Sawaddee ka welcome to hot thai kitchen in this video I'm going to answer all the questions that
you have about the one and only fish sauce that's right if you've been following the show you know
it's my absolute favorite ingredient it is the key condiment in Thai cuisine and I use
it in just about everything so I do get quite a bit of questions about it now if you want to
learn about other Thai ingredients I do have a playlist that discusses other ingredients I'll
put the link in the description below so make sure you check that out alright let's get started
so the very basic level it is the liquid that results from the fermentation of anchovies and
salt that's it you put a bunch of anchovies and salt together in a big tank you let it go the
salt will start to draw liquid from the fish and then fermentation starts happening and you let
that go for 12 to 18 months and the resulting liquid that comes out that is your first press
purest extra-virgin fish sauce however the fish sauce that you probably have in your pantry or the
stuff that's available in the market is probably not that extra virgin fish sauce because what most
manufacturers do after that is they add salt water back into the same fish and get second
press out of it and they can repeat that and get third press fourth press you can imagine it gets
more and more diluted after a while right and so then what they do is they combine that first press
with the subsequent presses and so they determine the quality of the fish sauce by how much of that
first press is in the final product so unlike wine when it comes to fish sauce you can be pretty sure
that price is an indication of quality because as I explained earlier the pure the fish sauce the
more expensive it is to make like in my coconut milk video you want to go first of all with the
one with the least amount of ingredients because the more diluted the fish sauce the more additives
they have to add to it in order to make up for the lack of any real fish flavor so here a five
that I can get locally let's talk about what not to get first of all so this brand right
here check out the ingredient list salt and show V extract water sugar monosodium glutamate which
is MSG acetic acid sodium benzoate and caramel that's crazy there's way too many ingredients
for something that should just be fish and salt god that smells awful it doesn't even smell to
me like fish sauce it's some weird funky liquid I have never actually tasted this before so here's
the first one for you yeah yeah it's so incredibly one dimensionally salty without any real flavor
to it yeah so there's a reason why this is the cheapest of all of these so the next two have the
exact same ingredient list and they're actually pretty close in price this one's a little more
expensive if you follow the show you know that this is the one that I use all the time there's
a very popular brand but upon like just looking at label you wouldn't be able to tell aside from
the fact that this one was creepy which one was a better quality fish sauce the ingredients for
both of these is anchovy salt and sugar so here we go creepy baby brand fish sauce it's okay I
would say that if this is the only one you have access to you'll be fine I'm gonna compare it
side-by-side to squid brand which by the way as the label indicates does not contain any
squid in the same way that the baby brand does not contain any babies all the smell I already
prefer this one the smell is a lot smoother I can smell more fish in there it's got a it's
more flavorful in general and I find that that's a trend is the cheaper brand tends to be saltier
without the flavor that comes with it so this again is the one that I use all the time it's
inexpensive it's great for your general purpose fish sauce so the next one is this very popular
Vietnamese one three crabs brand and again it does not contain any crabs I really like this one
it's very smooth and nice little less salty than this one however it does break my rule of fewer
ingredients is better because this one has just one more ingredient hydrolyzed wheat protein yeah
it's got good fish flavor it's a little smoother I find there might be a little more sugar in here
the salt is not as jarring it is more expensive so I tend to reserve this for things like salad
or dipping sauces where I may not want the fish sauce flavor to be so strong because
it's a main ingredient so these two are like my sort of everyday go-to fish sauce brands and for
those of us who are looking for a luxurious fish sauce ladies and gentlemen I present to you red
boat fish sauce so by the way I am not sponsored by red boat or by any of these people so this is
the only brand that I am aware of that is that first-press purist extra virgin fish sauce this
is just one press straight into the bottle not mixed with anything it's made in Vietnam and
you can only get this at specialty grocery store so I had to track this one down in Vancouver but
you can get this online so if you're interested it is listed in my kit I'll make sure I'll put that
link in the description below if you guys want to try it out now look at the color first of all the
color is a little bit more intense and I think that has to do with the fact that it's just got
more fish stuff in it it's the smoothest of them all you know how like when you spill fish sauce on
yourself and you're like yeah that's terrible like if I were to spill this on myself I don't think it
would be that bad it wouldn't be pleasant but I think it would be more tolerable because it's a
smoother aroma almost like soy sauce esque the difference is pretty incredible like it's so
flavorful like you can almost taste that this is richer more full-bodied than say this one
