Foreign newspapers reveal the secret to making the 'miracle' of Vietnamese fish sauce

Fish sauce is a culinary symbol of Vietnam, an indispensable national ingredient anywhere on the S-shaped strip of land.

Phu Quoc is famous for its long-standing profession of making fish sauce, which is honored as the pinnacle of Vietnamese cuisine MT

According to CNN Travel, to be fair, the fish sauce production process is not fragrant because of the pungent smell emanating from anchovies that are fermented in large wooden barrels for a year. However, that does not stop thousands of tourists each year from visiting fish sauce producers on Phu Quoc Island (Kien Giang).

Here, there are many beautifully prepared Vietnamese dishes, such as seafood and grapefruit or lobster salad with greens, much of which is completed by the unique flavor of Phu Quoc fish sauce.

You won't have to look far to get a taste of Vietnamese fish sauce. It is present in pho, spring rolls, broken rice, banh xeo, rice pot and hundreds of other dishes everywhere.

"How did the "miracle" happen?" is the way that CNN Travel uses to introduce the secrets of creating the unique flavor of fish sauce.

Fish

The key ingredients in fish sauce are anchovies (black anchovies) and smaller white anchovies. About 95% of the fish will be used. Larger fish like sardines and herring make up the rest.

Today, these fish tend to come from Tho Cho Island, about 70 miles from Phu Quoc. They are only caught from April to September, which corresponds to the rainy season.

Once the fish are caught, they are immediately drained while still on the boat, then salted and stored, meaning fermentation has begun, using the freshest fish possible. The production facility uses salt from the southern coastal province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau and adds in the ratio of one part salt, four parts fish.

To get delicious drops of fish sauce, first of all, fish sauce artisans need to choose a quality source of anchovies.

Bin

The barrel of fish sauce was formerly handmade from sua wood, a tree from Phu Quoc National Park, but now it is threatened so it has to be imported from Cambodia. Some have likened the importance of wooden barrels to aging fish sauce with aging in oak barrels, giving it its own unique flavor.

The giant crates are made from 54 wooden slats, hand-tied with rattan fiber. It takes up to three weeks, using the strength of 2 healthy men to complete 1 barrel of fish sauce.

Every day, for a year, the permeable liquid from the fish is drained and then re-incubated in a barrel. Special Phu Quoc fish sauce does not have any mixing or mixing like in fish sauce production in other provinces of Vietnam.

The artisans who make fish sauce will closely monitor the changes of the ingredients, taste the juice to decide when a batch of fish sauce is ready to be "out of the oven".

Part of the secret in Phu Quoc fish sauce is a unique combination of environmental factors, including the right humidity and heat, which slowly thickens the mixture, yielding between 3,000 and 4,000 liters of fish sauce per barrel.

The final stage occurs when they send a sample of the juice to the lab for concentration, which is measured in nitrogen, a by-product of fermentation. If the accuracy level is not achieved, it cannot be certified on the label of the bottle. The lightest version starts at 35°N, while the highest protein is around 45°N.

In Phu Quoc, there are more than 70 different fish sauce manufacturers, all tend to create high protein, bring diverse and unique flavors of fish sauce.

If you are looking for the most expensive and prized fish sauce, it is the kind that is drawn directly from the first press of the single barrel, undiluted and unadulterated. Look for the words "fish sauce at ear" on the label. That means it comes from the first liquid extraction of the barrel. Some people call it "super pure fish sauce".

Nước mắm nhĩ là loại hảo hạng, còn được gọi là nước mắm siêu nguyên chất.

Spanish chef Bruno Anon, who hosts the culinary program at Regent Resort Phu Quoc, is a fan of fish sauce.

Mr. Anon said: “Fish sauce is the national soul and national essence of the Vietnamese people, which makes the country's cuisine unique compared to the world's. In every Vietnamese meal, a small bowl is the pride, the sauce that binds everything on the table."

Not only limited to Vietnam, famous restaurants like Toyo in Manila - Filipinos are also very fond of fish sauce. It's known locally as patis - and Anan in HCMC uses fish sauce to a dazzling effect on sweet treats. Even fish sauce is added to chocolate and ice cream, creating a taste like an extremely delicious salted caramel.

Source:: https://thanhnien.vn/bao-nuoc-ngoai-tiet-lo-bi-quyet-lam-nen-dieu-ki-dieu-cua-nuoc-mam-viet-nam-post1515245.html