Fish sauce is a pungent liquid flavoring made from salted, fermented fish. A staple of Southeast Asian cuisines, most varieties are made with anchovies, salt and sugar.
You can usually find fish sauce on the international aisle at the grocery store. If not, you'll certainly find several varieties at any Asian market. (Chinese fish sauce may be labeled fish gravy.) Store fish sauce in the pantry, not in the refrigerator -- the cold air will cause salt crystals to form.
In a pinch, or if you want to make a dish vegetarian, you can substitute soy sauce for fish sauce. Substituting fish sauce for soy sauce is a riskier move. Plenty of people do it, but if you're a casual user of or newcomer to fish sauce, proceed with caution: it's potent.
It takes 10-15 pounds of fish to make 1 liter of fish sauce, so it's not surprising that the dark liquid smells intensely fishy. The flavor, however, is not so much fishy as it is salty, tangy and vinegary. Paired with lime juice and broth, fish sauce creates a bold base for this soups.
Recipe: Broiled Thai Shrimp (Coothink)
Recipe: Beef Pho (Cookthink)
Recipe: Thai Shrimp, Coconut And Mushroom Soup (Cookthink)
Reference: Why is it called Worcestershire sauce? (Cookthink)
What's the difference between a chile and a chili?
What's the difference between a chile and a chili?
Nothing. The small hot pepper known as the chili, chilli or chile pepper is essentially the same thing, spelled differently depending on where you live. Chile sauce, chili powder, chilli oil or paste are used to give food throughout the world a fiery kick as they have for thousands of years.
A Chinese fruit shaped like its name and containing a small seed in each of its points, star anise is cultivated before ripening from small Southwestern Chinese evergreen trees. It is unrelated to anise seed, although both get their flavor from a compound called anethol.
Star anise has a more bitter taste than anise seed, and is used as a spice and infusion in Asian cuisines. It can also serve as cheaper alternative to anise in baked goods and liqueurs.
One of the five ingredients in Chinese five-spice powder and a major component of garam masala, star anise flavors Vietnamese pho broth and Southern Indian biryani. It is also an ingredient in the bird flu remedy Tamiflu.
The Bánh mì is said to be a Vietnamese variation on the French "salad sandwich," and one happy consequence of French colonialism.
A Bánh mì is made in a hollowed-out halved French baguette and filled with pork, chicken, head cheese or other meats; raw or pickled vegetables (such as carrots, daikon, cucumbers, onions and cilantro); and a dressing that may include mayonnaise and chili sauce, or a squeeze of lime.
The bright combination of flavors and textures make this delicious sandwich popular in the U.S., France and other countries with Vietnamese populations.
