Viet World Kitchen

Sodium Benzoate in Fish Sauce

A while back, I got a message asking about sodium benzoate in fish sauce. What is it and where do I stand on it?

I mention its use in Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, and you may notice it on some fish sauce labels. Sodium benzoate is a preservative that’s found in certain acidic foods (e.g., salad dressings, and pickles), medicines, and cosmetics. As a rule of thumb, I generally buy ingredients with the least amount of chemicals involved.

Looking back at Viet World Kitchen blog postings, I came across Singaporean-based food expert Chris Tan's fish sauce tasting conducted a few years back. He has a terrific palate and sent me his tasting notes. When rereading Chris’s comments, I noticed one fish sauce that he said tasted flat, a quality that he attributed to the presence of sodium benzoate. Indeed, there is a flabby, almost zingy, aftertaste that certain fish sauces have, especially when sodium benzoate is present. So that’s a negative for it being used in fish sauce – bad flavor!

I examined all the fish sauces in my pantry the other day and none of them had sodium benzoate. My collection included Viet Huong’s 3 Crabs and Phu Quoc brands, MegaChef, and Red Boat’s 35 and 40 dam (a notation of concentrated flavor, the higher the number, the better). Viet Huong combines Vietnamese and Thai fish sauces into their blending process. MegaChef is aged Thai nam pla. Red Boat (full disclosure: they advertise on this site) is pure Vietnamese nuoc mam from Phu Quoc.

These are premium fish sauces that cost a little more than the competition and they’re worth it. Use them for dipping sauces and they'll make your food shine. Or, sprinkle some on a bowl of hot rice.  I just use them for all my cooking and sauce needs as they make my food taste really good.

You can find Viet Huong at many Asian markets. MegaChef has yet to be distributed in the States so you have to be in Thailand to get it! With regard to obtaining Red Boat fish sauce, order it from Amazon.

Safety of sodium benzoate?

Is Vegetarian Fish Sauce Possible?

It seems like an oxymoron but vegetarian fish sauces do exist! For the Asian Culinary Association’s gala dinner last night in San Francisco, I did a fish sauce and fresh herb tasting for 150 guests, chefs, and students of the California Culinary Academy. Aside from the Bobby Chin contraband fish sauce that I’ve been keeping in the fridge, I bought the rest at Vietnamese and Chinese markets in San Jose. The fish sauce bottles included Viet Huong’s 3 and 1 crab, Tiparos, Squid, Ruffino, and Roland brand.

Of the eight fish sauces in the tasting, the one that I was most intrigued by was the vegetarian fish sauce pictured above, which cost $1.99. I’d seen vegetarian fish sauces in the past but never tried them. I’m an omnivore and was raised Catholic.

For this event, however, I thought that it would be interesting to see how the vegetarian nuoc mam stacked up. The label said that it contained soybeans, peanuts, water, salt, and sugar. In other words, it was had a soy sauce-like composition.  There wasn't any wheat in the vegetarian fish sauce so it is a plausible gluten-free type of fish sauce.

Why Phu Quoc Fish Sauce Tastes Good

Vietnamese food is nothing without the imprint of fish sauce (nuoc mam). The best Vietnamese fish sauce is delicately flavored and full of  umami goodness. Believe it or not, good fish sauce can be enjoyed straight. Seriously.

You can make fish sauce from various kind of aquatic animals (shrimp, mackerel, or squid, for example). However, the best Vietnamese fish sauce comes from the island of Phu Quoc, where the waters are full of a particular kind of anchovy called ca com. I was there in 2007 and visited a number of the fish sauce factories.

At first, I didn't think that Phu Quoc fish sauce could be great. But I was wrong. I visited the source, spoke to the artisanal producers, and then tasted it. Yowza, it was good.

It's hard to get nuoc mam from Phu Quoc abroad, though the Viet Huong (3 Crabs) brand combines Phu Quoc fish sauce with Thai fish sauce. Viet Huong has a whole line of fish sauce that you should check out.

