Subject: What is Nuoc Mam (Vietnamese Sauce) made of?

From: [email-masked] (Phil Laak)
Date: 3 Feb 1995 11:42:06 GMT

Hello,

	I am going crazy.  I eat at a Vietnamese Food place regularly 
here in the city of San Francisco (Tu Lans)(except for the locale this 
place is great!!!), and with almost anything you order here they give 
you this liquidy red/ yellow sauce stuff (Nuoc Mam).  I love the stuff 
and drench my food with it.  

	The stuff (I had the lady write it down for me) is called 

		''   _'
	       Nuoc Mam

	and as I only have a limited keyboard I have done my best with 
the accent symbols.

	I would love to know what is in it (exactly). [Actually, I have 
seen them 'make' it but none of the 'source' containers of the different 
ingredients have any labels on them so that was no help.]  

	I drench my food in the stuff and am concerned that I might be 
lining my self up for arterial clogs or something.

	If someone out there actually knows what is in this stuff I 
would be overwhelmed with joy to know.  (If there is an oil in it could 
you be specific with name or approx. % of monounsturated to saturated 
fat content.)  That might be getting too specific for the first pass but 
I am very curios - else I would not go to this trouble.

	Thanks mega much

			Ultra Man ([email-masked])

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From: [email-masked] (Clay Irving)
Date: 3 Feb 1995 18:43:51 -0500

>I am very curios - else I would not go to this trouble.

Get ready.

Nuoc Mam is made like this:

 - Tiny anchovies are set out in the sun to dry slightly and begin
   the first fermentation.
 - After a few hours, the fish are layered with salt in large wooden
   vats where they sit for three days.
 - The salt draws the liquid from the fish and after three days the
   liquid is poured off.  
 - The fish are very firmly weighted and the reserved liquid is added
   back to cover them.
 - Now the fish sit and ferment some more.
 - Occasionally, a spigot at the bottom of the vat is opened to allow
   the liquid to slowly drain.
 - When all the liquid is collected (after about six months), it is
   poured into ceramic urns to age for another month.

-- 
Clay Irving, N2VKG               | Membership Director ([email-masked])
[email-masked]                   | The Society for Electronic Access (SEA)
<URL:http://www.panix.com/~clay> | <URL:http://www.panix.com/sea>

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From: [email-masked] (Andrea Heinen)
Date: 3 Feb 1995 19:01:58 GMT

>   lining my self up for arterial clogs or something.

I found the following recipe in one of my cookbooks. It is also
called Nuoc Cham--Garlic, Chili and Fish Sauce

2 ripe red chillies
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon sugar
1 lemon
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon water
4 table spoons fish sauce (can be gotten at Asian grocery stores)

Wearing gloves, cut off stalks from chillies, split down the center and
remove seeds and center membrane. Cut into pieces, and pound in mortar
and pestle together with peeled clove of garlic. Add sugar. Peel lemon,
removing all the white pith. Slice and remove seeds. Add a small piece 
at a time to the chillies and pound to a pulp. Stir in vinegar, water 
and fish sauce. Serve in a small bowl and use in small quantities.
(Source: The Complete Asian Cookbook by Charmaine Solomon)

The amount of oil, fat, saturated or not, would depend on the fish sauce.
I do not have a bottle of it handy at the moment so I can't check the
ingredients of it.

-Andrea Heinen

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From: [email-masked] (Susan Hattie Steinsapir)
Date: Sat, 4 Feb 1995 13:27:43 GMT

In other words, fish sauce has no fat.  Just salt, salt, salt.  So, it's 
not your arteries that you're clogging but excessive sodium intake is 
linked to hypertension.  Recommended daily amount of sodium in a 2500 
calorie a day diet is, if memory serves (go check a can of anything!), 
2400 mg.  There are 690 mg of sodium in one tablespoon of the fish sauce 
I buy, Tiparos.  When it comes to "drenching", one tablespoon doesn't 
cover a lot.  If you're in good health, it probably won't hurt you.  If 
you do heavy manual labor where you'd sweat a lot (average Vietnamese 
farmer or fisherman), a good zolt of nuoc nam is a great thing.  For the 
average American office worker, day after day, ingesting 4 to 10 grams of 
sodium is not a good thing.  Now, enjoy your meal. :)
-- 
Yours,
Susan
_____________________________________________________________________________
Susan Hattie Steinsapir       [email-masked]        Sacramento, California
Disclaimer: Any opinions are mine and not those of my employers.