Asian basic sauce | Fish sauce

Fish sauce is one of the basic sauces in Asia. It is widely used in Southeast Asian cuisine.

Fish sauce is a sauce made from fermented fish, usually they use anchovies. Together with some salt they are put in barrels for fermentation. This process varies from 6 months to 2 years. This creates a transparent brown liquid, the fish sauce. Some fish sauces can be made from fresh fish, dried fish, shrimp, crab or squid.

In cookbooks it may be described under a different name. This could be nước mắm from Vietnamese or nam pla from Thai. There is also a difference in taste between the 2 fish sauces. The Vietnamese fish sauce has a higher percentage of fish, which makes it taste stronger than the Thai fish sauce. It is advisable to use the right fish sauce for the right kitchen, such as Vietnamese fish sauce for a Vietnamese dish.

Are you vegetarian and does the recipe contain fish sauce? Replace it with soy sauce. This one is less salty and 100% vegetarian. Or ask us for the vegetarian fish sauce. Fish sauce is used in Asian cuisine as a seasoning. A second application of fish sauce is dipping sauce after adding sugar, sour (lime juice, lemon juice or vinegar), garlic and possibly chili called nước chấm .

At Nguyen Oriental Foods you can go for different types of Vietnamese and Thai fish sauces. Are you also looking for other sauces? View our range on our website. Do not hesitate to contact us. Mail or call us!