PRO TIP: If you're not a regular user, look for a small bottle of fish sauce so it won't have time to get old. At the Asian market, look on the top shelf as smaller bottles are often hidden there. Even my parents living in Thailand only buy small bottles after all of us left home and their usage rate slowed down. How to Use Fish Sauce Red Boat fish sauce, I found out, is off-the-beaten-path, and even the people at our hotel, who grew up on the island, had no idea how to get there. I understood why Cuong Pham, the owner (above), said, “Best to have the taxi driver call me. I’ll tell him how to get here.” Anyone who knows the importance of fish sauce in their Vietnamese and Thai dishes, will want a copy of this book. Highly recommended.

The book’s overall design is fun and fitting! I love the beautiful eye-catching colours and the wonderful fonts. I do wish more of the recipes had accompanying pictures. However, the included pictures are clean and bright with wonderfully simple staging that effectively highlights the gorgeous food. Now that you know everything there is to know about this essential Thai sauce, time to get into the kitchen and cook with it. This list of easy Thai dishes is a great place to start. While you could get fish sauce in California, none tasted anywhere hear as good as the fish sauce they'd grown up with in Saigon which came from Phú Quốc, an island off Vietnam. In 2006, Cuong, was visiting Vietnam a lot on business and went to meet the owners of a fish sauce factory in Phú Quốc. This led to a deal and him eventually becoming the owner of this factory and spending many years on perfecting the making of the best ever fish sauce which is now sold and marketing as Red Boat Fish Sauce. I loved the section on the process of the making with details of finding the right anchovies, the right salt, the right combinations and timings of mixing the two and all about the importance of nitrogen levels, The best fish sauce, as exemplified by Red Boat Fish Sauce, should only contain two ingredients - anchovies and salt - had have a high nitrogen level. It is also a little like extra virgin olive oil in that the first extraction is the best and subsequent ones are of inferior quality.The official cookbook of 100 recipes from the cult favorite and top chef lauded fish sauce brand, Red Boat Fish Sauce Some brands use a "degree N" number to indicate the amount of protein in the fish sauce, for example Red Boat indicates 40°N while Megachef indicates 30°N. The higher the number, the more protein. If you're an occasional user, keep opened fish sauce in the fridge. If the fridge is not an option for some reason, at the very least store it in a cool, dark place. This is because over time, the flavour does deteriorate and becomes more pungent, and the color will be visibly darken. Keeping it cold, in the dark, and tightly sealed will slow this process down significantly.

When I first spent a month in Southeast Asia I fell in love with the food. The flavors were unlike anything I had ever experienced and I wanted to take home as much of that as I could. The best I could do was some dry herbs and recipes that I collected throughout my trip. I could never quite duplicate it the way it was there and attributed that to two things: it ALWAYS tastes better when someone else is cooking, even if you follow their recipe to the letter, and the ingredients at home were just not on the same level. That’s when a friend introduced me to Red Boat Fish Sauce. It was the start of my journey to getting as close to the original recipes as I could. TIPAROS. Another classic Thai household name that is on par with Squid and is widely available in the US (though not in Canada). I have used this in Thailand years ago, but have not tried it against other brands in a taste test. The authors have included a variety of recipes that Asian food lovers will definitely want to make. Plenty of rice and noodle dishes, and plenty of dishes using seafood, poultry, beef, and pork. Included are soups and stir fries, sandwiches and appetizers, as well as basics and sauces. Most brands will also add a little bit of sugar to help round off the sharpness of the salt for a more balanced flavour. The presence of sugar, in my opinion, is not a bad thing as it's such a small amount and will only help its flavour. In lower quality fish sauces, other additives such as MSG, flavor, and color might also be added. How to Choose a Good Fish Sauce But, I wish the book was organized a little more comprehensively. I also would have liked to see more variation in the dessert and drink offerings.Some call it a condiment, but fish sauce is more of a seasoning in a sense that we use it primarily to season our food. Its main purpose is to add saltiness; and the secondary purpose, but still very important, is to add umami or savory flavor. This deep amber sauce has a wonderfully punchy fermented fish nose to it. The flavour is savoury and umami with a rich but clean fish flavour. The fish and umami notes have length and there is a rounded flavour. It tasted nice on its own and it would be a great ingredient in cooking. This product seems more assertively fishy than many commercial fish sauces and as such displays considerable character. It is a great chance to read the books of important authors. I know that. I'm looking forward to your new books. That's mostly it. I'm not sure how difficult these recipes are as I haven't tried any of them. I also have to say that aside from the pictures, it was annoying because this isn't a book you can hold open unless you use some sort of weight. It's more of a book that looks nice on your shelf or you either copy the recipes or hold the book open to keep your place for the recipe as you cook. I love this cookbook! It is a fascinating and unique blend of food, culture, and history. I particularly love the stories: from Pham’s history to the personal family anecdotes, the fish sauce making process, and even the anchovy catching process! Pham teaches us so much about Vietnamese culture, cuisine, and general cookery.

