Red Boat Fish Sauce

For hundreds of years, fish sauce was a simple concoction extracted from the salting, fermenting and aging of fresh anchovies. As time passed and commercial interest expanded, fish sauce became an industrial brew of hydrolyzed wheat proteins, soy, MSG and any number of other ingredients that could mimic the umami flavors of fish sauce. These practices are why Red Boat calls their fish sauce "extra virgin" - it is only the first pressing, pure and simple, with nothing added. The production of quality fish sauce relies on a few basic principles - get the best fish (the tiny black anchovy is known as cá com), salt them as soon after catching as possible and then be patient. Red Boat ferments and ages their fish sauce for at least one year. Once the aging is complete, the bottom of the barrels are tapped and the pure fish sauce is filtered and bottled. What you get is an incredibly versatile and intoxicating elixir with the fresh, pungent flavor of the sea and the irrepressible umami flavo