Gift from Bobby Chinn: Smuggled Phu Quoc Fish Sauce

  

I walked away from the Culinary Institute of America's 2009 World of Flavors conference last Saturday with many great things – cooking tips, dining trends, and a bottle of rare fish sauce from Phu Quoc island in Vietnam. Chef/restaurateur/TV show host Bobby Chinn smuggled the fish sauce into the country, carrying it with him as he filmed his travel series in several locations, including Turkey and Morocco. The last time I saw Bobby was in 2007 in New York where we were both on an Asia Society panel about the evolution of Vietnamese food traditions. He’d brought a bottle of Phu Quoc fish sauce for me then but we missed coordinating the handoff. I’ve regretted ever since.

Despite what you may think of Bobby, he’s a very kind person (okay, a little snarky too but in a good way). He was one of the first people I saw last Thursday at the conference and he greeted me with a big hug and peck on the cheek. We shared a bit of backstage nervousness before we had to do our public performance (he had much more responsibility than I), and I made sure to catch Bobby at his various sessions.

On Friday afternoon, he surprised me and the crowd at a live fire celebration of pork. He prepared grilled bun cha pork patties with round rice noodles and herbs. For his nuoc cham dipping sauce – he whipped out a La Vie plastic water bottle full of fish sauce. “This is the best fish sauce in the world,” he said. “It’s from Phu Quoc, Vietnam and the Vietnamese have got to get smart about exporting their good fish sauce. You can’t get this here. Andrea, the leftover is yours to take since you didn’t get the bottle I brought to New York!”

My mother didn’t raise no fool and I made sure to take the bottle with me when the session was over. If you’re unfamiliar with Phu Quoc, it’s an island off the south western coast of Vietnam renowned for making the best fish sauce around. It has to do with the little white anchovies (ca com) that they harvest. I’ve been to Phu Quoc and tasted nuoc mam right out of the wooden casks. It’s delicious, slightly oily and full of natural savory-sweet depth.

Informal Tastings
I tasted Bobby’s Phu Quoc fish sauce and had photographer Dave Hagerman, restaurant reviewer Jonathan Gold pf the LA Weekly and editor Scott Hocker of San Francisco TastingTable.com do a sniff and/or taste test. We all agreed that it was deeply flavored stuff, more intense than the fish sauce we get in the States. It smelled gooood.

Blogging maven Pim and chef David Kinch invited us for dinner on Tuesday night, and I took Bobby’s Phu Quoc and the new Megachef Thai fish sauce for us to do a taste test. Playful and puckish Pim mixed it up with her favorite, Tiparos, and an off-brand calling itself Phu Quoc but it was really from Thailand. Manresa restaurant's sommelier, Jeff, was there too and the five of us tasted the four fish sauces. The first thing we noticed was the color – they had different shades varying between amber and dark tea. Megachef and Bobby’s were darker, probably due to longer aging. Megachef is aged for 2 years, per the manufacturer. I have no idea what the aging was on Bobby’s fish sauce but it didn’t have the off quality of over-oxidized fish sauce that’s gone dark and bad.

We all agreed that the off brand was metallic and yucky. Tiparos was nicely balanced. Megachef was on the sweet side (they put brown sugar into the nam pla, I was told). And Bobby’s 100% Phu Quoc had earthy depth and slight funk.  David and I liked Megachef and Bobby Chinn but Tiparos came in close. Pim grew up with Tiparos as her Thai standard and liked that one best. Jeff and Rory savored the champagne more.

This afternoon, I tasted Bobby and Megachef against Viet Huong’s 3 Crabs and 5 Crabs. (See the photos right above.) The 5 Crabs had a sharp saltiness. The 3 Crabs was nicely balanced and delicate. The Megachef had elegant depth. Bobby Chinn’s Phu Quoc fish sauce was punchy and left a slight fermenty taste on my palate. I’d never tasted that in nuoc mam before and it reminded me that fish sauce is a preserved product. I imagine that what Bobby gifted me was as close to the traditional preparations of fish sauce as I could get without hopping on a plane to Vietnam. 

Fish sauce Tips:

• I started refrigerating my scarce fish sauces, Megachef and Bobby Chinn's. It keeps longer as oxidation is retarded.  You can store chilled, open bottles of fish sauce for at least 6 months. If you don't use fish sauce often, keep it refrigerated.
• My guide on how to buy fish sauce

If you see authentic Vietnamese fish sauce for sale outside of Vietnam, please report it to the rest of us? Or,  have you been to Phu Quoc island? Or have you tasted actual Phu Quoc fish sauce? Please note down your reactions and insights.

Comments

[Thanh Viet]

Hi Andrea, here in France we can buy Nuoc Mam from Phu Quoc. Tang Freres, a Paris chinese based importer (largest asian chainstore in France), has one. It is pure anchovy and they took some french tradition about origins and what we call "appellation d'origine controllee", a kind of certificate of origins we got for wine and food: you can trace it.

My Cock Brand bottle comes from Thanh Ha Phu Quoc producer and got a vietnamese agreement NM139. It is really strong (35 degrees). I only use it for Nuoc Cham, I got regular Squid based for cooking.

[Cheeseplatesf]

My sister smuggled out a tiny bottle of Phu Quoc fish sauce straight off the island for me once! It was so good. I saved it for when we had some really good banh bot loc, added chili peppers and nothing else. The Phu Quoc fish sauce was so good. I agree that the taste is more pungent than my normal brand but oh so good. I treasured that bottle for as long as I could. It was a sad day when it ran out. I used the last few drops on freshly cooked white rice - just to savor the earthy goodness one last time. I'm drooling just thinking about it! Karen

[Annie]

Over here in Malaysia, fish sauce is not used as much. I cannot find 3 crabs brand here though they do have tiparos (makes sense since we're neighbors to Thailand). I guess I'll have to mosey on over to Vietnam and get myself some good fish sauce one of these days!

