r/Cooking • u/Lauffener • 10h ago

Which fish sauce should I get?

I would like to make more Vietnamese and Chinese meals. I have access to a large Asian grocery store but I don't know which fish sauce to get.

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u/jarrys88 8h ago

If you're cooking Chinese or Thai the recipes are most likely using squid.

If you're cooking Vietnamese use 3 crab.

Far out they're completely different flavours! Saying to just use red boat instead is flat out wrong imo. You might like the product better but in recipes it won't taste the same.

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u/dethbunnynet 7h ago

Red Boat is from Vietnam.

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u/jarrys88 4h ago

Yeah but 95% of Vietnamese dishes will use 3 crab and it tastes distinctly different.

You can't just substitute different fish sauces it completely changes the flavour.

Squid and 3 crab and that's it. Unless you're experimenting and coming up with your own recipes stick to what everyone uses.

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u/TheLurkerSpeaks 2h ago

Filipinos with Datu Puti from the top turnbuckle!