Fish sauce is a part of many Southeast Asian cuisines including Vietnamese nuoc mam, Filipino patis, Korean aek jeot, and Thai nam pla. There's also non-liquid versions of fish and shrimp pastes such as Vietnamese mam ruoc, Cambodian prahok, Filipino bagoong, and Malaysian belacan. But for the purposes of this post, I'm only going to discuss the liquid version of fish sauce in general, and Vietnamese fish sauce in particular.
In "Salt: A World History," Mark Kurlansky says the invention of fish sauce is believed to have occurred independently in Europe and Asia. In Europe, the Romans had four classes of fish sauce - garum, liquamen, allec, and muria. While the exact meanings of each class has been lost in time, garum and liquamen became generic terms for fermented fish sauce. Fish scraps were placed in earthen jars, layered with salt, and weighted to draw out the moisture from the fish. The oldest Roman cookbook in existence, "De Re Coquinaria," compiled by Apicius provided more recipes with garum than with salt. A few drops of garum were added to meat, fish, vegetable, and even fruit dishes.
In Asia, fish sauce is believed to have been invented by the Vietnamese. Although, the method may have been borrowed from the Chinese soy sauce, which in ancient times used fermented fish with soy beans. Unlike the Roman garum, which fell out of use, Vietnamese nuoc mam remains a vital part of the cuisine today. When the French entered Vietnam, they were horrified to discover that the Vietnamese ate "rotten fish." Nonetheless, the Institut Pasteur in Paris spent 16 years studying nuoc mam, from 1914 to 1930, to figure out the fermentation process. They discovered that the fish were of the Clupeidae family, which contain herring and sardines. The fish were salted and left for three days to extract juices. Some of the juice was saved and left to ferment in the sun, while the rest of the juice was pressed with the fish. The two juices were mixed together and left to ferment for three months or longer. Solid parts were strained out. And that was all Kurlansky had to say about nuoc mam before he continued his discussion of garum.
Aside from the horridly mangled accents for nuoc mam, Kurlansky also didn't include anchovies as the fish of choice. Although, I wonder what Kurlansky would have said if he devoted equal space to studying all the gradations of fish sauce in Vietnam. And how nuoc mam differed in other countries.
Nuoc, the Vietnamese word for water also means nation. Mam means paste or sauce. Could I argue that nuoc mam can also mean "national sauce"? Because certainly, it's a vital part of Vietnamese cuisine. Not all fish sauces are the same. While I've tried some brands of Filipino and Thai fish sauces, I found the flavors too harsh, too salty, with little nuance. Of course, this is mainly because I cook Vietnamese food, the fish sauces I use are geared toward Vietnamese dishes.
So I'll leave the discussion of which brands of fish sauce to use for other cuisines to my blogging friends who do a much better job of cooking those cuisines. For the Vietnamese kitchen in general, and my kitchen in particular, these are my preferred brands.
For a long time, the most common brands of fish sauce that were available were Thai. I grew up on the Thai Squid Brand Fish Sauce. It's not nearly as salty as Tiparos, another popular Thai fish sauce. It's commonly stocked at American grocery stores, and in a moment of laziness when I ran out and because I didn't want to make a separate trip to the Asian grocery store, I bought a bottle. It was perfectly OK, and I used it mainly to season large pots of soup. So if you don't have much of a choice of fish sauce in your area, I'd recommend Squid.
But these days, since Vietnamese brands of fish sauce are available, I'd much rather recommend Viet Huong's brands of Flying Lion Phu Quoc and Three Crabs nuoc mam. (Though the labels might say processed in Thailand, these are purely Vietnamese fish sauces. I think this was before normalization of relations so it needed to have a non-Vietnamese label in order to be imported into the US?) Phu Quoc, the island off the southernmost tip of Vietnam, is famed for their nuoc mam. So much so that other brands might slap on the words Phu Quoc in order to mislead. Also, look for the words nuoc mam nhi (which you can see above the Viet Huong label on the Three Crabs bottle). This means it is from the first extraction, rather similar to the "cold-pressed extra virgin" label on a bottle of olive oil. Although the nuoc mam will darken with time after being opened, you want to look for a light amber color when you purchase it. It's perfectly fine to store nuoc mam at room temperature.
So what do they taste like? Nuoc mam hits the fifth taste bud, umami, a savoriness if you will. It's more than just salty. Squid is the saltiest of the three, followed by Flying Lion Phu Quoc, and then Three Crabs. I reserve Squid and Flying Lion Phu Quoc for seasoning soups and cooking.
Three Crabs is more nuanced, with slightly sweeter undertones, as it's made from the first extraction. I reserve Three Crabs for use in Vietnamese dipping sauces, where the taste of the fish sauce won't overpower. Make sure it's Three Crabs brand, there's copycat one and two crabs brands too. I admit, my preference for Three Crabs is because that's what my ba noi (Vietnamese paternal grandmother) taught me. Also, because I don't have time to try every single brand on the market. I stick with what's tried and true. Like Burgundy wine, which can only be called such if it is produced in Burgundy, France, make sure your fish sauce was processed in Phu Quoc, Vietnam. I've heard the coastal town of Phan Thiet also makes good fish sauces, but haven't tried any of those.
So there you go, if you thought fish sauce was too salty or too smelly, it could be because you were using the wrong brands. Make sure you use Vietnamese nuoc mam when making Vietnamese dishes. After all, we did invent fish sauce. :)
And for my non-Vietnamese food bloggers and readers, what brands of fish sauce do you prefer for cooking your cuisine?
My recipe for basic nuoc mam cham (Vietnamese fish dipping sauce).
August 17, 2010 update:
My error. I just wanted to clarify that according to this San Francisco Chronicle article, Viet Huong fish sauce is from Thailand, processed it in Hong Kong, and finished in America because the quality of the fish sauce from Vietnam is not suitable for export. But since the company is owned by a Chinese-Vietnamese-American, that makes it Vietnamese enough in my book. ;)
1 year ago today, Carne Asada (Mexican Grilled Meat) and Ga Nuong Xa (Vietnamese Grilled Chicken with Lemongrass) for a Memorial Day barbecue.