Specialty fish sauce making job

At 9 p.m. one day in early May, Mr. Huynh Van Muoi, 57 years old, received nearly 500 kg of anchovies caught by fishermen and transported them to his house in alley 56, Vo Nguyen Giap Street, Son Tra District. Mr. Muoi carried the fish to the backyard to make fish sauce that very night.

"Fresh fish must be made into fish sauce immediately," Mr. Muoi said, his hands quickly stirring each batch of fish, picking out all the ones that are not anchovies, mixing salt in a ratio of three fish to one salt, and then putting it in a jar. When the jar is almost full of fish, he covers it with a thick layer of salt and covers it.

Fisherman Huynh Van Muoi mixes salt to make anchovy sauce at night, as soon as the fresh fish catch reaches shore. Photo: Nguyen Dong

The next morning, Mr. Muoi soaked a handkerchief in cinnamon oil and wiped the surface of the fish sauce jar clean. He wiped it every 3-4 days to prevent flies from laying eggs and creating maggots in the jar.

For jars of fish sauce that have been fermented for more than three months, when the fish begins to rot, Mr. Muoi waits for the sun to shine, uses a clean wooden stick to stir from bottom to top, leaves the jar in the sun for a while, then closes the lid. The jars must be left in the sun for at least a year before they can be harvested.

To get the fish sauce, he scoops anchovies that have been salted for a year into two large jars with a hole in the bottom, and installs a stainless steel tap that has been covered with a layer of cloth inside. After opening the valve, he uses glass trays to catch each drop of fish sauce. About every three days, each jar will drain a liter of fish sauce. "The name fish sauce comes from the fact that it seeps from the bottom of the jar. Some places call it fish sauce, which is incorrect," Mr. Muoi explained.

At the age of 17, Mr. Muoi learned the fish sauce making profession from his father, the famous old fisherman Huynh Van Mua in the Man Thai sea area. People in this coastal area only make fish sauce from anchovies - a family of anchovies, silver in color, with small black stripes on their backs like coal, living in salt water, the size of a chopstick tip.

Anchovy fish sauce making

Fisherman Huynh Van Muoi and the anchovy fish sauce making profession in Man Thai. Video : Nguyen Dong

Fresh fish must have a silvery sheen and clear eyes. The best fish to make fish sauce is from April to May, when the fish come close to shore to spawn. Every time fishermen catch anchovies in the waters around Son Tra Peninsula and bring them back to shore, Mr. Muoi does not wash them with water but mixes them with salt to make fish sauce right away because "washing them with water, although we think it is clean, loses the taste of the sea, makes the fish no longer fresh, and the fish sauce tastes bitter".

Mr. Muoi does not make fish sauce from ice-cured fish to avoid impurities. The ratio is one kilogram of salt will marinate three kilograms of fish. To make the fish ferment faster, the fish sauce maker will use a bowl or a tray to scoop the fish and salt according to this ratio. The fish and salt must be mixed thoroughly before being put into the jar to avoid spoiling the fish sauce.

According to Mr. Muoi, many people believe that making traditional fish sauce requires maggots to help decompose the fish, but this is a "fallacy". Fish and salt do not produce maggots, but flies lay eggs at the mouth of the jar and then multiply. Anchovies salted for 12 months will decompose and produce fish sauce. To avoid maggots, fish sauce makers must clean the jar thoroughly.

In addition to fermented fish sauce, Mr. Muoi also makes filtered fish sauce. This method of making fish sauce is simpler and faster, which means just stirring the jars of fermented fish sauce, scooping it out and pouring it into a large cone-shaped funnel, covering the top with a smooth white cloth to let the fish sauce flow down, until the water is gone, then discard the residue.

"In terms of color, fermented fish sauce is lighter than filtered fish sauce. In terms of taste, fermented fish sauce is purer and more delicious than filtered fish sauce. With a jar of 40 kg of fish, you can get about 12 liters of fermented fish sauce. If you make filtered fish sauce, you can get about 23 liters. Therefore, fermented fish sauce is more expensive, selling for 160,000 VND/liter, while filtered fish sauce is 80,000 VND because it makes use of almost all of the salted fish," Mr. Muoi explained.

Mr. Muoi soaked the fish sauce jar in cinnamon oil to minimize flies laying eggs and breeding maggots. Photo: Nguyen Dong

In the past, almost every household in the Man Thai coastal area made fish sauce and sold it to many regions. Now, only a few people still do the job. In its heyday, Mr. Muoi's family could ferment up to 12 tons of fish each year, selling about 700 liters of fish sauce, filtered fish sauce and unfiltered fish sauce.

Mr. Muoi said that traditional fish sauce has a strong smell, but it tastes good. Industrial fish sauce has a more fragrant smell thanks to the added flavor. Because it is convenient and cheap, many people often choose to buy industrial fish sauce. The traditional fish sauce making profession cannot compete and is gradually fading away.

Nam O sea area, Hoa Hiep Nam ward, Lien Chieu district, is famous for its fish sauce making profession, recognized by the Ministry of Culture , Sports and Tourism as a national intangible heritage in August 2019, but now there are only about 10 households making fish sauce on a large scale.

Mr. Bui Thanh Phu (39 years old, owner of the Huong Lang Co fish sauce brand, Nam O), said that recently many groups of tourists, mainly from Europe, have come to traditional fish sauce producers to experience and enjoy local dishes dipped in fish sauce. From there, people also have more income.

Mr. Phu with the fish sauce brand Huong Lang Co. Photo: Nguyen Dong

Mr. Muoi also sells about 200 liters of fish sauce each year to overseas Vietnamese to buy and bring to the US. The coastal villages are gradually disappearing due to urbanization, housing space is shrinking, to expand the scale of fish sauce production, he has to ask an acquaintance with a large yard for help.

People's Artist Huynh Van Hung, former Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Da Nang , said that as a coastal city, fishermen have had a long tradition of making fish sauce and are famous for making anchovy fish sauce, so Da Nang needs to have a plan to preserve this profession. "Making fish sauce is both a traditional profession and a part of the culture of the coastal region, and it also contributes to generating income for the people if it is promoted more widely," he said.

According to Mr. Hung, if fishermen continue to work hard at making fish sauce without the help of the government and other sectors and organizations, it will be very difficult. Fishermen in coastal areas are gradually giving up their jobs and leaving the sea. To preserve the heritage, the government should find ways to support fishermen to stay at sea, indirectly protecting the sovereignty of the Fatherland.

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