Chad Kubanoff - American chef 'falls in love' with the beauty of Vietnamese fish sauce

October 30, 2023 10:51 PV Print article

ANTD.VN - During his visit to the "land" of fish sauce at the Chin-su Phu Quoc factory, Chad Kubanoff was continuously surprised by one thing after another.

It is impossible to mention Vietnamese cuisine without mentioning fish sauce. However, not everyone, including the locals, has the opportunity to visit and admire the fish sauce factory, the birthplace of the quintessential spices known as the symbol of Vietnamese cuisine.

Chad Kubanoff “ngẩn ngơ” ở nhà thùng Chin-su Phú Quốc. Mỗi thùng gỗ này chứa từ 13 - 15 tấn cá cơm. ảnh 1

Chad Kubanoff “stunned ” at the Chin-su Phu Quoc barrel house. Each wooden barrel contains 13-15 tons of anchovies.

From the perspective of an American chef with an endless love for Vietnamese cuisine for the past 15 years, Chad Kubanoff said this was the first time he visited a fish sauce factory and was truly "intoxicated" by the beauty of Vietnamese fish sauce. Observing the stages of fish sauce production, Chad said he was extremely impressed with the meticulous selection of ingredients, the hundreds of years of traditional fermentation methods, and the miraculous transformation of nature that creates the unique flavor of fish sauce.

At An Thoi port, Chad was introduced to the first step in the fish sauce making process: selecting anchovies. In particular, the boat will carry salt to be used to marinate the newly caught anchovies directly to preserve their freshness and firmness. The salt brought along is also specially selected from Ba Ria, and must be left to “breathe” for at least 3 months before use to bring out a salty, not bitter, taste.

Chad Kubanoff được trực tiếp trải nghiệm toàn bộ quy trình từ đánh bắt, ướp muối đến ủ chượp tại nhà thùng Chin-su Phú Quốc. ảnh 2

Chad Kubanoff got to experience the entire process from fishing, salting to fermentation at the Chin-su Phu Quoc barrel house.

The salted anchovies arriving at the port must pass a strict selection process with dozens of criteria on size, freshness, dryness, proportion of trash fish... to be qualified to be brought to the Chin-su Phu Quoc fermentation factory, which has a scale of up to ^22,000m2 , nearly 500 fermentation tanks. Each tank is about 2.6m high and nearly 3m wide, each tank contains 12-15 tons of fish, operating continuously and managed by an internationally standardized production process.

Trong chuyến thăm nhà thùng Phú Quốc, Chad Kubanoff đã đi từ hết bất ngờ này tới bất ngờ khác khi được chứng kiến quy trình công phu để cho ra đời nguồn nước mắm chất lượng cao. ảnh 3

During his visit to Phu Quoc fish sauce factory, Chad Kubanoff was surprised by the elaborate process of producing high-quality fish sauce.

Mr. Bui Huy Nhích, Head of the Technical Department at Chin-su Phu Quoc factory added, "For us, quality is the top factor." The factory ferments fish sauce in the traditional way for hundreds of years, anchovies and salt are kept to ferment for 9-12 months at a stable warm temperature, and without any other influence. In addition, the entire fermentation process and operation at the factory follow international standards that are inspected and certified by third parties such as: CODEX HACCP:2003, ISO 14001:2015, EU Code Certification....

Từ trái sang là các chai mắm qua từng giai đoạn ủ, lần lượt là 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 và 12 tháng. Có thể thấy sắc mắm chuyển dần sang màu nâu cánh gián bóng bẩy đẹp mắt, đó là khi hương vị nước mắm đã sánh lại, đạt chuẩn để trao đến tay người tiêu dùng. ảnh 4

From left to right are the fish sauce bottles through each fermentation stage, respectively 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 12 months. You can see the color of the fish sauce gradually changes to a beautiful, shiny cockroach brown color, that is when the fish sauce flavor has thickened, reaching the standard to be delivered to consumers.

Talking more about the opportunity with the fish sauce factory, the American chef shared: “There is an interesting thing that I just learned, that this factory has been operating since 2008, which was also the time when I first set foot in Vietnam. I really feel a bit regretful because it was only now that I had the opportunity to discover with my own eyes the stories behind this spice, even though I had heard about it and learned about it before. This is definitely an experience that I will mention many times in the future, with my international friends and relatives, who also love Vietnamese cuisine.”

Chad được nghe về nước mắm và nhà thùng Chin-su Phú Quốc lần đầu khi tham gia sự kiện Hồ Chí Minh Export từ ngày 25 – 28/5/2023 ảnh 5

Chad heard about fish sauce and Chin-su Phu Quoc barrel house for the first time when participating in the Ho Chi Minh Export event from May 25-28, 2023.

It can be said that fish sauce is the soul of Vietnamese cuisine. With the effort to bring fish sauce in particular and all Chin-su products in general further and conquer international consumers, the "Go Global" strategy has been comprehensively implemented and has continuously achieved success. Especially in 2023, CHIN-SU has continuously promoted activities around the world such as: Foodex Japan, Seoul Foods, HCM Export, officially exporting and putting a series of products on the shelves in markets around the world.

Tháng 10/2023, nước mắm Chin-su Cá Cơm Biển Đông 720 chính thức xuất khẩu sang thị trường Mỹ. ảnh 6

In October 2023, Chin-su Anchovy Fish Sauce 720 Bien Dong will be officially exported to the US market.

After the US, Canada, Australia, Europe, Japan, Korea... CHIN-SU aims to let consumers anywhere in the world enjoy Vietnamese fish sauce, thereby further loving the rich, quintessential flavor of this "magical" spice considered the leading symbol of Vietnamese cuisine.

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