But for 100% Phu Quoc fish sauce, you have to look outside of the United States. Find Knorr brand of fish sauce in Canada and Asia. Or, try to smuggle fish sauce into the States like Bobby Chinn did for me.

Chinese-Vietnamese food writer Julie Wan went in search of the true Phu Quoc fish sauce for herself. She interviewed producers in Vietnam and last week, we chatted about the availability of the real deal outside of the motherland. Julie's findings came out today in a Washington Post article. Her piece offers rich details on how fish sauce is made in Phu Quoc:

• "The Best of Vietnamese Fish Sauce Comes from Phu Quoc" - by Julie Wan (Washington Post, 4/21/10)

If you're a food geek or freak like I am, you'll find Julie's story full of insights!

Related links:

• Fish Sauce Buying Guide
• Thai Megachef vs. Phu Quoc fish sauce: Which is better?
• Viet Huong (3 Crabs) Fish Sauce Tasting
  

Gift from Bobby Chinn: Smuggled Phu Quoc Fish Sauce

  

I walked away from the Culinary Institute of America's 2009 World of Flavors conference last Saturday with many great things – cooking tips, dining trends, and a bottle of rare fish sauce from Phu Quoc island in Vietnam. Chef/restaurateur/TV show host Bobby Chinn smuggled the fish sauce into the country, carrying it with him as he filmed his travel series in several locations, including Turkey and Morocco. The last time I saw Bobby was in 2007 in New York where we were both on an Asia Society panel about the evolution of Vietnamese food traditions. He’d brought a bottle of Phu Quoc fish sauce for me then but we missed coordinating the handoff. I’ve regretted ever since.

Despite what you may think of Bobby, he’s a very kind person (okay, a little snarky too but in a good way). He was one of the first people I saw last Thursday at the conference and he greeted me with a big hug and peck on the cheek. We shared a bit of backstage nervousness before we had to do our public performance (he had much more responsibility than I), and I made sure to catch Bobby at his various sessions.

On Friday afternoon, he surprised me and the crowd at a live fire celebration of pork. He prepared grilled bun cha pork patties with round rice noodles and herbs. For his nuoc cham dipping sauce – he whipped out a La Vie plastic water bottle full of fish sauce. “This is the best fish sauce in the world,” he said. “It’s from Phu Quoc, Vietnam and the Vietnamese have got to get smart about exporting their good fish sauce. You can’t get this here. Andrea, the leftover is yours to take since you didn’t get the bottle I brought to New York!”

Megachef: Premium Fish Sauce You Have Not Heard of – Yet

It’s not hard for anyone to figure this out about me: I love fish sauce. The salty-sweet, umami-laden condiment occupies the soul of and serves as the ballast for countless Vietnamese dishes. I’ve test tasted various brands of fish sauce (nuoc mam in Vietnamese, nam pla in Thai) and for years settled on Vietnamese-style fish sauces, such as those produced by the Viet Huong company that have a lighter flavor than Thai or Filipino-style fish sauces. Last week in Sydney, Australia, I attended a launch event for Thai-produced Megachef fish sauce, and it made me reconsider my options for nuoc mam.

It was a swank party, with wine flowing and lovely passed hors d’oeuvre prepared from recipes in David Thompson’s new book, Thai Street Food. (The gorgeous oversize book won’t be released in the U.S. until October 2010 though I managed to get a copy. Sorry.) Thompson is one of the world’s leading experts on Thai cooking and I use his work, Thai Food, as a reference book all the time. I have immense respect for Thompson, who has a dry wit that charms. The chef behind Michelin-starred Nahm restaurant in London, he is not a particularly commercial man but he has decided to become an ambassador (spokesperson) for Megachef fish sauce. His picture is on the tag around each bottle. Thompson’s endorsement piqued my interest and attracted me to the event.