# Can't I just leave out the fish sauce? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 28, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871 "2006-12-28T16:35:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/21 "2006-12-29T01:13:57Z")
Just getting back to the OP: another vote to just add the stuff. You won’t taste any “rotten fish” taste, and if you are put off by the idea of things being “off”, then remember that you probably eat cheese, and that’s an “off” thing that freaks out most SE Asians (I love cheese, but can see their point: “What? That stuff is squirted out of a farm animal’s body, and if that isn’t bad enough, you let it go bad before you eat it!”). If I haven’t been able to convince you, and you really, really can’t bring yourself to add the fish sauce, then I would go against the advice upthread to add soy as a substitute. Soy is very strongly flavoured and can overpower dishes it’s not designed for (most SE Asian curries, etc don’t use soy as it would seriously conflict with the delicate coconut notes). If you must susbstitute, then use plain ol’ table salt (maybe with a tiny amount of chicken stock), and hope that the other curry flavours will carry it off. In all honesty, it’s one of those things where if I were cooking for you, I’d be tempted to lie to you and say I didn’t put the fish sauce in, and only tell you that I did when you’re smacking your lips after the second helping you’d asked for. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/22 "2006-12-29T01:18:09Z")
And if you still want to add soy - if you must - DO NOT add the Japanese stuff (Kikkoman etc). The cheaper “hydrolised vegetable protein” ones are milder and (marginally) better suited to your needs. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/23 "2006-12-29T01:27:55Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] In all honesty, it’s one of those things where if I were cooking for you, I’d be tempted to lie to you and say I didn’t put the fish sauce in, and only tell you that I did when you’re smacking your lips after the second helping you’d asked for. [/QUOTE] Don’t do that. If someone did something like that to me, I would never eat with them again until they had apologized profusely and sworn on whatever they believed in that they would never do anything of the sort again. If they didn’t apologize, I doubt I would be friends with them any more. And if they did apologize and never do it again, I _still_ wouldn’t trust them as much as I had before they did that, at least not without many years of scrupulously honest behavior after the incident backing them up. I have the right to not eat whatever I don’t want to eat, for whatever reason. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/24 "2006-12-29T02:14:34Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] If someone did something like that to me, I would never eat with them again until they had apologized profusely and sworn on whatever they believed in that they would never do anything of the sort again. [/QUOTE] I bet he wasn’t addressing a Kosher issue. BTW, I tasted Lucky fish sauce, and it tastes like very salty dead fish. I may go back to Silver Swan soy sauce. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/25 "2006-12-29T02:30:51Z")
Another thing to consider is that fish sauce changes in taste and intensity considerably once cooked. I am not fond of raw fish sauce but cant imagine most of my thai and cambodian dishes without it. I also make an amazing salad dressing with fish sauce, lime juice (LOTS) and chili sauce. The lime juice smoothes out the fish saice too. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/26 "2006-12-29T02:44:37Z")
Always cook your sauces. Fish, Oyster, Hoisin, all of them. And they all taste like all-get-out if you just have them by themselves. They are not ketchup. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/27 "2006-12-29T03:11:30Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] They are not ketchup. [/QUOTE] I beg your pardon. I was merely curious. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/28 "2006-12-29T03:37:00Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] I beg your pardon. I was merely curious. 🙂 [/QUOTE] and We pardon you. Just saying that they are not to be added to a finished meal or had on their own. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/29 "2006-12-29T03:38:17Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] Don’t do that. If someone did something like that to me, I would never eat with them again until they had apologized profusely and sworn on whatever they believed in that they would never do anything of the sort again. If they didn’t apologize, I doubt I would be friends with them any more. And if they did apologize and never do it again, I _still_ wouldn’t trust them as much as I had before they did that, at least not without many years of scrupulously honest behavior after the incident backing them up. I have the right to not eat whatever I don’t want to eat, for whatever reason. [/QUOTE] I probably _wouldn’t_ do it. It would be tempting though. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/30 "2006-12-29T03:47:11Z")
