That Special Something

One of the ironies in life is finding out something wrong about the thing you love. In relationships, this epiphany is usually followed by either confrontation or denial.

It’s happened to most of us, you finally find someone you think is perfect, and then you find out something you wish you didn’t know.

So is it better to know or be in the dark?

It depends on what the discovery is. Everything in life has a gauge by which you measure severity or relevancy. Does it matter that he likes soy sauce with his Cheerios or that he likes to drink vinegar shots? Or did you find out that he was being flirty-not-friendly with the girl in his art class? The soy sauce and vinegar shots are idiosyncrasies you can learn to overlook and love, as they are little traits that make a person an individual.

But we’re a strange race, and we don’t always embrace the eccentricities and eschew the infidelities. In my naïveté, I’ve done the latter. I’m not saying it won’t happen again, but I know more now than I did back then, and hopefully I’ll have better judgment.

I started to think about this issue because my friends and I were talking about food, and I was bringing up ingredients that were foreign to their ears –– but not to their mouths. Several of my friends love Thai food and profess knowing the best in the city. (Don’t we all claim to know what the “best” Thai restaurant is?) I told her probably the one thing that made her fall in love with Thai food is one special ingredient made from rotten fish.

Looks of terror flashed before me as they heard me talk about fish sauce, or nam pla (Thai), nuoc nam (Vietnamese). Fish sauce is the basis for that sweet and tangy sauce you love to dip your fresh Vietnamese rolls. It is a staple ingredient used in Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Fish sauce is a natural product made from the juice of fish extracted from a process of salting and fermentation. All fish are used to make fish sauce, but the most popular would have to be anchovies. The fresher the fish, the better quality fish sauce produced.

The fish are cleaned and drained and covered with sea salt, and then placed into earthenware jars lined with salt and covered with a layer of salt again. The jar is covered and weighted down to keep the fish from floating as the salt naturally draws water out from the fish. These containers are left in the sun for up to a year, and are periodically exposed to the sun to help in their fermentation process. The liquid from the jars are then filtered and allowed to air out and are ready to bottle.

The easiest way to find out if you’re buying a good quality fish sauce is by its color. Natural fish sauce has a clear, amber, light reddish-brown color. Of course, there is also the taste test. The lower grades of fish sauce aren’t fermented for long periods of time, resulting in a very salty and harsh taste, or are given an enzyme to aid its fermentation process.

Fish sauce is added to flavor dishes just like salt and soy sauce. Since it’s naturally salty, you want to be careful not to over-salt your dishes. I wouldn’t recommended taking your fish sauce straight, because of its saltiness, and its flavors tend to really bloom with the addition of lime juice, sugar, chilies and garlic.

I hope knowing about fish sauce doesn’t turn you off from Thai food. I always feel that by knowing more about the cuisine, you appreciate and enjoy food even more. Discovering that Thai food uses an ingredient made from fermented fish isn’t like finding out that certain foods contain heart-clogging oils. If you find certain foods are harmful to your health, then yes, stop eating it or lower your intake.

There is that special ingredient that makes us fall in love with our favorite dish. And don’t you agree that knowing everything about what we love makes it all the more better?

Nuoc Cham (Dipping sauce)

Aside from having a lot of salt, fish sauce packs protein and a rich supply of B vitamins, including B12. This is a great dipping sauce for fresh or fried rolls, fried tofu triangles and even a sauce for grilled meats.

• 1 clove garlic

• 2 red chilies

• 1 – 2 limes

• 1 – 1-1/2 teaspoon sugar

• 4 tablespoons fish sauce

• 1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar

• 1 tablespoon water

Rinse and dry chilies; cut chilies down center and remove seeds and membrane with knife. Be careful not to touch seeds with hands. Cut into fine, thin slices. Using a mortar and pestle, pound chilies with garlic into a paste. Then add lime juice, sugar, vinegar and water, stir and blend. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you can use a food processor or you can mince the chili and garlic with a heavy knife.