Lumpfish Caviar

Fish Products


Fish have been on the human menu for as long as there have been humans (about 315 million years) and probably for our pre-human ancestors as well. Fish, however, are extremely perishable. Efforts to preserve them for longer periods have resulted in some very interesting products which have long outlived the necessity for preservation.


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Fish Sauce


Fish Sauces [Nam Pla (Thai); Nuoc Mam (Viet), Patis (Philippine); Garum, Liquamen, Muria, Allec (Roman); Garos (Greek)]

Fish sauce is essential to several cuisines, particularly those of Vietnam and Thailand today and of the Roman Empire. Fish sauce is made by packing small fish or fish blood and innards or a combination of both into large barrels or jars layered with salt and setting the barrels out in the hot sun for around a year. The fish is digested by its own digestive enzymes and a clear salty liquid is eventually drained off and bottled. The paste left in the bottom of the barrels is also bottled and sold as a different kind of fish sauce. For types and culinary details see our Fish Sauce page.

Subst: there is no true substitute for fish sauce. If you are a strict vegetarian a fermented yellow bean sauce is about as close as you can get. Lacking both you must resort to just salt.

Fish - Dried, Salted & Smoked


Dried Whole Fish

For thousands of years, fish have been dried, salted and smoked as a means of preserving a very perishable product. These products remain important to all countries worldwide that have a seacoast, and some that don't. Even in regions where freezing and fast transportation make such preservation unnecessary, they are still in high demand because of the unique flavors they impart to many recipes. For types and culinary details see our Fish - Dried, Salted & Smoked page.

Smoke Dried Fish


Smoke Dried Fish in Market In West Africa and other regions without widely available refrigeration, fish is smoked until very dry. This product is very different from our Western smoked fish, which still need refrigeration. Fish that have gone through this smoking are tough, brittle, and need extensive soaking before use in recipes. For details and examples see our Smoke Dried Fish page.

Fish - Canned, Pickled, etc.


Can of Sardines.

Some fish are particularly suitable for processing in a wide variety of ways.

  Anchovies:   Canned and Dried
  Herrings / Sardines:   Canned, Pickled, Smoked, Dried, etc.
  Sprats   Canned, Smoked, etc.

Fish Eggs & Caviar


Lumpfish Caviar, red and black

Fish eggs (roe) have been on the human menu for thousands of years, prepared and eaten in various ways. According to the United Nations, other international groups, and the U.S. Customs Service, the term "Caviar" can only be used for the roe of Sturgeons and Paddlefish. Despite this, in common usage, the eggs of other fish eggs that have been salted and aged as sturgeon caviar is, are often also called "caviar", clarified with the name of the fish the eggs came from. For types and culinary details see our Fish Eggs & Caviar page.

Surimi & Surimi Products


Two Forms of Fish Cake

Fish Cake, Kamaboko, Artificial Crab meat, Fish Balls, Surimi Baby Eels and various other products. Surimi is white fleshed fish, cleaned, deboned, and ground to paste.

Surimi is also made commercially and in homes, used to make Seafood Patties and other cooked items. Some recipes will be found in our recipe pages.   Details and Cooking.

Shark Fin - Artificial


Shark Fin, Artificial Because real Shark Fin is illegal in civilized regions, due to the horrid inhumane practices of the East Asian shark fin industry, artificial shark fin has been made available, and is much easier to use then the real thing. Unfortunately, while there's little actual difference, it is not suitable for the famous Shark Fin Soup offered at Chinese banquets - it's not nearly costly enough. "Incredibly high cost, 1000 times enjoyment", old Chinese saying (also valid for Japan). For details see our Shark Fin - Real and Artificial page.

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©Andrew Grygus - agryg@clovegarden.com - Photos on this page not otherwise credited are © cg1 - Linking to and non-commercial use of this page permitted