Fish sauce

[Michael_in_TX]

Ever since I saw this thread I've had it in the back of my mind. Well, recently I've been interested in exploring some Thai cuisine. Over the past two days I've watched a lot of videos and read a great many recipes. ( Pailin Chongchitnant's https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/ website and accompanying YouTube channel is excellent.)

Obviously, I quickly learned that fish sauce is a thing in many Thai dishes. I wanted to try it before I got too into this, so I picked up a bottle of Thai Kitchen Fish Sauce at the local HEB for $2.94. Granted, one gets what one pays for, but if I liked it, I reasoned i would like the more premium stuff even better.

I opened it and smelled it. Fishy, but in a good way. Funky, but less so than blue cheese. I put a bit in a spoon and tasted it. Salty! Wow, okay, I can see why people use in lieu of table salt. But, there is so much more here with it. It's like salt + depth. Really, good! Can't wait to explore it a bit in some dishes.

[58limited]

Umami when used as an ingredient. The taste changes when cooked - here in SE Texas we have a large Vietnamese population and they often use cooked fish sauce as a dip for egg rolls and other things. Now, think about buying the Red Boat salt - scraped from the barrels that they age fish sauce in. I recently bought some and it can really kick up ribs and other smoked meats (dry brine).

[ofelles]

It's great in many things. Great umami.

[phrogpilot73]

I use fish sauce in more dishes than not. It adds so much more than just salty to any dish, tons of depth. I use it in my chili recipe (along with Old Bay and Umami Powder) for god's sake. I used to be a Three Crabs guy, but I've recently tried the Red Boat brand (from Whole Foods) and it's safe to say I have a new favorite brand.

[Michael_in_TX]

hoovarmin mentioned Fish Sauce popcorn. Well, I'm bored out of my mind so I gave it a try, or at least Sriracha + Fish Sauce popcorn. 1.5 tbl Sriracha + 2 tsp fish sauce.

The flavor profile is there, albeit perhaps a bit spicy with the sriracha. Unfortunately, it make most of the popped kernels soggy. The spritz bottle approach might be better.

[Ernest]

Oh yeah, that's where the spritzing comes into play.

[Ernest]

hoovarmin I just had red boat salt popcorn. I dissolved the salt in ghee first then tossed the corn in it. Went ahead and popped........ HAHAHA, man this is silly good!!!!! My 13 year old said "something's going on with this popcorn"........ HAHAHA

[Ernest]

Got tired of buying the baby bottles...

[ofelles]

I wonder if there is an anonymous group for fish sauce addicts....FSA?
One more I need to join!

[Ernest]

ofelles I just tried Colutara Di Alici this week.................It's some dangerous stuff.

[ofelles]

I had to look that one up. Italian fish sauce? How does it compare?

[Ernest]

ofelles little more salty, not as fishy as regular fish sauce BUT, it has deep flavor. Best used for dips and smaller serving sauces. Made some killer salad dressing