The Fish Sauce Cookbook: 50 Umami-Packed Recipes from Around the Globe

By Veronica Meewes

Acclaimed chefs find innovative uses for this classic Asian staple—with fifty recipes ranging from meat and pasta dishes to cocktails and desserts.

Long used as a key umami flavor in Asian cooking, fish sauce is becoming a ubiquitous ingredient with prominent chefs finding new and unexpected ways to add it to their dishes. In The Fish Sauce Cookbook, readers will discover the origins of fish sauce, compare different brands and varieties, and learn about proper care and storage of this magical briny sauce.

Starting with the formula for making homemade fish sauce, author Veronica Meewes dives into a wide variety of fare, from slow-roasted meats and classic Italian pasta dishes to craft cocktails, salad dressings, and even desserts.

Renowned chefs and food personalities from around the globe share original recipes, such as Shrimp Toast with Nuom Choc from Kevin Luzande Acabar; Spiced Lacquered Duck Breasts from Andrew Zimmerman; Crispy Farmer’s Market Vegetables with Caramelized Fish Sauce from Chris Shepherd; Caramel Miso Glaze from Monica Pope; and Hamachi Tostadas with Fish Sauce Vinaigrette from Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Sep 8, 2015
• ISBN: 9781449471576

Book preview

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To my father,

who first sparked my interest in Southeast Asia

with colorful memories of the wonderful people he met

and food he ate in Vietnam. 

Contents

INTRODUCTION

MAKING FISH SAUCE AT HOME

Vegan Nước Chấm

Homemade Fish Sauce

SAUCES MADE WITH FISH SAUCE

Caramel Miso Glaze

Rappahannock Mignonette

Apple Relish

Fish Sauce Béarnaise

MoPho-Style Barbecue Shrimp Sauce

SOUPS AND SALADS

Thai Hot and Sour Coconut Chicken Soup

Seafood Chowder with Thai Flavors

Kimchi Stew with Tuna and Ramen Noodles

Crab and Roasted Tomato Soup in Spicy Garlic Ginger Broth

Kale Caesar Salad with Spiedini Croutons

Chicken and Candied Shrimp Salad

Braised Duck with Ginger Lime Slaw

Green Mango, Sorrel, and Candied Pecans in Spicy Palm Sugar Syrup

SMALL BITES

Sweet and Spicy Caramel Corn with Cashews and Fish Sauce Caramel

Crispy Pork Steam Buns with Fish Sauce Vinaigrette

Shrimp Toast with Nước Chấm

Vietnamese Meatballs

Crab Fat Wings

Shrimp and Pork Belly Bánh Mì

VEGETABLE SIDES

Crispy Farmer’s Market Vegetables with Caramelized Fish Sauce

Korean Pikliz

Warm Brussels Sprout Slaw with Asian Citrus Dressing

Shaved Winter Squash

Wood Roasted Summer Squash with Palm Sugar, Soy,

and Fish Sauce Vinaigrette

Skillet Greens, Crisp Shallots, Nước Mắm Apple Cider Gastrique

PASTA

Late Summer Pasta Sauce

Ode to Sardella

MEAT ENTRéES

Vietnamese Caramel Chicken

Spice-Lacquered Duck Breasts, Baby Turnips, and Turnip Greens

Fermented Pork and Rice Sausage, Larb Salad, and Fish Sauce Vinaigrette

Marinated Grilled Short Rib with Anchovy Salad, Green Tomato Jam, and Sweet Potato Purée

Freedmen’s Pulled Pork

Mustard and Beer-Braised Brisket

Thit Kho Caramelized Braised Pork Belly and Eggs

SEAFOOD ENTRéES

Hamachi Tostada with Fish Sauce Vinaigrette

Grilled Peaches, Crispy Maine Shrimp, Chiles, and Herbs

Steamed Dover Sole with Fried Chopped Radish in Soya Sauce

Blue Crab Fried Rice with Nam Phrik Pla

Rice-Seared Red Trout with Mandarin and Hazelnut Brown Butter

Halibut with Browned Butter, Lemon, and Aged Fish Sauce

Lobster with Fish Sauce Caramel

Mussels in Coconut Chili Broth

Zucchini Tofu Shrimp Frittata with Fish Sauce

COCKTAILS

Fish Sauce Bloody Mary

Hanoi High Five

Saigon Shrub

DESSERT

Coconut Buddha’s Hand Sundae with Fish Sauce Latik

Apple Fritters with Fish Sauce Apple Marmalade

Contributor Biographies

Metric Conversions and Equivalents

Introduction

When I began telling people I was working on this cookbook, most of the reactions I received were versions of the same sentiment: I’ve had the same bottle of fish sauce in my pantry forever, and I just don’t know what to do with it!

Hopefully, this collection of fifty recipes, contributed by renowned chefs and passionate food writers, helps to demystify the funky condiment that’s been popping up on menus all over the country lately. Using this as your guide, you’ll soon find that fish sauce is not only a staple of Asian cuisine, but surprisingly can be utilized in everything from Evan LeRoy’s Freedmen’s Pulled Pork to cocktails like Lara Nixon’s Saigon Shrub to desserts like Andrew Lewis’s Apple Fritters with Fish Sauce Apple Marmalade.

Straight from the bottle, the intense fishy aroma can be off-putting for some home cooks. But when used in moderation, fish sauce can add great flavor undertones to a dish—without necessarily smelling or tasting like it crawled out of the ocean.

