Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
The traditional process of preparing it is to dry the fi sh in the sun before
being preserved in salt. It has a distinctive smell that only its true lovers
would appreciate. The process of preparing
fessiekh
is quite elaborate; the
information is passed from father to son in certain families. The occupation
has a special name in Egypt,
fasakhani.
Fessiekh
is traditionally eaten during
Sham El Nese (“Smelling the Breeze”), which is a spring celebration in
Egypt from ancient times. Some consider f
essiekh
as a part of the good
things of Egypt (El-Tahan et al., 1998).
Other Traditional Sauces
Southeast Asians use fi sh sauce as a cooking sauce. However, there is a
sweet and sour version of this sauce, which is used more commonly as a
dipping sauce. In Thailand, fi sh sauce is used in cooking and is also kept
in a jar at the table for use as a condiment. This jar often contains a mixture
of fi sh sauce and chopped hot chillies, called
nam-pla prik
. In Korea, it is
called
ack jeot
, and is used as a crucial ingredient in
Kimchi
(usually from
myul chi
or
kanari
, meaning anchovies), both for taste and fermentation.
Sae woo jeot
(shrimp) is also popular as a side sauce.
Shottsuru
is made in Japan from sandfi sh. Sardines, anchovies and
mollusks can also be used as starting material. The fl uid is fi ltered and
boiled and can be kept for years. Soy bean sediments or
koji
, which is
fermented with wheat, can be added to
shottsuru.
Novel Fish Sauces
A new method for producing fermented fi sh sauce was developed to
improve the taste of the fi sh sauce. The method involved the production of
a fermented sauce, seasoning liquid from salmon that was enzymatically
hydrolyzed with the wheat gluten
koji,
LAB and yeast (
Saccharomyces
cerevisiae
). During fermentation, the total nitrogen, lactic acid, and ethanol
contents in the fi sh sauce increased continuously and then plateaued 3
mon after fermentation had begun. The chemical composition and the
sensory properties of the fi sh sauce prepared by this 3-mon fermentation
were compared with those of the fi sh sauce from salmon similarly
hydrolyzed with soy sauce
koji
prepared from soybean and wheat. The
fi sh sauce produced using wheat gluten was very light-coloured and had
a higher content of free amino acids, especially glutamic acid. The peptides
consisted mainly of
Glx, Asx
and
Pro
, compared with
Asx, Glx
, and
Gly
in
the liquid from soy sauce
koji.
Sensory evaluation revealed that the fi sh
sauce derived from the wheat gluten
koji
had an intense umami taste and
a fi ne fl avour better than that of soy sauce
koji
(Indoh et al., 2006).
