The Weirdest Thing In My Pantry - Fish Sauce

My current brand of fish sauce. Notice the nearly empty bottle?
Time  to go to the Asian Market!

Okay - maybe it's not the weirdest. The bonito shavings (shavings of dried bonito fish that look more like kindling than food) are definitely weirder. But of the condiments and spices I use on a weekly basis, fish sauce is definitely the strangest. And to boot, my current brand of fish sauce is Squid Brand Fish Sauce. Believe me, when I pull that out in front of guests who don't know any better, the look on their faces lets me know I may need to do some explaining.

Fish sauce is perhaps the major condiment/sauce in Thai food. It is in practically *everything* Thai. Find a good Pad Thai recipe? It has fish sauce. Curries? Fish sauce. Even the recipe for Hot and Sour Soup in my go-to Thai Cookbook has fish sauce at it's core. It's a salty, almost smokey flavor, kin to soy sauce, but not as strong. If ever you find a recipe claiming to be Thai, but without fish sauce, be very skeptical. And if it's Pad Thai, RUN - do not walk - the other way!

The hard part about fish sauce is buying it, especially buying it for the first time. I have some good supermarkets around, but I have yet to find a decent fish sauce in a local mega-mart. And yes, you can buy it online, but I like to buy a lot of my Asian ingredients at the same time, and who wants to pay shipping on that? To get my fish sauce, I have to make a trek into the center of town (I live *way* out in the 'burbs) to the Asian mega-mart.

Let's face it - for some of us, walking into an Asian market can be a bit intimidating, and, if you believe my five year old son, it can also be a little, shall we say, odorous? (It doesn't help that my Asian market keeps durian by the front door!) But if you have small children, I strongly suggest taking them to the Asian market (and a carniceria and any other specialty market you can find) from time to time if you don't already. For one thing, it broadens their minds (people really eat that?), and for another, it will help them to be less intimidated buying fish sauce, curries, foreign spices, or pickled duck eggs as adults. Once in the Asian market, you may need to go on a great trek to find the fish sauce. After ten years of patronage I still haven't figured out the organizational schema of my market when it comes to canned and bottled goods. But I can usually find a helpful, if slightly amused, clerk to help me find what I need. Or I just wander, picking up random cans and bottles until I'm 90% sure I have what I need, because, of course, where is the adventure in being 100% sure?

 Once you find the fish sauce area, there are bound to be dozens of different brands, some in English, some not. The good news is, over the years I've tried different brands, and so long as they are all basic fish sauce, they're all relatively decent. If you're new to fish sauce, you may want to find a brand with ingredients in English. The ingredients list should be relatively simple: anchovies (or anchovy extract), salt and perhaps some sugar. That's it. If there are any coloring or additives, find a different brand. There are a lot of brands to choose from, so finding one you're comfortable with shouldn't be too hard.

Once you have your sauce, have fun with it! Try one of the dozens of Thai recipes out there! If you're new to Thai food altogether, I suggest Pad Thai or Yellow Curry. Both are mild, and just a little sweet, and with a little practice, I guarantee they will become a part of your menu rotation!