A Brief History of Fish Sauce

Re:A Brief History of Fish Sauce by skrtskrt on Monday April 20, 2026 @12:20AM (#47830362)

I think in many dishes you can add quite a lot, but it blends and cooks in with other ingredients so that the "fish sauce flavor" does not jump out as such.

I make mapo tofu with 1 tsp each of fish sauce, oyster sauce and light soy sauce. I don't think anyone would think it tastes like fish or oyster sauce in any way, but it doesn't taste right at all without them. The same goes for many other dishes.

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Re:A Brief History of Fish Sauce by terribleperson on Monday April 20, 2026 @01:54AM (#47830834)

I need to try this. Typically I make my mapo tofu with dry-fried mushrooms and mushroom stock (I've found this much tastier than a pork or beef-based mapo tofu), but I don't always have the mushroom preparation on hand and punching up a pork mapo tofu with fish sauce would be much more convenient.

What kind of fish sauce do you use?

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Re:A Brief History of Fish Sauce by skrtskrt on Monday April 20, 2026 @05:14PM (#47840874)

Red Boat fish sauce, Lee Kum Kee Oyster Sauce, and Pearl River Bridge light soy sauce - all standard stuff. I use just a little ground pork for that flavor, and I’ve found a little chicken stock and dash of white pepper really help as well

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