Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Some garum-related fish sauces have been used in the West since the Roman times.
Due to its ability to add a savory umami flavor to dishes, it has been embraced globally by chefs and home cooks. The umami flavor in fish sauce is due to its glutamate content.
Fish sauce is used as a seasoning during or after cooking, and as a base in dipping sauces. Soy sauce is regarded by some in the West as a vegetarian alternative to fish sauce though they are very different in flavor.
History
Asia Sauces that included fermented fish parts with other ingredients such as meat and soybean were recorded in China, 2300 years ago. During the Zhou dynasty of ancient China, fish fermented with soybeans and salt was used as a condiment.For example, the Book of Rites () mentions both and 酱, including fish-based , in its chapter on the 'Pattern of the Family' (). By the time of the Han dynasty, soybeans were fermented without the fish into soy paste and its by-product soy sauce, with fermented fish-based sauces developing separately into fish sauce. A fish sauce, called kôechiap () in Hokkien Chinese, might be the precursor of ketchup. This word survives in the Malay or , both terms on their own however semantically narrowed in usual parlance to mean "soy sauce" (e.g. kecap manis lit. 'sweet kicap''') whereas the fish liquid still in use today has been termed as i.e. "fish kicap".
By 50–100 BC, demand for fish sauces and fish pastes in China had fallen drastically, with fermented bean products becoming a major trade commodity. Fish sauce, however, developed massive popularity in Southeast Asia. Food scholars traditionally divide East Asia into two distinct condiment regions, separated by a bean-fish divide: Southeast Asia using fermented fish (Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia), and Northeast Asia using fermented beans (China, Korea, Japan). Fish sauce re-entered China in the 17th and 18th centuries, brought from Vietnam and Cambodia by Chinese traders up the coast of the southern provinces, Guangdong and Fujian.
Europe Fish sauces were widely used in ancient Mediterranean cuisine. The earliest recorded production was between 4th–3rd century BC by the Ancient Greeks, who fermented scraps of fish called garos into one.It is believed to have been made with a lower salt content than modern fish sauces.
The Romans made a similar condiment called either garum or liquamen. According to Pliny the Elder, "garum consists of the guts of fish and other parts that would otherwise be considered refuse so that garum is really the liquor from putrefaction."Natural History Pliny, the Elder. LoebClassics.com Garum was made in the Roman outposts of Spain almost exclusively from mackerel by salting the scrap fish innards, and then sun fermenting the flesh until it fell apart, usually for several months. The brown liquid would then be strained, bottled, and sold as a condiment. Remains of Roman fish salting facilities can still be seen, including in Algeciras in Spain and near Setúbal in Portugal. The process lasted until the 16th century when garum makers switched to anchovy and removed the innards.
Garum was ubiquitous in Classical Roman cooking. Mixed with wine it was known as oenogarum, or with vinegar, oxygarum, or mixed with honey, meligarum. Garum was one of the trade specialties in Hispania Baetica. Garum was frequently maligned as smelling bad or rotten, being called, for example, "evil-smelling fish sauce" and is said to be similar to modern colatura di alici, a fish sauce used in Neapolitan cuisine.
In English garum was formerly translated as fish pickle. The original Worcestershire sauce is a related product because it is fermented and contains anchovies.
Difference from oyster sauce While fish sauce and oyster sauce are both briny and may have related histories, they are different products. Fish sauce is watery, clear, and salty, whereas oyster sauce is made by reducing oyster extracts and therefore sweeter with a hint of salt and not as strong an aroma as fish sauce.
Ingredients and manufacture
Fish sauces historically have been prepared from different species of fish and shellfish, and from using the whole fish, or by using just fish blood or viscera. Most modern fish sauces contain only fish and salt, usually made from anchovy, shrimp, mackerel, or other strong-flavored, high oil fish. Some variants add herbs and spices. For modern fish sauces, fish or shellfish are mixed with salt at a concentration of 10% to 30%. It is then sealed in a closed container for up to two years.
Once the original draft has been made, some fish sauces will be produced through a re-extraction of the fish mass via boiling. To improve the visual appearance and add taste, second-pass fish sauces often have added caramel, molasses, or roasted rice. They are thinner, and less costly. Some volume manufacturers of fish sauce will also water down a first-press to manufacture more products.
Fish sauce that has been only briefly fermented has a pronounced fishy taste. Extended fermentation reduces this and gives the product a nuttier, richer and more savory flavor.Julalak Chuprom, Preeyanuch Bovornreungroj, Mehraj Ahmad, Duangporn Kantachote, Toshiki Enomoto, Statistical optimization for the improved production of an extracellular alkaline nuclease by halotolerant Allobacillus halotolerans MSP69: Scale-up approach and its potential as flavor enhancer of fish sauce, Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology, Volume 8, 2016, Pages 236–247 An anonymous article, "Neuc-num", in Diderot and d'Alembert's 18th-century Encyclopédie, states: "It is said that Europeans become accustomed enough to this type of sauce".
