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Authentic lactic-fermented fish products have to include as an ingre-
dient an exogenous source of fermentable carbohydrate. Considerable
variation in recipes has been noted but production is governed by two
general principles: the higher the salt content of the product, the longer
the production process takes but the better the product’s keeping qual-
ities; and the higher the level of added carbohydrate, the faster the
fermentation and the more acidic the flavour.
Fish/salt/carbohydrate products (Table 9.9) are generally much less
popular than the fish sauces and pastes and are produced on a smaller
scale. Their production also tends to be more common away from the
coast and to use freshwater fish. Though superficially their production
appears similar to that of fermented meat sausages, they are quite
distinctive.
In products such asBurong-isda(Philippines),Pla-jao, andPla-som
(Thailand) andI-sushi(Japan), cleaned fish flesh is dry salted with about
10–20% salt and left for a period of up to a day. The flesh is then usually
removed from the brine that develops and may be subjected to further

Table 9.8 Fish sauces and pastes and their countries of origin

Country

Name

Sauce Paste

Amber/brown liquid, salty taste,

cheese-like aroma

Red/brown salty paste

Burma ngapi nga-ngapi
Indonesia ketjap-ikan trassi-ikan
trassi-udang(shrimps)
Kampuchea nuoc-mam prahoc
nuoc-mam-gau-ca mam-ruoac(shrimps)
(livers only)
Laos nam-pla(pa) padec
Malaysia budu belachan(shrimps)
Philippines patis bagoong
Thailand nam-pla kapi
Vietnam nuoc-mam man-ca
man-tom(shrimps)

Table 9.9 Fermented fish/salt/carbohydrate products

Country Products

Japan I-shushi, e.g. ayu-sushi, funa-suchi tai-suchi,
Kampuchea phaak, mam-chao
Korea sikhae
Laos som-kay-pa-eun, som-pa, mam-pa-kor, pa-chao, pa-khem som-pa-keng
Malaysia pekasam, cencalok
Philippines burong-isda, e.g. burong-ayungi, burong-dalag, burong-bangus
Thailand pla-ra, pla-som, pla-chao, som-fak

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