December 12, 2011

Fish Sauce

Yesterday, I ate Brussels sprouts for lunch. Brussels sprouts with fish sauce on them. That was an interesting way of combining two reviled foods into one dish.

Have you ever tasted fish sauce by itself? The Red Boat Fish Sauce I had was bright red and beautiful. I couldn't resist tasting a swig, because when you looked at it, you thought, now that's going to taste really great!
Here's the thing, you're not supposed to eat fish sauce by itself. The appearance makes you want to pour yourself a glass, but that would be like drinking Worcestershire or soy sauce. Fish sauce is made from fermented anchovies. The Vietnamese name for fish sauce translates to salted fish water. Upon tasting it, you'll recognize the flavor from sauces and curries.

I adapted this David Chang (of Momofuku) recipe for roasted Brussels sprouts. I tossed the sprouts with some olive oil and roasted them at 425ยบ for about 25 minutes. I mixed fish sauce, water, sugar, garlic, cayenne, and Chinese Five-Spice powder and tossed the sprouts in that. I added a little bacon, just because.

The dish was good and just screamed Thai/Southeast Asian. After using that fish sauce, my house smells like Thai Pepper, which was unusual since I don't cook many ethnic foods at home.

Final verdict: If you have picky eaters who say they don't like Brussels sprouts, this is probably not the recipe that will convert them. I think I'll save the fish sauce for a curry, and I'll stick to a more traditional roasted Brussels sprouts recipe like the Barefoot Contessa's, which I could eat twice a week. Fish sauce is good for cooking, not for drinking.

8 comments:

wendy w. said...

I am not a fan of the fish sauce. Every time we make curry I ask Jonathan if we can leave it out completely. Maybe if ours was pretty and red like yours I'd reconsider though. But probably not cause who wants that nasty fish taste drowning out the yummy coconut milk?

Kimberly said...

Well there goes my idea of making Khao Soi for you over the holiday break.

Mike said...

Hi Kim,

Thanks for trying out our fish sauce! I just have one slight suggestion for you, as our fish sauce is more concentrated than other brands on the market, you may want to adjust the amount of fish sauce you are using in your recipes. Trying using half the amount you normally would or just season to taste. Hope that helps!

Kimberly said...

Thanks, Mike. I updated this post a bit. I liked your fish sauce and I'd recommend it to others, but I'm not too sure of the recipe I used.

Auntie said...

Did you have Brussels Sprouts in Brussels?

Kimberly said...

No Brussels sprouts in Brussels, but we did eat Belgian endive and mussels in Brussels (well, Bruges).

Jacqueline said...

If you run across some good recipes that use fish sauce, let me know. I have two that I like...and my bottle is still almost full. It just hangs out and mocks me every time I open the fridge.

Carole said...

Good post. You might be interested in this post I did on fish sauce. http://caroleschatter.blogspot.co.nz/2012/03/fish-sauce.html