We have a town in Virginia, Kilmarnock, that boasts thats the smell of money. I suppose if its money for you maybe it is. When it aint money for you its a stench.
May not be a bad skill to learn, considering...
Being downwind from a pulp mill on a hot day is no picnic, either.
In the episode Supersizers Eat: Ancient Rome, they indulge in some garum.
If this is anything like padaek, (Lao fish sauce) I understand.
In my town, we have our dairies and feed lots for beef cattle. Often city dwellers will move here and then bitch about the smell. Go figure.
In Mike Duncan’s podcast series “The History of Rome” he gives a very detailed explanation of what garum is (and what it is not), how it is made, etc. Was very fascinating.
The owner of our favorite Thai restaurant is a cute little lady -- with whom I have an ongoing contest. She knows I love her "secret" hot sauce -- and she keeps on trying to make it too "hot" (spicy) for me.
Last time I was there, she personally served me a fresh dish of her "special sauce" -- and it was great! At the end of the meal, she came out to see how I'd fared with her sauce. So, I praised it highly, and then, picked up the dish -- and took a healthy sip.
Her eyes opened widely, and, she exclaimed, "This time, I put Ghos' Peppah in him!"
TXnMA ;-)
And here I thought some British dude invented Worcestershire sauce just a few hundred years ago....
The S. E.Asian countries all use a “fragrant” fermented fish sauce that will give garum a run for the money. I used to frequent a restaurant where a group of Asian businessmen met in a private room for lunch. When the Nuoc Cham came out, I saw the rest of the restaurant diners begin to order their checks and leave, those closest to the private area first.
The Quality of Fish Sauce
An article on a Vietnamese website describes the fermentation process in detail: As soon as fishing boats return with their catch, the fish are rinsed and drained, then mixed with sea salttwo to three parts fish to one part salt by weight. They are then pressed into large earthenware jars, lined on the bottom with a layer of salt, and topped with a layer of salt. A woven bamboo mat is placed over the fish and weighed down with heavy rocks to prevent the fish floating when the water inside them is extracted by the salt and fermentation process. The jars are covered and left in the sun for nine months to a year.
The flavor takes time to develop, as the article goes on to explain: From time to time, they are uncovered to expose the mixture to direct, hot sunshine, which helps to digest the fish and turn it into a fluid. Periodic sunning produces a superior fragrant fish sauce with a clear, reddish-brown color. Eventually, the liquid is removed from the jars, preferably through a spigot on the bottom so that it passes through the layers of fish remains. Any sediment is removed and the filtered fish sauce is transferred to clean jars and allowed to air in the sun for a couple of weeks to dissipate the strong fishy odor. It is then ready for bottling. The finished product is 100 percent, top-grade, genuine fish sauce.
It's tasty, though!
Who has the cooking thread ping list?