Something's Fishy

Let's face it: Lots of Americans are still squeamish about seafood. Their uncertainty relative to the purchase, preparation and consumption of the stuff constitutes a kind of culinary ichthyophobia, as they prefer fish that tastes less like the ocean and more like chicken.

They’d best fasten their seatbelts, then, for the arrival of nuoc mam, fish sauce that is to Vietnamese cuisine what salt is to American kitchens. A go-to flavoring agent with a pronounced pungency, it’s turning up in some distinctly unexpected places. Red Door in Chicago offers Thai Egg, a take on the classic Scotch egg in which the sausage is lemongrass-scented and the final product is drizzled with fish sauce. New York City’s Fatty ‘Cue finishes pork ribs with fish sauce, and Two Boroughs Larder in Charleston, SC, tops salad greens with it. Asian Box, a fast-casual operation in Palo Alto with chain aspirations, provides a no-oil fish sauce option. The Greenhouse Tavern in Cleveland punches up the Fish & Chip Dip with salt-and-vinegar chips and fish sauce. And the Vietnamese Caramel Corn on offer at San Francisco’s Kitchenette SF is enough to make your head spin. It’s flavored with peanuts, chilies and, yes, fish condiment.

Fish Sauce, a Vietnamese restaurant, opened in Portland, OR last summer. True to its name, nuoc mam is offered with many appetizers and entrees, but more interesting, perhaps, are the variations on the theme: ginger nuoc mam sauce on chicken and lime nuoc mam vinaigrette atop a salad.

Red Boat, an artisanal Vietnamese fish sauce billed as first-press and extra virgin, is now available in the US for chefs who want to add a dash of umami to their dishes. It certainly won’t displace ketchup and mustard or even seriously challenge the new-found popularity of Thai sriracha or “rooster sauce”, but it will find its niche on the shelf alongside wasabi and kim chee in the American restaurant pantry.

Photo: malias/Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license