Can only olive oil be extra virgin?
At first glance, we thought Red Boat Fish Sauce calling their product "extra virgin"was just a fun, tongue-in-cheek reference to the clean flavor. But it turns out, the parallels between what they're producing on the tiny island of Phu Quoc in Vietnam isn't dissimilar to what's coming out of the olive presses in Italy, Spain and California.
- n__c m_m nhi -
Vietnamese fish sauce
For hundreds of years, fish sauce was a simple concoction extracted from the salting, fermenting
and aging of fresh anchovies. As time passed and commercial interest expanded, fish sauce became an industrial brew of hydrolyzed wheat proteins, soy, MSG and any number of other ingredients that could mimic the umami flavors of fish sauce. When Cuong Pham realized that these products couldn't hold a candle to the fish sauce he enjoyed in Saigon, he took it upon himself to bring the authentic fish sauce of Phu Quoc to the U.S..
NEW! Red Boat Fish Sauce
Phu Quoc is an island in Vietnam where the things they do best are fish for anchovies, produce fish sauce and grow black pepper (sounds like paradise!). The production of fish sauce is really quite simple and relies on a few basic principles - get the best fish (the tiny black anchovy is known as cá com), salt them as soon after catching as possible and then be patient. Red Boat ferments and ages their fish sauce for at least one year. Once the aging is complete, the bottom of the barrels are tapped and the pure fish sauce is filtered and bottled.
This is where "extra virgin" comes in - most producers press a second or third time, further extracting liquid from the barrels to be blended with water, sugar, MSG and proteins. Red Boat's fish sauce is only the first pressing, pure and simple.
What you get is an incredibly versatile and intoxicating elixir with the fresh, pungent flavor of the sea and the irrepressible umami flavor that makes fish sauce so unique.
Order a bottle of Red Boat Fish Sauce now for $7.00
California citrus preserved in salt
Yes, it may sound a little strange, but they've been doing it in Morocco for thousands of years, so who are we to argue? Robert Lambert preserves the best of the California citrus season in salt and fresh bay leaves for about 30 days. At the end of the curing period, two whole pieces of fruit are hand-packed into jars, where they continue to get better and better as the months pass.
We haven't made hummus WITHOUT a bit of preserved Meyer lemon stirred in since we first added it at Robert's suggestion years ago. Compound butters are a great way to use these too - fold diced Meyer lemon into softened butter with herbs and a little garlic. Serve a dollop over a chicken breast or a piece of fish.
The Rangpur lime, which is actually a rare variety of sour orange, has a gorgeous, floral aroma from the lavender he adds to the curing process. This flavor is a perfect match for seafood - try a few slices stuffed inside the cavity of a whole roasted trout. We also love the way it brightens up a farro salad...think cucumbers, radishes, snow peas and a zippy dressing livened up with Rangpur lime.
Order a jar now for $13.00 or both for $25.00
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