I think I'm addicted to soya sauce and fish sauce. Actually I love most Asian food I've tried although I am yet to be convinced on the merits of duck tongues, jelly fish or chicken feet.

 

For soy sauce I've usually found the Kikkoman stuff that's made in Japan to be excellent. And the Organic version is delicious too. Very aromatic.

 

For fish sauce I might turn up a few noses but my current favourite is the small bottles of Tiparos. It has a a good amount of fresh fishiness without being overly ripe or sweet. Another brand that is okay but more subtle is the Megachef brand with the brown label. The Megachef oyster sauce is pretty good too.

 

Any favourite brands of sauce you can recommend to try and a bit of info on why? And feel free to add any of your favourite dishes especially (but not limited to) ones that are easy to do at home.

 

Cheers,

 

Legseleven

I married a Filipino girl, and she buys a lot of fish and soy sauce from a local Asian grocer.

Maybe I can check brands later, at work at the minute.

Can't beat a steam fish in soya sauce.. using this (or equivalent).

 

Different soya sauces (be it dipping, dressing, cooking, seasoning etc) basically just have different salt, sugar and alcohol content...

If you're into soya sauce, you can try kechap manis (sweet soy sauce) if you havn't already. Good for claypot rice.

Tasty stuff. A friend who's partner is Chinese put me onto it. And your fish type and technique? 

 

I've lived in Japan and had extended multiple trips in Asia and South East Asia so I guess that plays a big hand in my appreciation of the food. Like you say, there are so many variations. I even like Maggi or Golden Mountain sauce.

 

I've been enjoying using fermented bean paste from Taiwan lately. Six Fortune brand. A little goes a long way to adding depth.  An ingredient I'd not used fresh before is turmeric. I love it! Grated a bit into a green curry (Maesri brand) and it worked a treat. Same with the fried rice I made last night. As @ knows I'm a BIG fan of congee. I can happily eat it for breakfast. Any other congee fans on SNA?

 

 

As @ knows I'm a BIG fan of congee. I can happily eat it for breakfast. Any other congee fans on SNA?

few Asians country does eat congee for breakfast

 

BANGO is the best sweet soy sauce (exclusively indonesian style of soy sauce), kikkoman prob the best brewed soy sauce i supposed and Lee Kum Kee for chinese soy sauce (there are many kinds, Premium is usually universal enough to cook anything with it), and then there's oyster sauce...  

Tasty stuff. A friend who's partner is Chinese put me onto it. And your fish type and technique? 

Freshly caught yellow fin bream/Tarwhine. Technique is to let my wife cook it.. Taste amazing but harder and harder to come by lately since we don't go out fishing that often these days  . Fish needs to be at least 30 cm long to be worth steaming, and they're harder and harder to come by lately... it has to be fresh as in catch it yourself. A few ginger strips is all you need..

Fish from the shops here aren't fresh enough unfortunately... To get around that we sometimes steam fish with fermented black beans. Basically to get rid of bad fishy taste.

 

Big fan of congee myself... You can add fermented soy beans as toppings and that really lift the flavours. There are two styles of porridges I like - Teochew style where you have plain porridge but heaps of little side dishes (including those fermented soy beans).  The other style is cantonese style - savoury congee and very little condiments. Cantonese congee + century eggs + pork floss is one of my favourite meals ... 

 

This on of my fav sauces of the last year after finding it at our local Asian market.

Wei Chuan Japanese Soy Sauce Bonito Flavoured

 

 

You guys ever used it?

And I grew up in the 60's sloshing this over everything and is there a better seasoning for a nice bit of steak? NO!

 

This pic has a big bottle in it but I have a HUGE bottle, 1.5 magical litres of the liquid Vegemite. Yum! (yes I like my Maggi)

Currently sitting here trying to work out what to cook for two for tea.

My wife knows a bit about Thai food, she prefers "Golden Boy" brand fish sauce.

 

Failing that, Tiparos.
 

Glass bottles preferred... but drop them and break them maybe you'll wish you went for a plastic one.

 

 

 

Does anyone else reckon that soy sauce in Australia has changed over the last 30 years?

We use soy almost daily now. Its fairly light and I splash it on liberally. When I was a kid I seem to remember it being far darker and more potent. Have my tastebuds just matured or did the east just sell us white honkys an inferior product back then?[emoji1]

Btw, love the Maggi sauce. Works a treat on a Vietnamese chicken roll...yum

Well you've just described the difference between Light soy and Dark soy.

