When it comes to fish sauce, the fooderati tends to head for one brand. Currently, it’s artisanal Red Boat, which I like but it can be out of many people’s budgets and not accessible because it’s sold only at certain gourmet shops, health food stores, and Asian grocers. If you shop at a regular mainstream ginormous grocery store, what are your fish sauce options and how should you select among them? To help you with pointers and as part of my Vietnamese Food Any Day mission to encourage more people to make good Viet food, I’ve been hoarding brands found during my travels for this supermarket fish sauce tasting!
First off, when shopping, remember that not all supermarkets are created equal. It depends on where you shop. And even within one chain, it depends on the store location. Ask yourself questions like these: Who shops at the grocery store? Where is the store located? If a store is in a food savvy, culturally diverse neighborhood, chances are you’ll get a decent selection, not just one brand.
A somewhat funky chain like Luckys often carries a greater variety of inventory in its Asian food section. Kroger and Albertsons are good but iffy. Smaller regional chains like Publix and Giant Eagle may surprise you with their fish sauce offering. Shop around in your town.
The Default
Thai Kitchen makes a wide range of Southeast Asian ingredients, including some decent curry pastes. I imagine that’s why its fish sauce is practically always in the Asian section of the supermarket. Well, the brand is owned by McCormick, the spice company. I suppose that helps for distribution too.
Unfortunately, Thai Kitchen fish sauce not a great product. It’s just okay because the flavor is flat. If it’s the only brand available, I’ll use it. However, Thai Kitchen’s fish sauce doesn’t work synergistically the way other brands do. The company charges a premium price but I wish it offered a truly premium condiment.
The Private Label
You likely know Dynasty for its pan-Asian line of food products in the Asian section at the supermarket. Its fish sauce is very good. There’s a little sweetener in it to make if friendly and the price is usually very affordable. The bottle shape is similar to one for Megachef, a favorite brand sold at Asian markets.
Years ago, at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, I asked a representative of Japan Food Corporation (JFC International), which owns the Dynasty brand, if the fish sauce was the same as Megachef.
His response: “Same same.” I took that as a yes.
The Underdog
A Taste of Thai is a brand that comes and goes at mainstream grocery stores. I often see their dried flat rice noodles suitable for pad Thai, pho or chow fun. The brand’s fish sauce is very good but I only occasionally see it on the shelves. The tip is the label’s promise of first press, virginal fish sauce.
The ingredient listing includes anchovies, salt, sugar and water – but there’s mention that the water, meaning extra water, is not included to dilute the fish sauce, I assume. That’s a bit funny but the producer is obviously trying to make a clean, transparent statement.
A Thai Go-To
Big bottles of fish sauce are not a normal thing at regular supermarkets. When you see a wine-bottle size of fish sauce, the market’s clientele are into Southeast Asian cooking! The brand that’s likely sold is Squid.
Squid is a big concern in Thailand and many people use it. To me, its flavor is dull but it’s affordable. If you’re used to Squid, stick with it. Do note that the Squid founder’s son makes Megachef, considered a premium brand. If you see Squid and Dynasty on the shelf – I’d pick the smallish bottle of Dynasty, unless you need a lot of fish sauce! Tiparos is also a super popular brand of Thai fish sauce but it hasn’t been imported to the U.S. for years.
The Viet-Chinese Bomb
For many years, Three Crabs, made by the Viet Huong company, was the fooderati’s darling. The flavor is consistently big and umami packed, thanks to fructose as a sweetener and hydrolyzed vegetable protein for extra glutamates.
The sodium level used to be 1800mg per tablespoon but they recently dropped it to 1540mg, which is more within the normal range. Three Crabs is easy to use because it easily delivers savory-sweet, umami punch. Purists shun it because of the extra ingredients. The fish come from the Gulf of Thailand and the fish sauce is made in Hong Kong at Viet Huong’s facilities. The family that makes Viet Huong is Chinese-Vietnamese, of Hakka in heritage from Chaozhou in China.
The Filipino Favorite
If the supermarket happens to be in neighborhood with a sizeable Filipino population, you may see Rufina patis. It works for Filipino food but it sadly doesn’t make Viet or Thai food sing. I’m not a fan but I keep this bottle for developing Pinoy recipes.
A final note: At mainstream markets, different brands of fish sauce are often NOT shelved together, like they are at Asian markets. Brands pay for strategic (eye level) placement. Scan the entire Asian section.
This list is by no means exhaustive! Let me know if I’ve missed a brand you’ve found at a supermarket! Tell us where you found it too.
