Today is Oct 13th 2014. It is Monday that we normally do menu development for our restaurant but we close every Monday for Oct.
I shared the story about how we make Fish Sauce back home_ He smiled and told me, " you look so excited to talk about fish sauce". Of course, I know exactly how I made it and experience start from the beginning in the rain. I do value that at least "Tapos is not only the fish sauce commercially coming from the bottle".There are variety of fish sauce from different south east asian countries :
The rain has stopped by Nov. Fogs come early in the morning before the sun rise. Almost all the rice fields are almost ready to harvest ( Thanksgiving in the US ). We start to harvest the rice in the mid of Nov and Dec_ No more rain anymore. That time, we will bring out all the fish clay pots and put in the sun for a month or two and kept string the pot. I will tell you it is the awful smell from the pot that I can still sense of. We have to stir until it is melted as it was preserved with salt. After that stage, we will have large strainer and pour into the strainer and catch the liquid and put it in the sun. Because of the Sun, all the salt crunch will come up to the top of the liquid and we remove them. Finally, we will cook the liquid until all the impurities are gone from the liquid. Eventually, we get umami flavor and not salty and not smelly perfect home made fish sauce.
Here in the US, I have tried many of fish sauce, they may have done that way but still smelly and salty. I still prefer home made fish sauce. I would say Chef Alan quote, " Cooking with two feet on the ground". Awareness of the fish sauce is not from the bottle from the store.
I shared the story about how we make Fish Sauce back home_ He smiled and told me, " you look so excited to talk about fish sauce". Of course, I know exactly how I made it and experience start from the beginning in the rain. I do value that at least "Tapos is not only the fish sauce commercially coming from the bottle".There are variety of fish sauce from different south east asian countries :
nước mắm Vietnam
nam pal Thailand
ngan byar yee Myanmar
nam pa Lao
teuk trei Cambodia.
Although it may called different names in different countries, it should be similar to make one out of fish. Some may use Anchovies, some may use squid, some may use some of the fishes from the sea, but I use Barbus apogon Barb ( in Burmese called Nga Khone Ma ).
This type of fish grows I believe in south asia in the fresh water during the raining season ( July to Oct ) in the rice paddy field. You might have a question about how are you going to catch that amount of fish to make fish sauce. All I know is how to : My family have about 10 acre of rice field by the fresh lake. During the raining season, the water fill up the lake and as it is continue raining, the water will keep moving. As we plow and plant the rice, as the rice bloom, all species could survive with the rice bloosom and weeds including Barbus apogon Barb. As the water will flow lower point, we will let water to flow to the perfect spot to make a big nest to catch the fishes. The nest or cage is not only to catch Barbus apogon Barb but also other fishes for family meal. I had seen catching 100 lb of Barbus apogon Barb over night sometimes, but sometimes only a bit. So, what we do is we collect them and let them die and then salt 3:1 or 2:1 to the fish. It is around about September. Salted about over 12 hours and put in the clay pot tidily and seal the clay pot. Salt will of course preserve the fish without decaying. We would collect 5 or 6 clay pots full with salted Barbus apogon Barb fish. Let's us say 50lb each clay pot. Store inside of the house during the raining season.Although it may called different names in different countries, it should be similar to make one out of fish. Some may use Anchovies, some may use squid, some may use some of the fishes from the sea, but I use Barbus apogon Barb ( in Burmese called Nga Khone Ma ).
The rain has stopped by Nov. Fogs come early in the morning before the sun rise. Almost all the rice fields are almost ready to harvest ( Thanksgiving in the US ). We start to harvest the rice in the mid of Nov and Dec_ No more rain anymore. That time, we will bring out all the fish clay pots and put in the sun for a month or two and kept string the pot. I will tell you it is the awful smell from the pot that I can still sense of. We have to stir until it is melted as it was preserved with salt. After that stage, we will have large strainer and pour into the strainer and catch the liquid and put it in the sun. Because of the Sun, all the salt crunch will come up to the top of the liquid and we remove them. Finally, we will cook the liquid until all the impurities are gone from the liquid. Eventually, we get umami flavor and not salty and not smelly perfect home made fish sauce.
Here in the US, I have tried many of fish sauce, they may have done that way but still smelly and salty. I still prefer home made fish sauce. I would say Chef Alan quote, " Cooking with two feet on the ground". Awareness of the fish sauce is not from the bottle from the store.