Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
a few days of setting the supernatant liquor are decanted off carefully
(Beddows, 1985). The liquid is called
nuoc-mam
.
Often caramel, roasted rice or molasses are added to fi sh to get a
dark colour and a certain taste. This improves the keeping quality of the
qualitatively inferior
nuoc-mam
. At a fermentation temperature higher
than 45°C, the
nuoc-mam
loses its characteristic taste. It is therefore best to
keep the vats somewhere cool.
Nam-pla
This is the equivalent of
nuoc-mam
and is reported to be very similar
(Beddows, 1985). The major species of fi sh used are
Stolephorus
and
Sardinella
but smaller
Scomber
and
Ristrelliger
may be used as well as
certain
Clupeids
. The process is more commercialized than that of
nuoc-
m
am. The fermentation takes 6-12 mon. The sauce is 'run off' and exposed
to the sun for 1-3 mon (ripening) (Saisithi, 1967).The liquid is blended with
meiki
, a concentrated by-product obtained from the bacterial production of
monosodium glutamate. Either dark or light
meiki
may be used and both
signifi cantly affect both fl avour and aroma of the sauce fi nally offered
for sale.
In general, less salt is used in the production of
nam-pla
than with nuoc-
mam (4 : 1 ratio fi sh to salt).
Padack
, a more aromatic version of
nam-pla
, is
also produced.
Ngan byar yay
Similar to
nam-pla
and is indigenous to Myanmar.
Patis
A sauce called
patis
is produced in the Philippines which is comparable to
nuoc-mam
. The procedure for making
patis
is more or less the same as that
for
nuoc-mam
. After the fi rst
patis
yield, which has a characteristic taste, a
saturated brine solution is used to obtain the second yield of
patis
of an
inferior quality.
Patis
is usually made of small fi sh (
Stolephorus
,
Sardinella
,
Leignathus
or
Decapterus macrosoma
). Small shrimp or alamang, goby fry,
herring fry and anchovies give the best results. Enough salt must be added
to saturate the moisture which oozes from the fi sh. One kg of salt to 3.5-4
kg of fi sh gives a fi nal product with 20-25% salt content.
Patis
is also a by-product of the preparation of fi sh paste
bagoong
(described further on this chapter).
Budu
This is a fi sh sauce similar to
nam-pla
and
nuoc mam
and is produced in
the North Eastern states of Malaysia (Beddows, 1985).The species of fi sh
used is mostly
Stolephorus
(
Ikanbilis
).
Budu
is prepared by fermentation of
