Fish Sauce or popularly known as Patis in the Philippines is a pungent-flavored flavoring sauce and condiment made from salted, fermented fish. Patis is frequently used in the Philippines and in other Southeast Asian cooking to add saltiness to dishes. In Southeast Asian cuisines, it is also used as a dip for fish, shrimp, pork, and chicken.
In the Philippines, Patis is a by-product of bagoong, is nearly always cooked prior to consumption, even when used as an accent to salads or other raw dishes. Patis is also used as an ingredient in cooked dishes, including a rice porridge called arroz caldo and as a condiment for fried fish. Patis is also used in place of table salt in meals to enhance the flavor of the food, where it can either be dashed from a dispensing bottle onto the food, or poured into a saucer and mixed with calamansi and used as a dipping sauce.
Fish Sauce Recipe
Materials:
- Fish of assorted species
- Enzymes from micro-organisms
- Salt
Equipment:
- Fermentation vessels provided with stirrer
Procedure:
- Wash assorted species of fish to free them from undesirable dirt.
- Grind fish to facilitate hydrolysis of the protein constituent.
- Place ground fish into clean fermentation vessels provided with stirrer.
- Add appropriate amount of salt and mix uniformly to inhibit the growth of micro-organisms during fermentation.
- Introduce enzymes obtained from micro-organisms of plant animals to fortify the natural endoenzymes present in the fish. Stir the mixture.
- Adjust the pH requirement of the particular enzyme used.
- Ferment for 13 days. Clean the digested mash by filtering. Bottle the clear reddish brown liquid as patis and the residue containing some insoluble protein as “bagoong.”
- Fermentation is allowed to occur for 13 days. The digested mash is cleared and from the filtered clear reddish brown liquid is bottled as quality patis and the residue containing some insoluble protein as bagoong.
Source: en.wikipilipinas.org