I loved this cookbook as much for the human story as for the recipes. Author Cuong Pham's tale of his escape from war torn Vietnam in 1979 and arriving in the United States nine months later, aged just twenty, is absolutely gripping. He took a degree and then got a job with Steve Jobs at a small computer company called Apple. This section of his story is surely worth an entire book in it's own right as his five siblings and other family members were also escaping from Vietnam to join him at this time, with their mother only able to join them in 1990. Although I love Vietnamese food, I have to admit to not knowing about the cult status of the famed Red Boat fish sauce, but I'm glad that I do now! This cookbook is also a very effective sales strategy, as I now want to try their fish sauce as well as their salt and peppercorns. More than that, though, the cookbook is also a family history, a treatise on how fish sauce is, and should be, made, and an explanation of the importance of sustainability in production. I really appreciate a cookbook that's inclusive and strives to present a well-rounded worldview of the cuisine it discusses.We also use it as a condiment. Often in Thailand you’ll find prik nam pla on the table, which is a simple combination of fish sauce and chilies (and sometimes lime juice and garlic) used to add an extra boost of seasoning to anything that might need it, much in the same way salt and pepper are used in the West. How is Fish Sauce Made?

Then, you can start experimenting with non-traditional uses. Try using it in place of soy sauce in Asian cooking, but keep in mind that the flavours are very different, so try substituting just half of the soy sauce in stir fries or marinades see how it goes! The book is mostly formulaic, with recipes of the types of recipes, stories, history and more. Not all of the recipes have pictures (which was a bit disappointing), but otherwise it was a very nice-looking, colorful cookbook. I personally associated fish sauce in savory dishes that one would eat for standard meals but it appears you can use it in desserts/sweets or even Bloody Marys, which was pretty cool to read about. I have been a fan of fish sauce for years, ever since my first taste, and always have a bottle of Red Boat Fish Sauce in my pantry being a firm believer that everything is better with fish sauce. When I saw that a cookbook from Red Boat was coming out I knew I had to have it! This cookbook was more than I even imagined. The history of Red Boat was very interesting! Its founder, Cuong Pham, a Vietnamese refugee found himself working for Apple in the early days of Steve Jobs but couldn't forget the flavors of his childhood. He realized that Vietnamese food in the US didn't taste right because the fish sauce wasn't right. He became committed to discovering what made premium authentic fish sauce and invested in a small company in Vietnam. Shortly there after the company told him they wanted out and left him with the company which he parlayed into the number one name in fish sauce.

Leah Cohen, Chef and Owner at Pig and Khao and Piggyback, New York, NY

By reading books about protagonists who have overcome challenges, we are oftentimes encouraged to do the same. The right book can motivate you to never give up and stay positive, regardless of whether it’s a romance novel or a self-help book. Lovely cookbook with varied recipes! I've already made a couple of dishes -- so good! Can't wait to get my physical copy! You can also use fish sauce from different countries interchangeably, i.e. you can use Vietnamese fish sauce in Thai cooking and vice versa. BUT there is a huge range of quality, so your main concern is making sure you choose a good one. Here's how: 1. Choose one with a simple ingredient list.