Fish sauce, also known as fish sauce, is one of the commonly used seasonings in Fujian cuisine (traditionally including Fujian and Chaoshan areas) and Southeast Asian cuisine. Take small fish as raw materials, such as anchovies, triangle fish in Southeast Asia, hairtail, horse-faced bream (horse-faced fish, rubber fish, peeled fish), freshwater fish, etc. Pickled with protease, fermented with related enzymes and various salt-tolerant bacteria in fish, so that the fish can be hydrolyzed by protein, sun-baked, dissolved, filtered and sun-baked to remove fishy smell, and then filtered (or generally speaking, the fish sauce made of a single species of fish has a pure taste. Among them, snakehead, leaf fish and anchovy are more commonly used, while round-headed roe and pointed roe are small fish with less meat and more fat, which are also often used. Fish sauce made of all kinds of small miscellaneous fish has a strong taste. Crude oil, medium oil and one oil are mixed in different proportions to obtain fish sauce at all levels. Fish sauce is divided into 6 grades. The higher the grade, the better the quality.
The production of fish sauce can be divided into two methods because of different regions and habits; (1) Fresh fish with good quality, the whole fish or a part of the fish body is salted and decomposed for one month to make fish sauce, which is mostly used for pickles, side dishes, instant-boiled mutton, etc. Low cost. Example: celery marinated in shrimp oil, crayfish marinated in leek, crab marinated and so on.
; (2) Fish sauce made of inferior fish or shrimp, adding a proper amount of salt into fish soup, soup or extract, or frying it in a clear oil pan with slow fire for half an hour and then taking it out. This kind of shrimp oil is mostly used for dressing vegetables, such as Artemisia shrimp oil and melon strips with shrimp oil. High cost and good quality. There is no retail in the market, and most of them are processed by restaurants themselves.
Fish sauce is produced in Fujian, Chaoshan and Guangdong. It is also called "Chaoshan Three Treasures" with Chaoshan pickles and pickles, and later spread to other East Asian countries such as Vietnam and South Korea. Now, in addition to Fujian, especially Fuzhou, Chaoshan and Vietnam, other Southeast Asian countries also produce it, especially Thailand, with the highest output, but the quality and taste are salty but not fresh, far less than Vietnam and Chaozhou.
Cooking application, like soy sauce, has the functions of refreshing, enhancing fragrance and color matching, but it has higher nutritional value and sweeter freshness than soy sauce, and it is used as salt and monosodium glutamate in some places. The cooking range includes seafood, salads and other dishes, which are also commonly used. Representative dishes are Chaozhou kale stir-fried dishes, Jinzhou shrimp oil cucumber and so on. Especially mutton dishes, such as instant boiled mutton, bone soup, seafood shells, vegetables and other dishes, such as kimchi. It can also be used as seasoning for barbecue, grilled fish skewers and roast chicken, and can be used for frying, frying, steaming and stewing. Fish sauce is commonly used in cold salads in Southeast Asia, and a small amount of fried vegetables is also added. It can also be mixed with fresh soup and used as soup material for cooking noodles, such as pot edge. Folk also often use it to pickle chicken and duck meat. Fish sauce can also be used as dipping sauce for additional seasonings, such as jiaozi, noodles, spring rolls, rice rolls, radish cake, fried oysters and wine-roasted bass. In some cities in the south, many people soak "boiled chicken" in shrimp oil.
Carcinogenicity of fish sauce
Experimental research found that fish sauce caused cancer. Edible fish sauce has a significant relationship with gastric cancer because of the addition of a lot of salt and nitrosamines.
Selection and purchase
Fish sauce is transparent, clear, fragrant, non-black, orange-yellow, slightly salty, brownish red or amber. If it is milky white, it is defective.