Regional variations
Southeast Asia Fish sauce is a fundamental condiment and flavoring widely used in Southeast Asian cuisines. Thai and Cambodian fish sauces are generally milder and less pungent compared to their Vietnamese counterparts.
Myanmar Fish sauce in Myanmar is called ngan bya yay (ငါးငံပြာရည်). It's often a by-product of Hmyin ngapi (မျှင်ငပိ) (Burmese fish paste made from small fish, anchovies, krill and shrimp).Mi Mi Khaing, Cook and Entertain the Burmese Way (Rangoon, 1975) p. 98
Cambodia
In Cambodia, fish sauce is called tik trei (, ). Just like prahok, it is believed to date back to the pre-Angkorean era. Industrially fish sauce is produced by mixing trei aing keuy or anchovies with coarse salt and fermenting it in large wooden vats. Over the period of six to eight months, it is distilled five times, before being transferred into jars and sun-fermented for the final 2–3 months. The most famous fish sauce is produced in the Kampot Province. Food Production Company of Kampot produces a speciality fish sauce containing roe. Fish sauce is mixed with sugar, lime juice, chili peppers and crushed roasted peanuts to create sweet fish sauce, which is the most popular dipping sauce in Cambodia.
Laos In Lao/Isan, it is called nam pa (). A chunkier, more aromatic version known as padaek is also used.
Philippines
The Philippine fish sauce is known as patis. It is one of the most important ingredients in Filipino cuisine. Patis is a by-product of bagoong production, which include bagoong isda (fermented fish) and bagoong alamang (fermented krill), as well as the rarer bagoong macabebe (fermented oysters) and bagoong sisi (fermented clams). The fish used are typically small like sardines, anchovies, ambassids, and the fry of larger fish. Unlike other fish sauce variants, the fermented solids are not discarded but are sold as separate products. The patis is skimmed from the upper layers of fermenting bagoong and is not pressed. As such, patis usually takes longer to produce than other types of fish sauce as it is reliant on the readiness of bagoong.Patis is nearly always cooked prior to consumption, even when used as an accent to salads or other raw dishes. Patis is also used as an ingredient in cooked dishes, including a rice porridge called arroz caldo, as a condiment for fried fish or an umami accent in a common dish, sinigang. Patis 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 labuyo chilis and used as a dipping sauce.
Thailand
Fish sauce in Thailand is called Nam pla (). In Isan, it is called nam pa. Similar to the Laotian padaek is pla ra (), also used in Thai cuisine. In Thailand, fish sauce is used both in cooking and also served at the table as a condiment, for instance in noodle soups. Nearly every Thai meal is served with phrik nam pla as a condiment: a mixture of fish sauce, lime juice, and chopped bird's eye chilies. Sliced garlic is often added to this sauce.
Historically, there were two types of fish sauce made in Thailand: that made from freshwater fish, pla soi, and that made from saltwater fish, pla kratak. Either fish is fermented for at least eight months, three parts fish to two parts salt. The resulting mash is filtered. This yields the best fish sauce called the "base". The dregs are then mixed with water and salt and again fermented for three to four months. This yields a second-grade fish sauce, mostly used in cooking.
In 2014, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the import of Thai fish sauces due to a lack of information about tests for botulinum toxin. The toxin can cause death if more than 0.5 micrograms are consumed. The Thai Office of Food Safety and Quality then tested 48 brands of fish sauce to determine the content of botulinum toxin in the products. Of 48 brands tested, 28 were genuine fish sauces from 18 production sites in 12 provinces. Twenty samples from production sites in eight provinces were adulterated fish sauce. Tests showed that none were contaminated with botulinum toxin types A, B, E, and F and were free of Clostridium botulinum bacteria. In 2018, rumours again surfaced concerning banned Thai fish sauce.
Vietnam
The variety from Vietnam is called nước mắm. There are two areas in Vietnam that are most famous for producing fish sauce: Phú Quốc and Phan Thiết.
Fish sauce has a 300-year history dating back to the Champa kingdom of the Cham people.Ng, J. (2021, September 13). Fish Sauce Museum: 300-Year-Old Recipes & Champa Artifacts In Phan Thiết. The Smart Local. Retrieved May 25, 2022, from https://thesmartlocal.com/vietnam/fish-sauce-museum/ Phan Thiết can be identified with the birthplace of Vietnamese fish sauce. Before 1693, Phan Thiết was a territory of Champa. The Vietnamese occupied the area in 1693 and commercialized the fish sauce by keeping it in barrels and selling throughout the country. This business was popularized by Trần Gia Hòa who was born in 1872. There is a fish sauce museum in Phan Thiết. Popular brands in the US include Mega Chef, Red Boat, 3 Crabs, Golden Boy, and Hòn Phan Thiết.