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Surprised they didn't mention Worcestershire sauce, which has very similar flavor profiles to sauce used in Thai cuisine. Edit: Worcestershire sauce's flavor c

by ipsum2 6y ago

Surprised they didn't mention Worcestershire sauce, which has very similar flavor profiles to sauce used in Thai cuisine. Edit: Worcestershire sauce's flavor comes from fermented fish + tamarind, which also are two major ingredients in Thai/Vietnamese cooking.

ska 6y ago
Do you think Worcestershire is particularly close compared to other fish sauces? I don't really but I'm hardly "fluent" in thai cooking. Fish sauce seems plausibly one of those commonly re-invented things.
- mrob 6y ago
  It's not very similar. The fish in Worcestershire sauce is mild enough that you might not notice it if you didn't know it was there. It's vinegar + molasses + tamarind + salt + sugar + spices, with the fish just there for added umami taste. Thai fish sauce is only fish + salt + sugar, and it's unmistakably made from fish.
  - ska 6y ago
    Agree the fish sauce itself is clearly different, but I'm less confident about the flavor profile as a whole. Maybe that's just because of the tamarind though.
    - mark-r 6y ago
      I have a Pad Thai recipe that calls for both fish sauce and tamarind paste. Do you think there's some connection?
hprotagonist 6y ago
that's so, but the legend is "lee and perrins were told to recreate a thing that the governor of bengal's wife had liked when they were in india, thought they failed, let it ferment, then claimed victory", which isn't quite Thailand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcestershire_sauce#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcestershire_sauce#History
OJFord 6y ago
Is it actually fermented fish? I happened to be looking at its ingredients earlier this evening before I saw this post (really! wild evening) and it merely lists 'anchovies'. The top two ingredients are vinegars, which suggests to me the flavour's approximated by pickling (cf. cucumbers, kimchi/sauerkraut/coleslaws, etc.) rather than merely a preservative.
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by ipsum2 6y ago

ska 6y ago

Do you think Worcestershire is particularly close compared to other fish sauces? I don't really but I'm hardly "fluent" in thai cooking. Fish sauce seems plausibly one of those commonly re-invented things.

mrob 6y ago
It's not very similar. The fish in Worcestershire sauce is mild enough that you might not notice it if you didn't know it was there. It's vinegar + molasses + tamarind + salt + sugar + spices, with the fish just there for added umami taste. Thai fish sauce is only fish + salt + sugar, and it's unmistakably made from fish.
- ska 6y ago
  Agree the fish sauce itself is clearly different, but I'm less confident about the flavor profile as a whole. Maybe that's just because of the tamarind though.
  - mark-r 6y ago
    I have a Pad Thai recipe that calls for both fish sauce and tamarind paste. Do you think there's some connection?

hprotagonist 6y ago

that's so, but the legend is "lee and perrins were told to recreate a thing that the governor of bengal's wife had liked when they were in india, thought they failed, let it ferment, then claimed victory", which isn't quite Thailand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcestershire_sauce#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcestershire_sauce#History

OJFord 6y ago

Is it actually fermented fish? I happened to be looking at its ingredients earlier this evening before I saw this post (really! wild evening) and it merely lists 'anchovies'. The top two ingredients are vinegars, which suggests to me the flavour's approximated by pickling (cf. cucumbers, kimchi/sauerkraut/coleslaws, etc.) rather than merely a preservative.

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