ottawa foodies

Some time ago I purchased a jar of fish sauce from Saigon Soul Foods in Hamilton: www.saigonsoulfood.com/ I finished the jar ages ago and I would now like to purchase a bottle (not necessarily from Soul Food) to make the nuoc cham recipe posted in this thread: Forum - Where can I get fresh shrimp spring rolls? I was a little overwhelmed with the choices on my last trip to Chinatown and being somewhat of a novice in making Asian foods I thought I would ask my fellow foodies for recommendations. I will be heading to Chinatown on Sunday afternoon and I will be starting my shopping trip at New 168 and ending my trip at Hartmans. Any suggestions are welcome.

Oooh, this is an interesting topic! I've only used the Squid Brand fish sauce (contains no squid), but I don't know if it's good, bad, middling, or what-have-you.

(Pic not mine; I just pulled it off of Flickr for reference purposes.)

3 Crabs fish sauce is what I use, I get it from T&T... if it isn't self-explanatory enough, there are 3 crabs on the label to help you identify it :)

I also use the squid brand. I tried the Knorr brand one time but didn't really like it as much.

Cock Brand of course !!!!

And BTW ... Squid Brand contains no squid ... The again, Cock Brand contains no cock (rooster, that is).

I use Sai Tan Fish Sauce (Nuoc Mam) from Pantainorasingh in Thailand, likely available everywhere in Chinatown, but I buy it at the Bangkok. It's made with anchovy extract as I recall.

Check out the recommendation for Tra Chang brand in this thread from a guy who has 5 different brands in his frig: www.lthforum.com

We had a Vietnamese teen live with us for a year, going to high school, who liked the Sai Tan well enough (he'd pour small bowls and dip stuff - meat to green beans in it) - mind you it wasn't as good in his opinion as the fish sauce they ate at home back in Ho Chi Minh City (former Saigon).

I use Cock sauce fish sauce as well.

Funny, I also call the red Thai hot sauce, "cock sauce" because of the rooster on it...

Also talking about Ho Chi Minh City, I actually passed threw a town where they made fish sauce. I could not wait to get out of that town... I got really good a breathing with my mouth.

Thanks everyone for the recommendations. I decided to settle for a bottle of Squid fish sauce. The Squid and Three Crabs seem to be available in abundance in Chinatown however I noticed that the Three Crabs brand was considerably more expensive than the Squid. After comparing labels the only noticeable difference was that the Three Crabs brand has fructose in it. Not sure if there is any discernable difference in taste. I used some in a salad dressing last night (fish sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil) and I will be using some more in a stir fry tonight.

Andy I did in fact notice that the fish sauces available in Ottawa use anchovy extract - it seems to be a common base for fish sauces.

Woten Neat story about your travels in Vietnam. I feel sorry for the people that live near these plants although I guess they don't notice the odour after awhile.

Go for more expensive ones. I tried a cheap one that was on sale. It supposedly won an award, but it was more salty and less flavorful. I just use it for cooking now. I haven't tried either squid or cock brand. I will.

Francis Thanks for the advice. I was hoping to get one small bottle of Squid and one small bottle of Three Crabs so I can do a taste test. I was curious to see if the more expensive brand was superior but the Squid brand was the only one that came in a smaller bottle so that's what I got. It does have a slightly fishy taste to it but it doesn't make my mouth pucker like the Saigon brand I originally bought. I will try the Three Crabs one next to see how it compares. I noticed that the Saigon one is available at the Whole Foods store on Avenue Road in Toronto so if worst comes to worst I can pick up a jar during my next trip to Toronto.

I didn't want to start a new thread for this, but I have been struggling with my fish sauce recipe. It never tastes like the sauce I get from restaurants. Can anyone perhaps point out why?

1/4 cup water
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
2 cloves garlic, crushed (I just take a clove and press down on it with a knife)
1 tbs lime juice
2 tbs fish sauce
1 red chili, seeded and finely chopped.

Boil water with vinegar and sugar. Allow to cool. Add garlic, lime juice, fish sauce and chili to the mixture.

Thanks in advance.

schnicken, you can find the correct ratios on the wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org

"Recipe
* 1 part lime/lemon juice. Vinegar has also been known to be used in a pinch
* 1 part fish sauce (nước mắm)
* 1 part sugar
* 2 parts water

To this, people will typically add minced garlic, chopped or minced serrano peppers, and in some instances, shredded carrot for bún. Otherwise, when having seafood like eels, people also give some slices of lemongrass, etc.

It is often prepared hot on a stove to dissolve the sugar more quickly, then cooled. The flavor varies depending on the individual's preference of putting in more of a certain ingredient, but is generally is described as pungent and distinct, sweet yet sour, and sometimes hot."

This is exactly in line with the recipe I was given by a Cambodian friend.