Fish sauce

Fish sauce is a salty, savory liquid seasoning created by coating fish or krill in salt and letting it ferment for as long as two years. It serves as a kitchen staple across East and Southeast Asia, especially in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, and a version of it has been used in Western cooking since ancient Roman times.

Because it adds a rich umami taste—thanks to its natural glutamate content—chefs and home cooks around the world now use it. It can be added during cooking, used as a finishing touch, or made into dipping sauces. In the West, some people treat soy sauce as a vegetarian substitute, though the two have very different flavors.

**History**

*Asia*: Over 2,300 years ago in China, records describe sauces made from fermented fish parts mixed with ingredients like meat and soybeans. During the Zhou dynasty, fish was fermented with soybeans and salt as a condiment. By the Han dynasty, soybeans were fermented alone to create soy paste and soy sauce, while fish-based sauces evolved separately into fish sauce. A Hokkien Chinese term, *kôechiap*, may have been the forerunner of ketchup; that word survives in Malay as *kecap* or *kicap*, though today those words usually mean "soy sauce," while fish sauce is called *kicap ikan* ("fish kicap"). By 50–100 BC, demand for fish sauces and pastes in China had dropped sharply as fermented bean products became major trade goods. Fish sauce then grew hugely popular in Southeast Asia. Food scholars often divide East Asia into two condiment regions: Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia) using fermented fish, and Northeast Asia (China, Korea, Japan) using fermented beans. Fish sauce re-entered China in the 17th and 18th centuries, brought from Vietnam and Cambodia by Chinese traders along the coasts of Guangdong and Fujian.

*Europe*: Fish sauces were common in ancient Mediterranean cooking. The earliest known production dates to the 4th–3rd century BC, when Ancient Greeks fermented fish scraps into a sauce called *garos*, likely with less salt than modern versions. The Romans made a similar condiment called *garum* or *liquamen*. Pliny the Elder described it as made from fish guts and other waste, calling it "the liquor from putrefaction." Roman garum was produced in Spain, almost always from mackerel, by salting fish innards and sun-fermenting them for months until the flesh broke down. The brown liquid was strained, bottled, and sold. Remains of Roman fish-salting facilities survive in Algeciras, Spain, and near Setúbal, Portugal. The process continued until the 16th century, when makers switched to anchovies and removed the innards. Garum was widely used in Roman cooking: mixed with wine it became *oenogarum*, with vinegar *oxygarum*, and with honey *meligarum*. It was a trade specialty of Hispania Baetica. Often described as foul-smelling or rotten, it is considered similar to modern *colatura di alici*, a fish sauce in Neapolitan cuisine. In English, garum was once translated as "fish pickle." Worcestershire sauce is a related product because it is fermented and contains anchovies.

**Difference from oyster sauce**: Fish sauce and oyster sauce are both briny but distinct. Fish sauce is watery, clear, and salty; oyster sauce is made by reducing oyster extracts, making it sweeter, slightly salty, and less pungent.

**Ingredients and manufacture**: Historically, fish sauces were made from various fish and shellfish, using whole fish, blood, or viscera. Most modern versions contain only fish and salt, typically from anchovy, shrimp, mackerel, or other strong-flavored, oily fish. Some add herbs and spices. The fish or shellfish are mixed with salt at 10% to 30% concentration and sealed in a container for up to two years. After the first extraction, some sauces are produced by re-extracting the fish mass through boiling. These second-pass sauces often include caramel, molasses, or roasted rice for color and flavor; they are thinner and cheaper. Some manufacturers also water down a first-press to increase volume. Briefly fermented fish sauce tastes strongly fishy; longer fermentation gives it a nuttier, richer, more savory flavor. An 18th-century article in Diderot and d'Alembert's *Encyclopédie* noted that Europeans could become accustomed to this sauce.

**Regional variations**: Fish sauce is a fundamental seasoning across Southeast Asia. Thai and Cambodian versions are generally milder and less pungent than Vietnamese ones.

*Myanmar*: Called *ngan bya yay* (ငါးငံပြာရည်), it is often a by-product of *Hmyin ngapi*, a Burmese fish paste made from small fish, anchovies, krill, and shrimp.

*Cambodia*: Known as *tik trei* (ទឹកត្រី), it is believed to date back to the pre-Angkor period, much like the fish paste *prahok*.