"fish sauce" for sushi - not soy sauce
i went to this sushi place in great neck, ny, and besides serving soy sauce for the sushi, they also had this homemade "fish sauce" - at least that is what they called it. after a lot of begging, they told me that it was a mix of a number of ingredients including soy sauce and sugar. basically, it was a sweeter soy sauce, with the texture of soy sauce, but it was so much livelier than just soy sauce with sugar.
has anyone else seen this and have a recipe for this so-called "fish sauce"?
By daverose808
on May 4, 2008 07:13 PM
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Was it transparent and sweet/tangy? Sort of light-flavored and about the color of tea, maybe with a few scraps of carrot? Then it was Vietnamese "fish sauce" - not the stuff from the bottle but that's an ingredient.
A bit of bottled fish sauce, a roughly equal amount of water, a squeeze of lime, some sugar and a bit of ground chili paste.
A great dip for egg rolls, spring rolls, cha gio, dimsum, but I never thought of it for sushi.
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I use the same recipe you mentioned, but with a little soy sauce in the mix as well. I think that a fish-sauce-based-sauce would be likely to be what a restaurant would refer to as fish sauce, but as you said, that is a sauce I've seen served mostly with Vietnamese food -- and although I've also seen similar sauce with Chinese food, I don't think I've ever seen it with Japanese before.
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no, it wasnt transparent or tangy. it was the exact color and texture of soy sauce. i dont think the fact that they used the word "fish" in "fish sauce" here has anything to do with the use of fish in the ingredients. just that they use that as a dipping substitute for soy sauce for their sushi. i have a feeling its something like alan408 says - like a kikkoman sauce. its a sweet soy sauce basically and its great. i hope i find the right one from kikkoman, although the owner of the sushi restaurant explained his sushi chef makes it himself.
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If it isn't pungent with fermented fish, I bet it isn't fish sauce (nam pla, nuoc nam, patis, etc). My guess is that it is diluted, sweetened soy sauce with a splash of citrus (eg yuzu or ponzu sauce)....with perhaps a secret ingredient or two.
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That's a good guess.
I think it could also be something like a soba noodle dipping broth which has fish (bonito), soy and mirin (sweet). I'm sure some Japanese food purists will balk, but I've assembled quite a delicious dish of rice, raw fish, julienned ginger, scallions and topped it with soba noodle dipping sauce and toasted sesame oil.
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Ponzu?
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ive never heard of ponzu, but uve definitely peaked my interest. as for the look: it looked just like soy sauce. does that help narrow it down. fmed's and ipsedixit's posts make sense: i just wonder what th esecret ingredient's are!
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If it looked that way, it could very well be something like Kikkoman Teriyaki Sauce (I'm sure others make it as well). Mostly just soy heated to dissolve enough sugar to sweeten, maybe add some rice wine, thicken a bit with cornstarch.
Still kinda odd for sushi.
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daverose808,
Did the sauce look or resemble something like the pic below? It's a pic of ponzu.
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Kikkoman makes a sushi/sashimi sauce that fits your discreption. I think it is a combo is dashi, sugar and shoyu. If you want more fish/less sweet, try Kikkoman's Memmi. If you want lighter, try Kikkoman's Tempura Sauce. And, if you want some citrus, try Kikkoman's Ponzu.
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ipsedixit - im not sure. in that ur pic looks like soy sauce, then yes. if its supposed to look lighter than soy sauce, then no.
alan408 - thanks for the suggestions. i will try all of them! soy sauce is simply too strong for me, and im glad to hear there are commercial alternatives available!
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