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antinomicustoday at 1:00 AM8 repliesview on HN

Fish sauce is not supposed to be added to the point that you can taste the fishy taste, you do get that right? If you’ve added enough to impart fishy taste, you’ve added way too much.


Replies

NL807today at 1:18 AM

Not quite true. Lots of Thai dishes use a tonne of fish sauce and even shrimp paste in their dishes. They even make side dish dipping sauce (Nam Jim Jaew) that's like basically 50% fish sauce.

jandrewrogerstoday at 1:21 AM

No, people have different sensitivity to it. Many people experience Vietnamese fish sauce as a strong “rancid fish” character that is not at all subtle in all traditional recipes that use it. It isn’t “using too much”, it is “using any at all”.

I imagine it is like the people who are sensitive to cilantro, thinking it tastes like soap.

wildzzztoday at 2:22 AM

I've used fish sauce as an alternative to anchovy paste for caeser salad dressing which is heavily defined by a fishy taste.

raincoletoday at 2:20 AM

I don't think your idea of 'fishy taste' is the same as theirs.

xukitoday at 1:15 AM

Some people are just more sensitive to certain smells and flavors than others, especially if they didn't have previous exposure to them.

kccqzytoday at 1:14 AM

I could not taste the fishy taste myself but my partner can. It varies by person how sensitive they are.

morkalorktoday at 1:13 AM

Right? It's there to add a layer of depth and savoury umami

heyethantoday at 2:50 AM

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