on.

 

 

[KennethT]

17 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Before leaving Asia, I have to mention this one fish sauce from Phú Quốc, Việt Nam.

 

Two of the island's top producers have cooperated in makinfg a special sauce. BLiS and Red Boat have made a smoked type. They took

 

"Red Boat 40°N and aged it in charred barrels for 7 months. The result is pretty extraordinary. It’s rich, smoky and peaty—and when I say smoky, I mean smoke for days. Like drinking Laphroaig around a campfire while smoking a brisket."

 

This quote is from a review of fish sauces from this New Zealand site.

 

https://foody.nz/blogs/news/fish-sauce-taste-test-13-brands-compared

 

The tasting and subsequent write up are more considered than is often the case with this sort of internet page. A recommended read.

 

I haven't, I'm sad to say, sampled this one but I am a Laphroaig fan. The hunt is on.

 

 

Fascinating - I'm wondering what I'd use it for and trying to think of what I've had in Vietnam that would work well with it.  I'd be a bit worried that it would be amazing on first taste, but eating a whole meal or dish made with it would get to be too much.

[C. sapidus]

27 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

. . . Like drinking Laphroaig around a campfire while smoking a brisket."

 

 

 

Sign me up!

[liuzhou]

29 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Fascinating - I'm wondering what I'd use it for and trying to think of what I've had in Vietnam that would work well with it.  I'd be a bit worried that it would be amazing on first taste, but eating a whole meal or dish made with it would get to be too much.

 

I can see it as a dip in one of the many grilled meat / BBQ scenarios.

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

Colatura di Alici may sound cool and glamorous but when you learn the literal meaning of the Italian some of that disappears. It's literally 'leakage from anchovies', often rendered in English as 'anchovy dripping'.

 

In the town of Cetera on Italy's Amalfi Coast , gutted and filleted alici (anchovies) are mixed with sale (salt) and left to ferment in small wooden barrels called terzigni  for up to three years. 

 

When it is deemed to be ready, holes are drilled in the barrels and the liquid drained through the fermented fish residue, further flavouring the sauce.

 

It is then filtered, bottled and sold for a high price in specialist Italian stores.

 

 

The locals make a big deal of it being the reincarnation of garum, but there is little to actually back that up. Marketing.

 

That said, it is undoubtedly a very fine fish sauce. The lower salt content (as low as 10% to 90% fish) means a more powerful umami flavour. It should be used sparingly which helps offset the high cost.

 

It isn't usually used for cooking, but more as a condiment added to vegetables, fish or pasta.

 

[liuzhou]

I finally got hold of some 潮汕鱼露 (cháo shàn yú lù), Chaoshan fish sauce (see above).

 

 

Made in Shantou, the 'shan' part of Chaoshan, this is a three year fermentation sauce. It will no doubt turn up in my dinners soon!

 

 

Edited August 18, 2024 by liuzhou (log)