RE: NT ketchup recipe question

[Guest guest]

I'm just curious... Why don't you want to use the fish sauce?

Minneapolis

-----Original Message-----

From: Carmen [mailto:ctn@...]

Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2002 12:18 PM

Subject: NT ketchup recipe question

The ketchup recipe in NT calls for fermented fish sauce and does not say

" optional " beside it. I would like to make this recipe, but I don't want to

use the fish sauce. It does call for whey and sea salt, which I will assume

are the preserving agents. Can someone tell me if the fish sauce is

imperative to preserving the ketchup properly?

TIA,

Carmen

[Guest guest]

I kind of thought so. I'd recommend not making it yourself at first. There

are some pretty good commercial bottled fish sauces on the market; virtually

every co-op and large grocery store that we have in the Twin Cities carries

a brand called Thai Kitchen; it's one of the more expensive ones, and it's

still quite cheap. Thai and Vietnamese fish sauce is made by layering fresh

anchovies and salt in huge barrels and letting them natural ferment and sort

of juice out. The first time the barrel is drained, the result is premium

fish sauce. The continue tapping the barrel over time (possibly adding

water and/or salt in between) resulting in successively lower grades of fish

sauce until there's essentially nothing left. As far as I can tell Thai

Kitchen is the premium first batch.

The aquired taste, in my opinion is mostly for straight fish sauce. Fish

sauce mixed into something in moderate amounts is delicious according to

anybody I know who's ever tried SE Asian dipping sauces for fresh spring

rolls. The flavor of the sauce is also greatly mellowed by any heating

whatsoever.

At any rate, I think that you'll probably get much closer to " normal "

tasting ketchup by using some fish sauce than you will otherwise. That

" natural flavoring " category on commercial ketchups' labels is a sneaky

little devil. I think you'll find that if you leave out the fish sauce,

you'll wind up with something that tastes more like really strong spaghetti

sauce than ketchup. Fish sauce is a powerful flavor enhancer that really

increases the savory character of foods. If you really must leave out the

fish sauce, just try it without and taste the result. If it's kind of

lacking that distinct savoriness that you're used to with commercial

ketchups, you might want to try adding miso paste thinned with a tiny bit of

water to the finished product. Tamari might work too. Add small amounts

tasting as you go. All three of those products do wonders for adding a bit

of savoriness to foods, I do think that the flavor of fish sauce is more

directly compatible with ketchup though...

Good luck!

Minneapolis

-----Original Message-----

From: Carmen [mailto:ctn@...]

Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2002 12:31 PM

Subject: RE: NT ketchup recipe question

I suppose, because I just want to try to get a ketchup that's a little more

on the traditional side. I haven't tried fish sauce yet, but the description

in the book says it's an acquired taste. Besides, I can save myself a little

time without having to make fish sauce before making ketchup.

Carmen

I'm just curious... Why don't you want to use the fish sauce?

Minneapolis