Nuoc Cham – Vietnamese Fish Sauce

One of the things most non-Vietnamese people always look up and struggle with after eating Vietnamese food is nuoc cham/fish sauce.

Nuoc cham is eaten with so many different things such as

• Vermicelli bowls
  • Bowls with fresh greens, rice noods, some type of protein, and are sometimes topped with peanuts or pickled daikon and carrots
• Banh Xeo
  • Vietnamese savory crepes
• Banh Bot Loc/Banh Nam/Banh Beo
  • Vietnamese tapioca dumplings, flatten steamed rice cakes, steamed rice cakes

The list goes on..

Sometimes when you follow online recipes, you can’t just get it right. Have you been there? Some of the reasons why this can be is because fish sauce isn’t all created equally.

Fish sauce actually has different grades. That’s probably why when you go to the store you see many different fish sauces from prices ranging from 3 to 8+ dollars. They can also be made with different types of seafood. Usually, the first press of fish sauce is the most expensive. How fish sauce is made is they get all the fishy bits together with lots of salt and let it ferment. The first press of course is more salty, pure, and stronger in flavor. An example of this would be the famous brand Red Boat. At our house we use Red Boat and Red Bowl. Red Boat is much darker in color and much stronger/saltier. Red Bowl is less salty and lighter in color.

Everyone and their mothers have their own preference for which fish sauce they like. Some have one for cooking and one for eating straight like for nuoc cham. I save my higher grade more expensive fish sauce for ‘fresh’ eating, and use the cheaper variation for cooking since my food never has a ‘prominent fish sauce’ taste, but is used more to enhance depth, flavor, and umami so I don’t necessarily need the highest grade fish sauce.

So what fish sauce would work for you? It’s definitely a personal preference. Just figure out a variation that you and your family likes and eventually you’ll probably acclimate to cooking/using it. It’ll take some tinkering on your behalf, but trust yourself, you got this! Although fish sauce is a personal preference I do have some recommendations for a general rule of thumb:

1. Do not buy pre-made mixed nuoc cham. These always end up being super sweet and not very balanced. There’s sometimes even unnecessary preservatives laced in the pre-made mixture. One bottle of fish sauce can probably make many more times of that bottle you bought so it’s not very economical either.
2. Use fresh garlic that you mince yourself
3. Use thai chili peppers
4. Use lime (not lemon or vinegar) for a truly authentic taste
5. Dissolve sugar in some boiled water before adding it to your mixture
6. Make sure your fish sauce is as pure as can be! Ingredients should be only fish and salt.
7. Buy your fish sauce at an Asian grocery store for less mark up. The same bottle of red boat costs sometimes 4+ dollars more at an American grocery store.

Some recipes that probably have failed for you before probably have to do with the following reasons:

• Too salty, sweet, diluted etc.

To make a recipe more suitable for you and your family follow along with your instincts instead.

1. Taste your fish sauce by itself. See how salty it is and get an idea of where you want to get it. Some dishes require sweeter nuoc cham. Some dishes require a saltier version. Even then, Vietnamese people depending on the region they originate from, have different preferences for saltiness (husbands southern and likes it much sweeter than I do). So depending on what restaurant you go to, they’re probably all different too.
2. Boil some water and add in sugar to dissolve. Otherwise known as ‘simple syrup’ (1 part sugar 1 part water). This is to create a homogeneous mixture that’s not suddenly super sweet towards the end 😉
3. Add in your simple syrup to the fish sauce and see if the sweetness if where it needs to be. Continue adjusting until you get to the right sweetness.
4. Add in cooled down pre-boiled water until it’s as salty as you want it to be
5. Mince fresh garlic (as much as you’d like really) and fresh Thai chili pepper (as much as you and your fam can handle)
6. Squeeze some lime juice in, mix well and taste again.

You really can’t mess up fish sauce because if its too salty, you add water or lime. If it’s too sweet, you add more fish sauce in and go down the list again. If it tastes bland, you add more fish sauce and then adjust all the other components as needed. Remember to take it slowly and be patient with yourself and trust your palate. If needed, I’m sure you’ve got a helper around to help taste to see if it’s where they like it.

It’s important to taste as you go and continue tinkering with it until its where you want it. Remember that lime will also dilute the saltiness so make sure you don’t dilute the nuoc cham too much. Once you’ve added your garlic and Thai peppers, you taste and adjust to however you like it.

If you want to make a big batch to have in the fridge, I highly suggest following steps 1-4 and 6 over medium low heat until you’ve got the mixture to where you want it. Once it’s cooled down, add in your garlic and peppers and store in the fridge. I’ve kept my current bottle in the fridge for 7 months no problem. Whenever I use it, I swish the bottle around to get the garlic and Thai chilis mixed around since it tends to settle to the bottom of the bottle and pour out to use. You never want to contaminate the sterile sauce if you plan on keeping it for a long time.