Fermented Fish

Fermented fish — one of the world's most ancient and most pungent flavors — appears in virtually every maritime culture. Roman garum (fermented fish sauce) was the universal condiment of the Roman Empire, used in quantities comparable to modern ketchup. Its descendant, Southeast Asian fish sauce (nước mắm, nam pla), is fundamental to Vietnamese and Thai cooking. Swedish surströmming (fermented Baltic herring) is so pungent it's banned from most buildings. Fish fermentation was the ancient world's primary method of creating portable protein and intense umami flavor. Korean salted fermented seafood (jeotgal), Icelandic hákarl (fermented Greenlandic shark), and Worcestershire sauce (containing fermented anchovies) are all part of this global tradition. Modern science has identified glutamates as the source of fermented fish's flavor intensity.