[QUOTE=Random] Worcestershire sauce **is** fish sauce. > **[Worcestershire sauce](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcestershire_sauce)** > > Worcestershire sauce or Worcester sauce (/ˈwʊstər(ʃər)/ ⓘ WUUS-tər(-shər)) is a fermented condiment invented by the pharmacists John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins in Worcester, Worcestershire, England, during the first half of the 19th century. They later formed the company Lea & Perrins. Worcestershire sauce has been a generic term since 1876, when the High Court of Justice ruled that Lea & Perrins did not own a trademark for the name "Worcestershire". Worcestershire sauce is used on s... [/QUOTE] It’s **a** fish sauce, but a curry recipe probably calls for something very different and [Southeast Asian.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_sauce#Southeast_Asian) See also [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=269975) thread. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/31 "2006-12-29T03:58:30Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] Just saying that they are not to be added to a finished meal or had on their own. [/QUOTE] When someone adds _salt_ to something I cooked, I offer to replicate them a peanut butter sandwich. I think I’ve seen the Thai salad dressing, with fish sauce and lime juice, though. Do you reccomend a Soy sauce instead of Kikoman? I was told that despite being from Wisconsin it was better than Silver Swan. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/32 "2006-12-29T04:08:45Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] When someone adds _salt_ to something I cooked, I offer to replicate them a peanut butter sandwich. I think I’ve seen the Thai salad dressing, with fish sauce and lime juice, though. Do you reccomend a Soy sauce instead of Kikoman? I was told that despite being from Wisconsin it was better than Silver Swan. [/QUOTE] My Asian food product choices are very limited here in Puerto Rico. This is Kikkoman country and nothing else. I used to like LaChoy at some point in life but then changed to Kikkoman and stopped trying around. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/33 "2006-12-29T04:15:11Z")
Kikkoman is brewed. This makes it heavy and complex in flavour. Great for what it’s designed for, but not so good for some SE Asian dishes. Most of my… actually, no… EVERY SINGLE Vietnamese friend I have (and I have heaps because of where I live and work) uses Maggi “Seasoning”. That’s the one that comes in the squarish bottle with the red and yellow label. It doesn’t mention “soy” anywhere on the label because it’s not technically a soy sauce (it’s that hydrolised vegetable protein stuff) - but it is used in place of one. This stuff is great for all Vietnamese food that calls for soy. Failing that, find a Chinese grocery and just pick a brand at random (don’t go to a Japanese or Korean place though). There was some sort of media beat-up health scare a few years ago regarding hydrolised vegetable protein. All my Vietnamese friends promptly switched to Kikkoman. They lasted about a week. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/34 "2006-12-29T04:32:07Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] Always cook your sauces. Fish, Oyster, Hoisin, all of them. And they all taste like all-get-out if you just have them by themselves. They are not ketchup. [/QUOTE] Off hand I can think of several Thai dishes where the fish sauce is not cooked. _Som tum_ would be the principal example. Although I agree that fish sauce is a bit, um, pungent for eating straight up. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/35 "2006-12-29T04:35:34Z")
[QUOTE=ShibbOleth] Off hand I can think of several Thai dishes where the fish sauce is not cooked. _Som tum_ would be the principal example. Although I agree that fish sauce is a bit, um, pungent for eating straight up. [/QUOTE] The Vietnamese will use it as an uncooked condiment sometimes, but they usually mix it up with a little water and whatever else takes their fancy. About the only time I’ll use undiluted, uncooked fish sauce is when I squirt a liberal dose of it into my pho - but that’s soup so it’s cheating a bit as fart as saying it’s ‘undiluted’. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/36 "2006-12-29T04:37:17Z")
As FAR as saying… as FAR as saying… Oy. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/37 "2006-12-29T04:54:07Z")
Nother voice chiming in to say DON’T leave it out. (Mighta found this thread sooner if it’d been in Cafe Society.) So my contribution is: what \*\*Cervaise \*\* said. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/38 "2006-12-29T06:48:02Z")
Let’s move this to Cafe Society. **samclem** ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/39 "2006-12-29T13:48:13Z")
google base seems to be out (?!). Could you please link to a good recipe? I am curious now. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871/40 "2006-12-29T13:49:44Z")
I meant that last post for **ShibbOleth** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cant-i-just-leave-out-the-fish-sauce/385871.md?page=3)