Thai Fish Sauce Tasting

From left to right (also from darkest to lightest): Juthatip, Tiparos, Tra Chang (2-yrs), Megachef, Abalone, Squid, Tra Chang (1-yr), and Oyster.

With all the recent brouhaha over fish sauce and Sriracha sauce, I thought, heck, might as well do a tasting for Thai fish sauce.  (Will do the Sriracha sauce another day.)  Back when I was growing up there were only a few brands in the market.  Today, practically every sauce company makes it.  I was going to do a tasting for all the fish sauce I can get at my local upscale supermarket but in the end I limited it to 6 brands and another one made from tuna fish.  That’s right. Tuna. Fish. My guess is it’s horse mackerel.

I’ve never done any kind of tasting (apart from wine) but I thought this should be fun.  And it was except I craved for something cloyingly sweet so bad afterward.  Plus I was drinking ice cold water non-stop.  I usually buy Tiparos, Squid or Tra Chang brand.  But lately I’ve been using more of Tra Chang than anything else so I am going to use it as a benchmark for the tasting.

I admit I was vastly surprised by the woodsy and whiskey/brandy-like and cheesy aromas.  Either that or my nose is playing tricks on me.  I don’t know how experts would do the tasting but the best way for me was to dilute 1 tablespoon of fish sauce with 5 tablespoons water.  I initially dipped a spoon into the undiluted fish sauce to taste.  Somehow it was very difficult to get past the harsh saltiness.  I was actually put off by it and was all about to give up when I remembered reading one of Jeffrey Steingarten’s articles in which he did a salt tasting by diluting it in water.  I find diluted fish sauce also makes it easier to pick out the mellower and lingering (if any) sweet taste.  In the end I tasted it first undiluted then diluted.

I only found two brands that were fermented for two years : Tra Chang and Megachef.  Good fish sauce should be fermented for at least a year.  Tra Chang also sells a 1-yr fermented fish sauce which I included in the tasting.  The other brands are Oyster, Tiparos, Squid, Abalone, and Juthatip.

Tra Chang - 2 years fermentation.

Brand: Tra Chang

Frmentation: 2 years

Color: Amber/whisky-like

Smell: Charred-smoky, slight woody/brandy, mellow dried fish smell; soft cheesy (somehow reminds me of well-aged Comté) and musky smell.  I like the smell of this one best.  Maybe because it bizarrly reminds me of cheese and brandy…..

Taste: Starts off with an ocean-like saltiness then mellows out with a soft lingering nutty and (dare I say) cheese taste.

Ingredients: 70% anchovy, 29% salt, 1% sugar.

Left: 2-yr Tra chang. Right: 1-yr Tra Chang.

Brand:  Tra Chang

Fermentation:  1 year

Color: Amber/whisky-like but a bit lighter than the 2-year fermentation

Smell: Mellow charred-smoky and dried fish smell.  No much brandy-like smell but has a soft well-aged cheese smell.

Taste: Sharp saltiness then mellows out.  Light dried fish aftertaste.

Ingredients: 70% anchovy, 29% salt, 1% sugar

Megachef - 2 years fermentation.

Brand:  Megachef

Fermentation:  2 years.

Color: Amber/whisky-like.

Smell: Softer brandy smell than Tra Chang 2-years; charred smoky dried fish smell; aged cheese and musky smell.

Taste: Has the longest lingering aftertaste; nutty and very soft overall well-rounded sweet taste.  Not sure if it’s because of the added sucrose but the saltiness is slightly less harsh than Tra Chang 2-years.  This would also be great as a dipping sauce.

Ingredients: 70% anchovy, 27% salt, 2% sugar, 1% sucrose.

I still can’t find out why the added sucrose except that glucose and sucrose are supposed to ferment well.

Oyster - 1 year fermentation.

Brand:  Oyster

Fermentation:  1 year.

Color: Pale honey-like color.  In fact it is the palest of all the brands tasted.

Smell: Light, mellow dried fish smell.

Taste: Light saltiness and little aftertaste.

Ingredients: 75% anchovy, 24% salt, 1% sugar.

I am actually surprised by the outcome .  Because of it high anchovy percentage I was expecting stronger smell and taste but they were mild in comparison to the others.

Tiparos - fermentation year unspecified but listed as 1st grade.

Brand:  Tiparos

Fermentation:  Unspecified.  1st grade.

Color: Amber/brandy-like.

Smell: Very faint, almost none, dried fish smell.  Very mellow and sweet note.

Taste: Sharp saltiness with long lingering sweet taste.  Barely there cheese taste.

Ingredients: 65% anchovy, 30.5% salt, 4.5% sugar.

Of all the brands tasted, Tiparos has the darkest amber color which is unexpected.  I had thought one of the 2-yr fermented sauces would have the darker color.  It also has the least fishy but very well-rounded smell.  This is the one that makes me wonder how long has it been fermented.  I have used this brand for a long time in the past.  The sweet smell and taste were a surprise.

Squid - fermentation year unspecified but listed as 1st grade.

Brand:  Squid

Fermentation:  Unspecified.  1st grade.

Color: Amber/whisky-like.

Smell: Dried fish/squid (hence the name?) like smell.  The smell reminds me a bit of Megachef but lighter.

Taste: Strong salty taste with slight cheesy-dried fish after taste.

Ingredients: 60% anchovy, 37% salt, 3% sugar.

Abalone - year unspecified; listed as "starter".

Brand: Abalone

Fermentation:  Unspecified but listed as a “starter” or หัวนำ้ปลา as printed in Thai.  Most likely this means this is the 1st filtration of the fermented product.  I am told the starter is actually hard to come by as this is liquid gold for fish sauce companies.  It is usually diluted with the 2nd or 3rd fermentation of the same batch of anchovy (as is the practice).  I am assuming this is pure starter and Abalone hasn’t diluted it.

Color: Amber/whiskey color.

Smell: Dried fish, smoky and slight cheesy smell.

Taste: Smoky fish head note with a light lingering well-rounded dried fish taste.  A bit cheesy.  The saltiness is not as sharp as I thought starters would have.  Surprising , actually.  It’s my new favorite.

Ingredients: 76% anchovy, 23% salt, 1% sugar.

Juthathip tuna fish sauce.

I have included a tuna fish sauce because, well, I am not sure if this is how the future is going to be with diminishing anchovy supply.  Many of the pla kratuk are caught in the oceans of Thailand’s neighbors.  Some companies even import them pre-fermented.  Plus I was curious about the taste.  Juthathip suggests mixing it with wasabi to be eaten with sashimi.  I don’t eat raw fish so I can’t tell if that’s a good combo.  I might try making some kind of fried rice or noodle out of it.

Brand: Juthatip

Fermentation: Unspecified.

Color: Dark soy sauce.

Smell: A mixture of light fish sauce with soy sauce.

Taste: As the label says, it does taste a bit like soy sauce….mixed with fish sauce.

Ingredients: 73% tuna, 24% salt, 3% sugar.

Overall I have to admit there are slight nuances among the various brands with the 2-yr fermented sauce having a more profound and complex taste.  I also like the smoky  and cheesy taste of Abalone brand. I can’t say which is better than the other.  It’s all a matter of taste.  Different ones, I say.  But I did become more aware of fish sauce, something that I took for granted.  It’s actually making me want to try all the other sauces that I have never really paid much attention.  Can’t wait till the Sriracha sauce tasting.