Fermented fish sauce

Cuisines around the world use various forms of fermented fish sauce as a condiment or ingredient. The details of preparation can be unpalatable to some, but they basically involve fermenting seafood in salt, and obtaining distinctively flavored extracts.

While many think of this as an Asian flavoring, garum was a basic element of cooking in the Roman Empire, and the very British Worcestershire sauce has fermented anchovies as one of its core components, although tamarind is another part of its distinct taste.

Southeast Asian kitchens and tables, however, are bare without fish sauce. The basic Vietnamese term is nuoc mam, but that is somewhat like saying "wine" in France; there are many distinctive preparations, and indeed some premium forms that are labeled to their place of origin. In Thai cuisine, the term is nam pla, also called "fish soy."

Not strictly fish, but some related preparations, these more from Asia, are sauces, pastes, or dried forms of fermented shrimp.

Some American veterans of the Vietnam War brought back unpleasant memories, perhaps embellished with memories and storytelling, of reeking nuoc mam. Other Americans use brands that do not have an especially strong smell, but potent flavoring properties different from fermented soy.