Korean cooking ingredients:

Fish sauce

fish sauce
If you watch my videos you will see that I always use 3 Crabs brand. But you can use any other brand of fish sauce, as long as it is a clear and brownish liquid.
3-crabs-fish-sauce

27 Comments:

  1. Laura

    Hi Maangchi! I finally decided to go out and buy some ingredients to cook some of your recipes!

    But I have a question about the fish sauce! Will the soft tofu stew taste different if I don’t add the fish sauce ?

    Posted August 7, 2009 at 4:31 am | #
    • Maangchi New York City
      joined August 6, 2008

      You could use salt or soy sauce instead of fish sauce. Don’t forget to make delicious stock before adding the soft tofu.

      Posted August 7, 2009 at 7:13 am | #
  2. rv65

    Tra Chang is another good brand of fish sauce.

    Posted July 19, 2009 at 1:55 am | #
    • Maangchi New York City
      joined August 6, 2008

      oh, really? I should try it later. I found this on the internet
      http://importfood.com/satc2408.html

      Posted July 19, 2009 at 7:05 am | #
      • rv65

        Actually I’ve never tried tra chang but heard it’s a good brand. I did however, purchase the 3 crabs brand since thats what the Korean market had. They also had Tiparos. Do you have to refrigerate it or is it shelf stable?

        Posted July 30, 2009 at 4:01 am | #
  3. Jina

    hmmm… i happen to have a bottle of “까나리 액젓” from years ago that is still unopened, because i didn’t brave it’s use. i got it at a korean market. can you find the three crab brand at a korean market? i suppose it depends on the area…

    Posted June 9, 2009 at 9:05 pm | #
    • Maangchi New York City
      joined August 6, 2008

      kanari fish sauce (까나리 액젓) is good! Be brave to use it. : )
      3 crab fish sauce is sold at an Asian grocery store.

      Posted June 9, 2009 at 10:00 pm | #
  4. Maangchi New York City
    joined August 6, 2008

    chris,
    yayee! yeah, it’s a little expensive, but delicious. My mother is using the brand name, too.

    Posted March 29, 2009 at 11:18 am | #
  5. chris

    i’m posting this to say that the three crabs brand you are showing here has really taken my dishes to another level. sooo much better than thai squid oder tiparos brands!
    thanks for the recommendation, i’m glad i paid the extra money for it.

    Posted March 28, 2009 at 7:28 pm | #
  6. Maangchi New York City
    joined August 6, 2008

    Anonymous,
    sure, you can use it, too,

    Posted January 25, 2009 at 5:46 pm | #
  7. Anonymous

    If I don’t have beef brisket, can I just use beef stock powder (dashida)?

    Posted January 25, 2009 at 5:39 pm | #
    • Anonymous

      i think dashida is MSG, not beef stock powder.

      Posted June 17, 2009 at 9:14 pm | #
  8. Maangchi New York City
    joined August 6, 2008

    halloo hallo indri! : )
    Yes, just use sugar if you don’t have corn syrup.

    Posted October 10, 2008 at 4:28 pm | #
  9. indri

    halloo maangchi….
    your videos really make my saliva drop….
    hahahaha….
    specially the sweet and crispy chicken wings….
    i really really want to make it…as soon as possible…
    but, it’s hardly to get the corn syrup here, in malaysia….
    so my q is….
    is it possible to make the sticky sauce without corn syrup????or anything to replace it???would the taste will be different???

    thx maangchi…..

    indri

    Posted October 10, 2008 at 7:49 am | #
  10. Maangchi New York City
    joined August 6, 2008

    Anonymous,
    I don’t know how to make home made fish sauce.
    Go to the forum here and leave your question. Someone else might give you good answer.

    I used to make salty fermented anchovies (myulchi jeot: 멸치젓 in Korean) in Korea. I used fresh whole anchovies. After washing and draining, added sea salt to the anchovies and mixed them together. Then I put them in an earthenware and closed the lid.
    It takes about 3-4 months to get fermented fish. I used them for kimchi paste.

    Posted October 10, 2008 at 6:55 am | #
  11. Anonymous

    Can I Make Fish Sauce At Home I Don’t Want To Waste My Money Tell Me How To Make Fish Sauce

    Posted October 10, 2008 at 12:23 am | #
  12. alivia

    wow, you reply so fast, thanks!

    Posted October 1, 2008 at 8:00 am | #
  13. Maangchi New York City
    joined August 6, 2008

    alivia,
    oh, you are living in Korea now. You can get either “까나리 액젓” or “멸치 액젓”. 액젓 means fish sauce in Korean. Its color is brown and clear. Update me how it goes. I’m curious about your adventurous Korean cooking in Korea. : )

    Posted September 30, 2008 at 11:08 pm | #
  14. alivia

    hey maangchi,

    first off, thanks again for all of this. today i got all the ingredients for gamja jorim, job chae, and soon dubu jjigae. but, i wasn’t able to find fish sauce at my market for the jjigae. i’m in korea, can you type in the hangul for this fish sauce so that i can write it down and take it in to my market? thanks! and of course i’ll let you know how it goes… :)

    alivia

    Posted September 30, 2008 at 10:57 pm | #
  15. WinLovesRain

    Hi Maangchi,

    I’m so glad to find your blog, always want to try the tofu dish! Is it ok if I use the Chinese tofu which comes in a square plastic box? As long as I use the soft kind?
    Thank you!!!

    Posted September 13, 2008 at 3:11 pm | #
  16. Maangchi New York City
    joined August 6, 2008

    Julia,
    If you don’t like fish sauce, just skip it. That’s it. : )

    Posted June 23, 2008 at 7:12 am | #
  17. Julia

    Oh, I’m sorry. I meant to ask if there are any vegetarian alternatives for fish sauce. What would you suggest?

    Posted June 22, 2008 at 4:03 pm | #
  18. Maangchi New York City
    joined August 6, 2008

    vegetarian julia,
    soy sauce is made from soy beans. You can eat it. : )
    If you don’t like the flavor of soy sauce, why don’t you use just salt.

    I don’t have MySpace account. If you have questions, ask me through my blog. I will answer you asap.

    Thank you for your question!

    Posted June 22, 2008 at 8:34 am | #
  19. Julia

    Annyeong! I’m a vegetarian. Is there anything I can use as a substitute? Soy sauce seems to be way too strong. Thanks for letting me know. Do you have a MySpace account?

    Posted June 21, 2008 at 10:42 pm | #
  20. Maangchi New York City
    joined August 6, 2008

    anonymous,
    yes, you can use Thai fish sauce, too.

    Posted June 21, 2008 at 1:28 pm | #
  21. Anonymous

    hi maangchi…Can I use Thai fish sauce?

    thnx

    Posted June 21, 2008 at 12:37 am | #
    • yee yee

      hi i want to buy this fish sauce which is show in the internet , where can i buy if im in seoul now?

      Posted April 20, 2009 at 2:57 am | #

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