Fish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in numerous cultures in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions of East Asia, and features heavily in Thai, Vietnamese, and Phillipine cuisine. In addition to being added to dishes during the cooking process, fish sauce can also be used in mixed form as a dipping condiment, and it is done in many different ways by each country mentioned for fish, shrimp, pork, and chicken. In parts of southern China, it is used as an ingredient for soups and casseroles.
Fish sauce, and its derivatives, impart an umami flavor to food due to their glutamate content.[1]
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Some fish sauces (extracts) are made from raw fish, others from dried fish; some from only a single species, others from whatever is dredged up in the net, including some shellfish; some from whole fish, others from only the blood or viscera. Some fish sauces contain only fish and salt, others add a variety of herbs and spices. Fish sauce that has been only briefly fermented has a pronounced fishy taste, while extended fermentation reduces this and gives the product a nuttier, cheesier flavor.
Southeast Asian fish sauce is often made from anchovies, salt and water, and is often used in moderation because it is intensely flavoured. Anchovies and salt are arranged in wooden boxes to ferment and are slowly pressed, yielding the salty, fishy liquid. (The salt extracts the liquid via osmosis.) The variety from Vietnam is generally called nước mắm (well known by brand names including nước mắm Phú Quốc (Phu Quoc) and nước mắm Phan Thiết (Phan Thiet)). Nước chấm is a Vietnamese prepared fish sauce condiment dipping sauce. Similar condiments from Thailand and Burma are called nam pla (น้ำปลา) and ngan bya yay (ငံပြာရည်) respectively. In Lao/Isan it is called nam pa, but a chunkier, more aromatic version known as padaek is also used. In Cambodia, it is known as teuk trei (ទឹកត្រី), of which there are a variety of sauces using fish sauce as a base.
The Indonesian semi-solid fish paste terasi, the Cambodian prahok and the Malay fermented krill brick belacan or budu from liquid anchovies are other popular variations of the same theme.
The similar Philippine version common to Indochina is called patis. Patis which is a by-product of bagoong is nearly always cooked prior to consumption (even if used as an accent to salads or other raw dishes), or used as a cooking ingredient. It is used in cooking many dishes including a rice porridge called arroz caldo and as a condiment for fried fish. It is also used in place of table salt in meals to enhance the flavor of the food, where it can either be dashed from a dispensing bottle onto the food, or poured into a saucer and mixed with calamansi and used as a dipping sauce.
Southeast Asians generally use fish sauce as a cooking sauce. However, there is a sweet and sour version of this sauce which is used more commonly as a dipping sauce (see nước chấm). In Thailand, fish sauce is used in cooking and is also kept in a jar at the table for use as a condiment. This jar often contains a mixture of fish sauce, lime juice, and chopped hot chilies, called phrik nam pla.
It is mainly the ethnic Chinese (usually Hokkien and Teochew) who cook with fish sauce (鱼露 yǘlù, 虾油 xīayú in Hokkien) in Indonesia and Malaysia. Fish sauce is a staple of many dishes in cuisines such as Vietnamese, Thai and Cambodian.
In Japan, it is used as a seasoning of local specialties. Ishiru in the Noto Peninsula is made from sardine and squid. Shottsuru of Akita Prefecture is chiefly made from sailfin sandfish. Ikanago shoyu of Kagawa Prefecture is made from sand lance. They are often reserved for the preparation of nabemono.
In Korea, it is called aekjeot or jeotgal, and is used as a crucial ingredient in many types of kimchi (usually from myoelchi, anchovy or kanari which is made from sand lance), both for taste and fermentation. The anchovy-based fish sauce lends itself well to the making of radish type kimchi. Kanari type fish sauce is more expensive than the anchovy-based fish sauce and is usually reserved for the preparation of special cabbage (baechu) kimchi. Saewoojeot (shrimp) is also popular as side sauce.
Fish sauce seems to have originated in ancient Greece between 4-3rd century BC. It was made with a lower salt content than modern fish sauces.[2]
A similar fish sauce was ubiquitous in Classical Roman cooking, where in Latin it is known as garum or liquamen, and also existed in many varieties such as oenogarum (mixed with wine), oxygarum (mixed with vinegar) and meligarum (mixed with honey). It was one of the trade specialties in Hispania Baetica. It was made of a variety of fish including tuna, mackerel, moray eel, and anchovies.[3] Garum was frequently maligned as smelling bad or rotten, being called, for example, "evil-smelling fish sauce."
In English it was formerly translated as fishpickle. The original Worcestershire sauce is a related product because it is fermented and contains anchovies.
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