I’ve partnered with Spice Tribe and Son Fish Sauce to bring you 2 year aged Son Fish Sauce.

Since 1951, the Son Fish Sauce family has been producing the fines fish sauce from their island off the southwest coast of Vietnam. Their product is bound by tradition, which reflects their quality. And is guaranteed single-origin with no fillers.

Taste: It’s alluring umami, earthy and savory flavors continues to hypnotize me, as it proves to enhance the flavors of any dish.

Check out my digital recipe for Nước Chấm (Seasoned Fish Sauce) below.

FAQs

Why does fish sauce stink?

Commercial Fish Sauce is smelly. Not traditional Fish Sauce. Commercial Fish Sauce stinks because it uses anchovy extracts.

What is so bad about anchovy extract?

All extracts are commercial by-products. They are artificial flavors that do not necessarily use any ingredients directly from a source named for the extract but instead uses combinations of ingredients to arrive at a flavor. If there is any ingredient derived from that flavor, it is usually from scraps or waste. In the case of anchovy extract in Vietnam, it's old anchovies that were not fresh or sold at the market. It’s decaying fish, that is dried then pulverized into a paste with additives, such as processed wheat.

How is “traditional” fish sauce made?

Traditional Vietnamese Fish Sauce is made from fermenting 70% fresh wild-caught anchovy and 30% sea salt for one year. Like olive oil, Fish Sauce is pressed. The first press is comparable to (what Italians consider 'extra virgin') a 'top tier' product. Traditional Vietnamese Fish Sauce companies rate these different pressed levels by measuring the presence of protein (degrees of nitrogen) per liter reflected on the bottle as a number: 40*, 33*, 25*, etc. Western Commercial Fish Sauce quality is such a low number, it defeats the purpose of posting it. They usually scale 12*-14*.