[Thanh Viet]

Here is the one I got for table:
http://www.thailong.com/zoom.php?produit=1756
and for cooking:
http://www.thailong.com/zoom.php?produit=1753

[David]

Hi Miss Andrea,
I could've sworn that I saw a brand of Nuoc Mam called Nuoc Mam Phu Quoc made and bottle in Phu Quoc Vietnam at Cho Hong Kong 4 here in Houston. Hmmmm., I will have to do a double take when I go back. Currently we use Nuoc Mam Ba Con Cua which we love and would choose anyday over the squid brand. I once heard that Nuoc Mam should be compared to a cognac like color. Well thanks for sharing, what we Vietnamese do without Nuoc Mam

[Andrea Nguyen]

Thanh Viet -- You are so very lucky in France. Thank you for the photos. The Squid one is definitely destined for cooking as it lacks depth. The Cock brand you've got sounds great. In Sydney, I saw some nuoc mam from Vietnam that indicated the degree count too. The higher the degree, the more intensely flavored it is.

Just goes to show you that Vietnamese people think of nuoc mam kind or like wine. If they could DOC something, they'd do it with fish sauce.

Everyone, thanks for reporting.

[Diane]

I looooove fish sauce. This sounds like an awesome test. My favorite is Golden Boy, but I think I should try some of the Viet brands. Megachef sounds interesting too - wonder if it will be available her any time soon?

[Andrea Nguyen]

Diane -- Mega Chef may be here later next year. Maybe even some Knorr fish sauce from Phu Quoc too. We shall see...

[Jeanne]

Very timely post since my husband just got back from Vietnam and toured a fish sauce factory on Phu Quoc. He wanted to bring some back but they told him that they couldn't export the stuff. Guess he should have tried to sneak some out!

[Brian]

We bought some high quality fish sauce when we were in Phu Quoc and I have to say, it was a revelation. I bought a small bottle too and carried it with me everywhere.

I had some in Phan Thiet too, but Phu Quoc was better. Also got some black pepper from one of the plantations and that was amazing as well.

[Andrea Nguyen]

Phu Quoc fish sauce rocks and rules! And those pepper corns are wonderful. I always bring back a stash and freeze them.

[r4 dsi]

I always appreciate all the cooking tips, dining trends, and a bottle of rare fish sauce from Phu Quoc island in Vietnam and Vietnam, they taste awesome and very tasty, i am goinf to throw party nest week and in that party am gonna keep the menu according to this cuisine.

[Autumn]

Ooh I just found your blog today. I borrowed Bobby's "Wild Wild East" from the library and it makes me miss my mother. We're resolving to try more recipes we always bought at the store as opposed to trying to make at home. (mostly desserts--she's an excellent cook and I get my fill of most other things.) Thanks for the tip on storing fish sauces!

[Food lover]

Yes, you can get authentic Phu Quoc fish sauce from Phu quoc Island. check on amazon.com and you can find it there.

[Kenny]

You should try Viet Phu fish sauce. This is true authentic Phu Quoc fish sauce. It's 100% pure first extract. Only a few Vietnamese grocery stores in Southern California carry this brand but you can buy it online from Amazon. You have to try it to believe it. I did and it's amazingly great stuff.

[Sam Luu]

Andrea,

My uncle owns a fish sauce factory in Phu Quoc, Vietnam, and we are trying to start our family business by importing fish sauce to the United States. If you go to the local Asian supermarkets you will find that authentic fish sauce is very scarce here in the States. This probably has something to do with the embargo that was imposed on Vietnam after the war, and was since lifted during the Clinton years.

A very good indicator of figuring out what is authentic and what's not is by reading the fine print on the label. Authentic Vietnamese fish sauce from Phu Quoc will be produced in Phu Quoc. A lot of the other fish sauce brands will hijack the "Phu Quoc" name by naming their product that or printing "Phu Quoc" on the front of their labels. However, read the fine print and it will say that the sauce was produced in Thailand and bottled in Hong Kong! This is very misleading nonetheless.

Our fish sauce is produced and bottled from the source (Phu Quoc Island), and contains none of the added preservatives that you will find with other brands. We use the first anchovy extract and salt from a region in Vietnam that is known for producing good salt. We also ferment the anchovies in large wooden barrels. This gives the fish sauce a very traditional and distinctive flavor.

Currently we are selling our product in Asian groceries in the Southern California region, but would hope to expand to the rest of California and Canada. The brand is called "Viet Phu". If you would like to order our fish sauce, you can find it in Amazon under the below URL. We are working towards a web store so that customers would be able to order directly from us.

http://www.amazon.com/Phu-Island-Vietnam-23-ounce-Bottle/dp/B0037J1YO2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=grocery&qid=1273014302&sr=8-4

[Andrea Nguyen]

@Sam Luu: AWESOME! Thanks for the tip. Can't wait to get some next time I'm in SoCal.

[Cuong Pham]

Hi Andrea,

We will be glad to send you some to try if you can give us the "ship to address" and get your feedback.

Please let us know.

Regards,

Cuong

[Esther Harvey]

I'm in melbourne, australia. Where can I get my paws on some of that delicious sounding "Viet Phu"?

[Sam]

Esther,

We would gladly send you a 330ml sample bottle for free if you can cover the shipping cost to Melbourne. This offer is also for everyone who is interested in trying our fish sauce from Phu Quoc. Offer is limited until supplies run out.

info@vietphu-fishsauce.com