Fermented Fish Sauce...

I have wanted to try this for a long time but I never EVER thought that I would pull this off, especially with DH with me! But- I bought a fish- with eyes! (No, not a goldfish- a fish on ice, from the meat department!)


See, I had some wonderful fermented fish sauce some time ago, that I have never been able to get ahold of again, so- I thought I'd make my own!


The lady at the fish counter kept telling me that it had been 'gutted'; part of me wanted to tell her that I really would have liked to have had the guts, but the other part of me was a little glad because -gulp- I wasn't sure if I had the guts!


How did I do making the sauce? Well, honestly, I almost backed out! First, I looked to make sure that it was gutted; I didn't want to find a beating heart, neither did I want it to suddenly fin me! But that was not the hardest part to get past. The worst part, was the eyes! Well- I didn't want it lookin' at me while I was trying to cut it to pieces!

(The kids had asked all the way through the store, "when we get home and dad's not lookin', can you show us the eyes?")

So- I covered the head with the plastic bag, put on a thick pair of gloves, and started cutting at the tail first, working my way up towards the head. Then- I stopped. I tucked the head in the jar because I was NOT going to cut near those eyes that kept looking at me!


I followed most of the recipe in NT, except I didn't have tamarind. Not even sure what that one is! Lemon, bay leaf, peppercorns, garlic, sea salt, whey, filtered water. Ferment 3 days at room temp, fridge for a while, strain, and I will let you know!
Oh and, the brown paper sack? Its staying in there until it is strained because I don't want to hear another word about those eyes!