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Liquamen (Ancient Roman Nuoc Nam)
Ingredients:
sprats, anchovies, or mackerel
2 pints salt per peck of fish
2 pints old wine per pint of fish -- optional
Instructions:
It is best to take large or small sprats, or, failing that, take anchovies,
or horse mackerel, or mackerel, make a mixture of all, and put into
a baking trough. Take two pints of salt per peck of fish and mix well
so that fish are impregnated with salt. Leave it for one night, and
then put in an earthenware vessel which you place, open, in the sun
for two or three months, stirring with a stick at intervals, then
take it, cover it with a lid, and store away. Some people add old
wine, two pints per pint of fish [to the fish at the beginning of
the fermentation process]. Drain the resultant sauce and store until
use. [Modern day nuoc nam is made by putting a layer of fish in a
vat, adding a layer of salt, and repeating the process until the vat
is full. After a few days the liquid is drained off from below and
tipped back onto the top of the heap; this process is repeated several
times. Finally, a wicker lid is placed on the vat and weighted down,
and the fish are left to ferment and mature for several months. The
resultant sauce is then drained and bottled as nuoc nam]. It can also
be made from most any type of shellfish. If fish are smoked prior
to salting, it should be a very light smoke so as not to dry the fish
out or otherwise impede the fermentation process. |
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