was felt very much diluted and this by the way is the only brand with only two ingredients fish and
salt no sugar no water no nothing added okay and it's also high in protein per tablespoon this guy
has four grams as compared to this one which has two grams and this one which has zero and why is
protein important because protein is indicative of how much real fish is actually in it and that
protein content is the umami flavor that's in the fish sauce so when you're shopping that's a
good thing to look at to is a protein content also take pay attention to sodium content this is 1490
milligrams per tablespoon whereas this is 1670 so this is saltier so when you're cooking you can
put more of this stuff get more flavor and umami without having as much salt in it it is expensive
so I would reserve this for things like dips or ask your table side condiments sprinkle it on
your eggs you know and when you're just cooking it and a stir fry and a curry these will do just fine
this is very important what is fish sauce but not the fish sauce okay so this bottle right here you
see this guy it does say fish sauce and I've had somebody tell me that this is what they bought
and the dish didn't turn out quite as they were expecting you guys this is not what I'm talking
about when I refer to fish sauce it is also fish and salt that's been fermented together but like
all of the fish bodies are in here this is a Vietnamese product it's a very similar product
that we also have in thailand called baja or in lao by day this is an acquired taste for
just about everyone i mean if you don't grow up eating this stuff it's gonna take you a while to
to get used to Wow look at that God and it's so awesome let's close this quickly it's very murky
and it does have like a rotten flavor aroma to it which I don't think exists with these guys
I totally respect you if you like it and I can definitely take a little bit in my papaya salad
and whatnot but just to be clear this is not what I call for when I call for fish sauce despite the
fact that the does say fish sauce on the label so most high people will keep our fish sauce just on
the counter but we go through it a lot right so if you're just an occasional user fish sauce I would
say keep it in the fridge because I find that over time fish sauce does deteriorate in terms of
flavor it'll become more pungent the color will be visibly darker it's not going to spoil like
it's not gonna go bad it's not gonna make you sick there's so much salt in there but the flavors not
gonna be as good and so if you keep it in the fridge lid on really tight it slows down that
process I find also if you're not a regular user of fish sauce don't get a big honking bottle like
this I mean for some of you this is gonna last you like a whole year right get a little bottle
like this this is actually what my mom always gets now then she just leaves it outside doesn't
have to worry about it being in the fridge and it just doesn't have time to get old so if you don't
consume animal products or maybe you're allergic to fish there are a few options out there so what
I do when I cook for vegetarians for example is I do a straight substitution one part to one part
soy sauce to fish sauce however if the fish sauce is like the only seasoning and it's like a main
flavor I do a combination of soy sauce and golden mountain sauce you've seen me use this many times
it's a different kind of soy sauce but it's got a sharper more intense flavor and I find that a
mix of the two imitates intensity of fish sauce a little bit better there is a product on the market
called vegetarian fish sauce like this one right here I know in English it just says vegetarian
sauce but in French it does say vegetarian fish sauce and in Vietnamese as well I do not recommend
it ok it does not taste good people I am Telling You and let me show you the ingredient list okay
water salt sugar msg caramel flavor whatever that is and zode sodium benzoate which is the
preservative so it's just a salty sugary solution with preservatives and flavor added and whatever
flavor that is it is not good if you know of a good brand out there a vegetarian fish sauce
please let us know in the comments finally there are recipes online that show you how you can make
sort of homemade vegetarian fish sauce and it's usually just soy sauce infused with a bunch of
other ingredients the recipes vary a lot so if you want to try that out by all means and if
you've got a good recipe to recommend of course let us know in the comments as well but if you're
not gonna use fish sauce that often sticking with the soy sauce substitution works for me every time
this is what I call salt with personality because yes the main thing you're wanting to get from
it is saltiness but it also adds a lot of umami flavor sharpness to the dish which I absolutely
love so I use it in stir fries dip salads curries anything and I encourage you to actually extend
the use beyond Thai food and even beyond Asian cuisine fish sauce is great in like a bolognese
sauce anything that's like Richard tstewy a little bit of fish sauce I am telling you you
can thank me later and that is it if you've got more questions let me know on Facebook Twitter
or Instagram and if you have any tricks or tips or comments related to fish sauce share it with
us all fish sauce loving community here in the comments below and by the way I just wanted to
remind you that if you can't get fish sauce where you are you can buy them online and they're not
expensive I'll make sure to put the link in the description below and subscribe to the show if
you want to see more videos like this and I will see you next time for your next TV shift time