Couple of Fish Sauce questions....

I bought some back then too. Don't remember how much per pound, but I do remember that it didn't seem to make any difference. Tasted like any other burger. I haven't used it since, but I just checked the pantry and I still have the bottle, opened and never refrigerated. With that much salt, it's probably still okay to eat. If pointless.

62% is better than 50% as far as longevity goes, more salt!

"Best used by date" started out as a way for the producers to get the grocers to do a clearance sale. The only foods that must be sold by a certain date are baby foods.

W. that much sodium, and sealed, should be good for several generations.

Fish sauce ranges from very mild to massively strong. 1st time I went to buy some at a Vietnamese shop, the lady told me that what I had was only for special use, and pointed out a liter bottle and said "that's for everyday." Don't know about the particular one you have, but what I have on hand is fairly mild. A couple of teaspoons in a pound of burger makes a tiny difference. Sort of like mashing a half anchovy into the mass. You can taste it but it just adds a little savory note.

nolaegghead said:

Couple tablespoons per pound should do it.

If you see it, get the three crabs brand.  Well, it has three crabs on the label, I'm not sure what it's called.  I'm a connoisseur (somewhat) of fish sauce.

That's the brand I have. Still don't see the point. Just a salty, foul tasting (alone) and tasteless (in a burger) bottle of drool. Some swear by it. For me, it was a waste of (not very much) money.

Mickey said:

First: About 4 or 5 years ago this stuff got very hot to use in hamburgers. How much per pound? I never tried it.
Second: This bottle has been setting on my shelf for a lot of years (never opened till today). The date to best use is June 2013. Bet I bought it sometime in 2011.... Think it would still be good, sure as hell can't  taste it to tell for sure.

This is the brand I use, mostly for stir fry broccoli.  I mix in some oyster sauce some mirin and some onions.  Great taste!

I add a few dashes of fish sauce to lots of things, adds a nice missing layer to sauces and marinades.

Canugghead said:

Take this with a grain, or whole bottle, of salt, haha ... I found this at random and guess what?  Your Red Boat ranked first, and 3-crab was way down in the list, what gives?
https://ourdailybrine.com/fish-sauce-taste-test/

Few years ago I bought a bottle of 3-crab based on old forum recommendation, for some hard to describe reason, we liked the old noname bottle better and kept it.

Lemme know if you find that Red Boat. Gotta have it in TO.

I have a bottle of Red Boat for dipping sauces, and Tiparos for cooking.
Two compounds increase umami, glutamates and nucleotides.  According to testing done by Cook's Illustrated, when both are present they amplify each other about 20 times (not sure how they measure that).
Try this: mix 1/2 tsp fish sauce, AND 1/2 tsp dried mushroom powder (or just chopped mushroom) into your hamburger, chili, or stew.  In soups and stews, for me anyway, my mouth is still watering as I'm eating the last bites.  Seems to work well for me, and I use them in combination on many cooks.  

Red Boat is relatively new, two or so years. Really good and really expensive. I make a lot of Vietnamese food and use s lot of it. 

Little Steven said:

smbishop said:

Mickey said:

First: About 4 or 5 years ago this stuff got very hot to use in hamburgers. How much per pound? I never tried it.
Second: This bottle has been setting on my shelf for a lot of years (never opened till today). The date to best use is June 2013. Bet I bought it sometime in 2011.... Think it would still be good, sure as hell can't  taste it to tell for sure.

This is the brand I use, mostly for stir fry broccoli.  I mix in some oyster sauce some mirin and some onions.  Great taste!

The little fish that make it sit and rot in a barrel with a weighted lid for two years. Yes they go in raw. I wouldn't worry about the best before date pal.

I was about to say exactly that. It's rotted to begin with   

a little goes goes a long way in things like stir fries or papaya salad. 

Walked point with a dog for a year in Vietnam ,never had to look for dogs' alert when the gooks were eating Nuoc Mam  with their rice in the jungle,you could smell it a mile away .NASTY ! Don't know how you could tell if it was bad or good by smell,it always smelled BAD!!!

fishlessman said:

use a tablespoon on your first pound batch, then two on the second batch then three on the third. this is trial and error til you find your limit, you want it right at the edge of YOUR limit,  i used it in the meat sauce of a lasagna this weekend three crabs for me as well, tried some expensive italian stuff and did not like the flavor at all

The Italian stuff was probably Garum. It's made from macerated fish guts or at least it used to be.

@Little Steven said:

Lemme know if you find that Red Boat. Gotta have it in TO.

Found it!  Canuck importer in BC gave me name of two places in TO, I made a special trip to Danforth during evening rush hours and cleaned out their limited supply. Saving a bottle for you, are you going to TO eggfest?