Fish sauce - from Thailand how is it made?

Question

I work casually at a Thai restuarant and have taken a liking to the food. I normally take some home at the end of my shift, but I would rather cook it fresh. My boss has given me the recipe for Tom Yum soup with Noodle for me to make but when my husband saw it had fish sauce in it - a vital ingredient - he refuses to try it.
He has been told that fish sauce is made by fisherman catching fish and leaving them in big nets over drains and the rotting oil from the fish is dripped down the drain and collected to make the sauce.
Is this true? and if it is, can I substitute soy sauce instead of fish sauce in the recipe so my husband will eat it. I don't want to offend my boss by asking her due to the language barrier.
Thank-you

Answer 1

Here's an excerpt that tells how it's made. You can click on the link to read the full article. The nice thing about this article is that it's authentic, written by a Thai author about Thai fish sauce.

********** ********** ********** ********** **********

How Fish Sauce is Made
Made From Fresh Fish From the Sea Fish Sauce Does Wonders for Thai Food

by Kasma Loha-unchit
Copyright © 1998 Kasma Loha-unchit
http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/features/fishsauce1.html

"For fish sauce to develop a pleasant, fragrant aroma and taste, the fish must be very fresh. As soon as fishing boats return with their catch, the fish are rinsed and drained, then mixed with sea salt – two to three parts fish to one part salt by weight. They are then filled into large earthenware jars, lined on the bottom with a layer of salt, and topped with a layer of salt. A woven bamboo mat is placed over the fish and weighted down with heavy rocks to keep the fish from floating when water inside them are extracted out by the salt and fermentation process.

The jars are covered and left in a sunny location for nine months to a year. From time to time, they are uncovered to air out and to let the fish be exposed to direct, hot sunshine, which helps "digest" the fish and turn them into fluid. The periodic "sunning" produces a fish sauce of superior quality, giving it a fragrant aroma and a clear, reddish brown color.

After enough months have passed, the liquid is removed from the jars, preferably through a spigot on the bottom of the jars, so that it passes through the layers of fish remains; or by siphoning. Any sediments are strained out with a clean cloth. The filtered fish sauce is filled into other clean jars and allowed to air out in the sun for a couple of weeks to dissipate the strong fish odors. It is then ready for bottling. The finished product is 100-percent, top-grade, genuine fish sauce."

Answer 2

Fish sauce is made with fresh fish and salt that's allowed to ferment in a container or vat for up to 9 months. The run-off is fish sauce. It may not sound pretty, but it is very good.

There are vegetarian fish sauces that are supposed to give a decent taste.

I suggest trying the recipe without the fish sauce and trying it with the fish sauce to see if you miss the taste.

PS... Can you post the recipe?

Also, are you sure your husband is a man? He sounds like a little girl. lol (just kidding, of course)

Answer 3

Soy sauce wouldn't work - it's totally the wrong flavour for Thai and Vietnamese recipes. My boyfriend won't eat fish sauce so I buy the vegetarian mock-fish sauce from Green Gourmet's grocery store in Sydney www.greengourmet.com.au

It's good stuff. I like it in my Thai and Vietnamese cooking - it works well and I do not miss having the strong fishiness overpowering the subtleties of the herbs and spices (galangal, lemongrass, green peppercorns, etc) anyhow.

But if you're not in Sydney try to find an Asian vegetarian grocery store in your city which may be connected to a Buddhist vegetarian restaurant.

Answer 4

I know the Vietnamese version is made when small anchovies are left in a brine and allow to ferment. The anchovies I think are removed and then dried for sale. They later found the brine tasted good. I know that the Thai does it a bit different. The romans have something similar which evolve into Worstershire sauce. I think if you wat to substitute, try anchovie paste or filets instead.

Answer 5

-i admire this sauce -- it is utilized in Asia quite of salt. you are able to upload it to stews and different western dishes to grant a diffused flavour. Chop clean chile peppers into it and sprinkle on rice dishes to grant them a kick. in case you are able to no longer discover the sauce below its Vietnamese call, seem for it below its Thai call, Nam Pla. important supermarkets will sell it -- consistent with possibility labelled as Thai/Vietnamese Fish Sauce -- even yet it is extensively extra decrease priced in Asian foodstuff shops. you do no longer probable intend to make it at abode, yet once you do, the user-friendly concept is to take a capture of anchovies or comparable small fish, combination with thrice as a lot salt, placed them in a closed field, go away it out interior the sunlight for a year or extra to decompose, opeining each and every now and back, then pour out the relax liquid. that's the sauce .

Answer 6

looooooool
its not made that way.. someone is pulling your leg
its just like boullion cubes.. its a high salt, thick (with starchy thickners like corn starch but probably rice starch there).. loads of artificial flavors as well as natural flavors and MSG added...
Some fish sauces have real fish oil, some artificial.. but both are tasty and most adds well to many asian dishes.. YOu could just use vegetable boullion or there is a sauce called "bloom".. its just vegetable sauce, like liquid boullion flavoring in a jar... both are great substitutes for fish sauce

Answer 7

google is your friend
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_sauce