You see, fish sauce is the epitome of umami, the fifth taste that occurs when the amino acid glutamate is present. Appropriately named after the Japanese word for delicious, umami can be found in rich stocks, savory dashi (Japanese stocks), and earthy mushrooms. Fermentation helps unleash umami flavors, which are prevalent in products like soy sauce, cured meats, aged cheeses, and fish sauce.

It’s this brilliant way of layering in flavor complexities, explains fermentation expert Sandor Katz. And I think in the world of fermented condiments there’s quite a few examples of things that actually taste a little bit nasty in their pure form, but they really do serve to introduce incredible flavor complexities when you use just a little bit in a big dish.

The History of Fish Sauce

Though Dr. Kikunae Ikeda of Japan defined umami in the early 1900s, it didn’t start to be recognized as the fifth taste until the 1980s. But humans have been craving that savory flavor for much longer than that. In fact, the first accounts of fish sauce fermentation actually date back to ancient Rome, where garum was created from anchovies, sardines, mackerel, or tuna, which were salted and left in the sun to ferment for several months. They were then strained and often fortified with honey, wine, herbs, or vinegar.

Ryan Pera, chef-owner of Coltivare in Houston, discovered garum while reading Apicius in college. The collection of ancient Roman recipes, which is thought to be

one of the earliest printed cookbooks, dates back to the late fourth and early fifth century AD. Chicago chef Chris Pandel also became intrigued with the ancient

ingredient and even re-created many of the original Roman recipes for a special

dinner at his restaurant Balena.

These days, the closest thing to garum on the market is colatura di alici, a salted anchovy liquid crafted on Italy’s Amalfi coast and aged in oak barrels for three to four years. A 3- to 4-ounce bottle of the stuff can run between $20 and $30, but for good reason. Unlike Southeast Asian fish sauces that are diluted by about 20 percent when bottled, colatura di alici is highly concentrated. That means a little goes a long way. Though the substance smells intensely fishy when first opened, using just a little bit will lend that elusive je ne sais quoi to your dish. Try it in a salad dressing such as the Kale Caesar Salad with Spiedini Croutons, or toss it with pasta, olive oil, garlic, and red pepper. Gerard Craft’s Ode to Sardella is a zesty pasta dish that can use either fish sauce or colatura.

While Pera and Pandel primarily use Asian-style fish sauce in their kitchens, they incorporate colatura in sauces or drizzled atop a dish in lieu of a balsamic reduction. "We reserve the colatura as a finishing agent in our kitchens almost like a single-press olive oil or a finishing sea salt," explains Pandel.

How Fish Sauce Is Made

Interestingly enough, fish sauce didn’t make its way down to Asia until about 1,000 years after it was documented in Italy. Some speculate that it was passed along the trade route known as the Silk Road, though it is entirely possible that Asian fish sauce was created independently of the brine Italians were simmering. In the East, anchovies were incorporated, instead of the tuna and mackerel available in the Mediterranean, and the condiment began to morph into the modern clear Asian fish sauce we know and use today.

The process for making fish sauce hasn’t changed much through the years. Much like garum, fresh fish are salted and layered in barrels or clay pits, then left to ferment in the heat of the sun for up to a year. Bricks or bamboo mats press down on the fish as its digestive enzymes break down the flesh, resulting in fermentation.

If you took fillets of fish and tried to make fish sauce out of that, it probably wouldn’t work, explains fermentation expert Sandor Katz. The intestines are critical to the process. That’s the source of the bacteria. So it’s just fish, a lot of salt, a little bit of weight bearing down on it, and patience.

Next, the liquid is drained out of the vats. Much like a fine olive oil, the first press is the highest quality (though it is more of a first drain). Some companies will then age the strained liquid for another several months; the longer it sits, the lighter and sweeter it becomes. The idea is, over a length of time, it develops secondary and tertiary flavors that aren’t just rotten fish, explains Todd Duplechan, chef/owner of Lenoir in Austin, who also has his own batch of fish sauce currently fermenting.

The thing with doing it yourself at home is sometimes you’ll be like, ‘This is great!’ and other times it won’t be as good, says Duplechan. There are so many different factors— it was too hot, it wasn’t hot enough, the type of fish, what the fish were eating, where they were from—it’s endless. Here and here, you’ll find recipes for making your own fish sauce at home. But if you don’t have nine to twelve months to wait, there are plenty of brands out there from which to choose.

How to Select a Fish Sauce

Perusing the fish sauce aisle of the Asian market can indeed be an intimidating experience. A rainbow of labels line the shelves, typically written in unfamiliar languages. Some specimens are dark and translucent, while others are lighter in color but thick and viscous. Where to begin?

First, read the label. The best sauces will be made from just one type of fish (anchovy is most common) rather than a blend. There also shouldn’t be many other ingredients listed; traditionally, fish sauce is made from just fish and salt. If there are a slew of unpronounceable preservatives and additives on the ingredient list (i.e., MSG or artificial sweeteners), move along.

Some bottles will have the nitrogen content listed as degrees N. The degrees refer to the amount of nitrogen per liter, which is a measure of the sauce’s intensity and protein level. A 30°N is standard, so anything higher is more concentrated and incrementally more expensive.

Brands of Fish Sauce

Many different Asian cultures have their own version of fish sauce. In Vietnam it’s known as nước mắm and, in Thailand, nam pla. In Japan it’s called shottsuru, Korea has aek jeot, the Phillippines has patis, and Cambodians call theirs prahoc. Vietnamese and Thai fish sauces are by far the most ubiquitous in Asian markets, with the former known for being more nuanced and delicate in flavor.

Some of the best fish sauce in the world is said to come from Phu Quoc, an island in Vietnam. That’s where Red Boat produces their popular 40°N