In Thai cooking, how much of a difference does it make to use Soy Sauce instead of Fish Sauce?

Question

I have lived in Thailand for 2 years and have eaten my share of Thai food!.........LOL

I notice in Thailand Thais use fish sauce instead of Soy sauce.

Now I am back in the States. When I cook Thai food, since I have Soy sauce available in my house I use it instead. I could always go to the store and buy a bottle of fish sauce, but in my opinion why bother since I have Soy sauce? (which contains plenty of sodium as it is!). Am I robbing my Thai dishes of flavor? or it does not make that much of a difference?

I would appreciate it if Thai people could answer this as well. Kap Kun Krap!

Thanks.

Answer 1

Thai fish sauce (nam pla) is essential to Thai cooking, there is just no substitute. Nam pla is easily available & if you cook Thai food so often, isnt it worth 3 bucks?

Answer 2

Living in Ohio and in the city that so far away (45 miles) from an Asian store, I too use soy sauce instead of fish sauce. I made Thai fried rice using soy sauce before and it tasted just fine except for the flavor enhancement sauce that you put on afterward. You know, the one that mixes fish sauce with fresh or dried chilli pepper and lime and a tiny bit of sugar. You can't really use soy sauce for that. I've made both red and green curries with soy sauce before, it tasted just fine. I guess if the recipe calls for fish sauce to be used in the process of cooking the meal, you can substitute soy sauce for fish sauce, but if for flavor enhancement to be eaten with the meal, there's no substitution for that. Hope this help.

Answer 3

I think it would make a "bit" of a difference as to the taste and authenticity of the dish, but it may be robbed of some flavor, especially if it calls for quite a bit of fish sauce. However using soy as a substitute to the overall composition of the dish, shouldn't have a negative effect, as soy often helps to enhance the flavors.

Answer 4

You could try the soy sauce and see how you like it. One advantage of soy sauce over fish sauce that I can think of is that you'll have less trouble with bad breath the next day. In the western world, going to work with really bad garlic breath is a faux pas. Most ppl won't say anything, but having bad breath which can be smelled 6 ft away is really poor public relations.

Answer 5

It's a totally different flavor. Soy sauce is good but it won't have the same taste as it would with Thai fish sauce. It's not expensive, I don't know why you wouldn't want it.

Answer 6

fish sauce imparts a totally different flavor than soy sauce. fish sauce is like 2 dollars for a big bottle, it keeps for a long time and is worth the investment.

Answer 7

both have a totally different flavors. So using soy sauce instead of using fish sauce will make a big difference on the flavor.
try smelling it, totally different ^_^

Answer 8

it will change the flavor of the dish, in the sense that it will be less fishy, smoky & salty. If you don't mind that and you are not looking to have that specific authentic flavor then go ahead use the say sauce & maybe add some fish boullion cube to add some of the flavor back into the dish.

Answer 9

difference = fish-soy

Answer 10

That is just a matter of your personal taste. If you like it the way you cook it;then it does not matter.