ottawa foodies

A week and a half ago I bought a new fish sauce. The sauce I bought is almost identical to the picture on the right but a different brand (mine is the Royal Crab brand). I cracked it open last night and it had a really pungent fishy odour. I tried a little and it tasted okay so I added it to my salad dressing. At 4:00 am this morning my tummy started doing somersaults and has been going downhill since then. I am now wondering if the fish sauce was off. Has anyone used this brand? Is it supposed to smell really fishy? I've used Squid brand fish sauce and it has virtually no odour at all.

I bought the Three Crabs one recently and was anxious to try it. I sampled a bit just in a spoon to see how it differed from another I had tried. I too was surprised at how fishy it smelled and how pungent it tasted. I have tried it in a few dipping sauces with sriracha, and other ingredients and it blended well and didn't really jump to the forefront. I felt fine after each use, but it was only in small amounts on about 3-4 times.

I've been thinking about uses for it lately...any ideas?

I have been using it in the nuoc cham posted here: Forum - Where can I get fresh shrimp spring rolls?

Last night I put it in a sauce that I used as a salad dressing. For one serving I used:

2 tsp. rice vinegar
2 tsp. fish sauce
2 tsp. sugar
1 red chile
garlic

Stir together ingredients, let stand a few minutes, then add to salad.

(In retrospect maybe the garlic upset my tummy? I've had both the sauce and garlic and this hasn't happened before. Odd...

I use the Three Crabs fish sauce and have had no problems. (Not sure how that differs from Royal Crab.) Good fish sauce is supposed to smell positively vile, so your nose could never tell you if it would make you sick or not. Also, given that the salt content is so incredibly high that crystals sometimes form, I don't think anything could be alive in there.

I doubt it was the fish sauce that caused your upset, especially if you've used it before with no ill effects. Feel better soon!

More likely something nasty clinging to the salad that wasn't washed off properly.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. So it looks like good fish sauce is supposed to be stinky - now I know for next time. It must have been something else I guess. I had some yogurt for lunch and it's really settling my tummy. We're having a potluck lunch at the office tomorrow and it looks like there will be lots of food involved - gotta get my appetite back for our eatfest at work-;)

Vietnamese fish sauce tends to be stronger and funkier than Thai fish sauce, though there's a huge variety and not all smell really strong.

A note on fish sauce
I prefer the Three Crabs brand. Choose a fish sauce light in color…it should look like brewed tea. Anything darker than that (looking like Coca Cola) is inferior quality.
Three Crabs fish sauce contains gluten. Check labels if you are making GF substitutions.
this was a footnote in the daring kitchen pho recipe. I bought this brand and didn't have any trouble with it other than it is such a large bottle and am not sure of the shelf life.
I not sure if the tea comment is subjective as that brand looked dark to me.
Gave it a sniff and it smells salty not funky.

An interesting post on taste-testing Thai fish sauces by a Thai food blogger:
www.shesimmers.com