Fish Sauce
Most popular dipping sauce in Vietnamese cuisine
Introduction
Vietnamese people are no strangers to fish sauce (Nuoc Mam). It is enjoyed at every meal. Fish sauce is a traditional heritage, a national treasure. Many people may be surprised, Of may even laugh at such an exaggeration. It is unfortunate that the reputation of Vietnamese fish sauce has yet to gain its proper appreciation.
History
‘Mam” (fish sauce) is one of the most ancient and purely Vietnamese words. It means a biochemical reaction of natural materials in water or disintegration. Synonyms seem to have developed at the same time throughout the region, in Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, with a similar sound or with the same meaning. Viet Nam, however, is the true home of fish sauce, as has been verified by early accounts of its concentration, occurrence, use and varieties. Thanks to the fertile, ample and favourable soil along the Eastern Sea, its early settlers developed their prehistoric civilization.
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Different variations
Only by re-visiting historic information about “Nha Thung” (original workshops of making the fish sauce) have we been able to learn about the distinctive “Cot” or “Nhi” flavour, which unfortunately has been forgotten with the passage of time. The “Nha Thung” give us details about the production of fish sauce In early civilization:
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All main tools, “Be Chuop”(wooden barrels which could hold up to tons of fish for processing), 10-15 litre barrels for collecting and holding, and a 15-litre barrel for selling the sauce were made of plywood and woven rattan. In addition, there was a dipper for measuring and a funnel for pouring, made of trimmed bamboo. All of them were chopped, split, whittled, peeled and ground by stone tools. Through the entire fish sauce making process, from the mixing of fish with salt, “Chuop”, to the extracting for fish sauce, no fire was used.
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The transformation from solid fish to a solution of dissolved amino acids is a slow, gradual, careful and stationary process lasting 6-7 months. It is a biochemical chain reaction of enzymes inside tissues and cells. There is no heat build-up from chemicals erupting or bacteria and enzymes bubbling up. Not is there any kind of microorganisms or enzymes. After extracting the pure fish sauce (“Cot” or “Nhi” ) boiled salt water is poured into the “Be Chuop” to enliven the dissolved solution. The by-products can then be mixed with other ingredients.this special kind of fish sauce, as “the water of braised fish.”
The evolution
Through the 15th and 16th centuries, many missionaries and merchants travelling through Viet Nam and in the outlying areas discovered an extraordinary kind of fish sauce. There wasn’t anything equivalent to this in their own experience, a sauce enjoyed every day by Vietnamese people, whether they were rich or poor. Their interest in this speciality was expressed in their journals and missionary diaries. For simplification, they temporarily referred to
Since that time Westerners have held fish sauce m high esteem. “Fish sauce” was added to the Larousse Encyclopedia for an introduction to the world.
Regions in Viet Nam specializing in the fish sauce are often spread along the coasts. Some fish sauce workshops are even located in areas with neither fish nor salt, but where people may be selling “Ba Chuop. ” During the lengthy wars and economic embargo, “Phu Quoc fish sauce made in Thailand” and “made in Malaysia” was sold in Europe. EU Ambassador to Viet Nam, Markus Cornaro, said that the EU is a pioneer in protecting products’ brand names and therefore willing to support Viet Nam in their stand against opposing views of the origins of fish sauce.
bun cha with fish sauce