So many people think that light soy is like light as in fat reduced but it's not it's a different flavour that's all.

Yeah the thought did cross my mind.....I just wonder whether the local Jewels even stocked anything but dark. Then again my parents probably wouldnt have known the difference anyway.

Sliced jalapenos in soy sauce makes a great dipping sauce.

Dark soy is more for coloring and sweetness and less on salty.. Light soy is more salty, more bean flavour and less sweet. If darker and more potent it sorta means the water has evaporated a bit (higher saturation).. At least that's the case at home ..
 

 

Sliced jalapenos in soy sauce makes a great dipping sauce.

+1.. Works with sliced red chili too.. e.g. 



This is my all time favourite pic coz that soup is so good (and so fattening)... The pork just slides off the bone, and then dip that in the soy/chill sauce. OMG..

This thread is making me hungry....

we love to steam fish, ginger, shallots, coriander, lemon juice, dashes of soy and very yum ! 

Sliced jalapenos in soy sauce makes a great dipping sauce.

 

I tend to do this every autumn with chillies off our little trees here, tend to chop up and broil in a cocktail of soy and vinegar so they're pickled. and then use them all year through in soups and stir frys and such

I pickle, freeze, dry and make sauces from our chillies.

I pickle, freeze, dry and make sauces from our chillies.

 

I inadvertently sun dried a whole tree of chillies last year forgetting about them ...plucked all the dried red chillies when discovered the tree

I can't seem to multi quote but I'll put the Bango on the shopping list. Time to try the kecap manis again. I like Golden boy fish sauce too but Tiparos just has a fresh tang that I really like. I always buy the little glass bottles because last time I looked the ingredients are different to the large ones. Healthy boy oyster sauce Actually it's not healthy boy oyster sauce. It's called Maekrua OS which I like. My favourite at the moment is Megachef OS.

 

I'm guessing Luc's Japanese soy with Bonito is very similar to the sauce mentioned for steamed fish. Oh and the fermented black beans I imagine are similar to the Taiwanese stuff I mentioned? Also as Batty mentioned I loved the nam pla prik? ie fish sauce with chillies and sometimes garlic that I ate every day in Thailand. On a fried egg or omelette, wow! So simple although the Thai style of fried is almost like deep frying.

 

The soy sauce in Australia that I grew up with was the sub standard stuff you put on a steamed dimmy or from the local Chinese restaurants fried rice. Perhaps there are even cheaper versions imported these days which get used to cut costs. Although the Pearl River Mushroom soy sauce was always appreciated before I discovered better.

Edited March 17, 201510 yr by legselevens

@ Your pork dish reminds me of a dish I had in Klang Malaysia called Buk Kut Teh. I'm guessing you know it. Although heart attack inducing, oh my god the meat was delicious as you say sliding off the bone but the broth, so aromatic was like washing the soul   Such a balance of flavours washed down with cups of tea. The place I had it at was near my hotel kind of under a bridge. A bit crappy looking but my god I shall never forget the goodness they served up.

 

I had it again further south in Banting the next day and although very good it was not in the same league. I can't imagine being able to find a decent one in Melbourne but it would be better than anything I could cook.

we love to steam fish, ginger, shallots, coriander, lemon juice, dashes of soy and very yum ! 

+1 You should try the fish seasoning sauce mentioned above by myrantz and Luc. They tend to have msg in them but I've never had an issue with that. It's been around for more than a hundred years so can't be all bad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kikunae_Ikeda

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate

I am yet to be convinced on the merits of ......... jelly fish ........

 

 

That's murder. :angry: :mad:

That's murder. :angry: :mad:

I guess you could say that. The Lady Boss is vegetarian and doesn't even eat fish which makes it awkward at times. But I rarely get any stick for my meat eating. She's not at all preachy about it.

Kikkoman is the best soy sayce for sure

Also use fish sauce and oyster sauce a lot.

"Squid brand" is good.

One of our Chinese friends gave us the tip when shopping in an Asian supermarket and not sure which brand to buy of something, go for the one that has a face on the packet.

(This may or may not apply to such brands as Paul Newman and Dick Smith however.... )

The Kikkoman is reliable and good but if you can get the Japanese made one it is a lot better than the Singapore version IMO. Of course it's easy to get familiar with a taste and stick with that but I try to vary and try new things. I want to try the Vietnamese fish sauces but I'm put off by the corn syrup or fructose they seem to have in them.

ABC kecap manis from Indonesia is really good, but has been bought out by heinz, so may change, already gone from a glass bottle to plastic.