Fish in Fine Marinade -- a Pinedo recipe

It is time for another Pinedo recipe!  (See the key words list to the side for the word "Pinedo" for the others.)

I knew I was going to be near a fish market, so I planned ahead to buy some sort of fish there for a Pinedo recipe.  I was hoping to get some whole fish, but to no avail.  They did have rockfish, which Miss Pinedo references in a number of recipes, so I bought 0.84 pounds of it (four filets) and chose this recipe on page 200:

My Translation

Fish in fine marinade.

         This marinade is composed of hyssop or peppermint and garlic, all finely chopped; salt, vinegar and pepper and some other spices if you like.

         The fish is put in large pieces in a casserole in layers, one with fish and another with onion, mint, tomato juice, salt, pepper and garlic; drizzle with vinegar and oil.

         Cook the well-covered casserole over a low heat for two or three hours.

My Redaction

0.84 pounds rockfish filets (or about that much, and any kind of mild, white fish)

6 ounces tomato juice

1 medium brown onion, peeled, halved, then thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, finely crushed

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Start the oven preheating to 300 degrees F.  Choose a lidded casserole dish whose size is appropriate to the amount of fish you have.

Mix garlic, mint, salt, and pepper, then add the tomato juice and mix again.  This is the marinade.  Set it aside.

Mix the olive oil and vinegar, then set aside.

Oil the bottom of the casserole with a little olive oil.  Put in two fish filets to cover the bottom.

Spread half of the sliced onions over the top of the fish.  Pour half of the marinade over the top of that.  Then pour half of the olive oil and vinegar mixture on that.  (This is how I interpreted "drizzle.")

Repeat the layering with the rest of the fish, onions, marinade, and oil-and-vinegar mixture.

Put the lid on the casserole and bake for 1 hour.  

My Notes

My hyssop plant isn't big enough to harvest from yet, so I got some fresh mint from my garden.

I didn't have tomato juice by itself or even fresh tomatoes from which to make juice.  So I opened a can of stewed tomatoes and used the juice from that.  (The tomatoes themselves made a sauce for a side dish with the fish.)

*True confessions:  The stewed tomatoes had some celery flavor in it, but I didn't think it would make much of an impact on the overall flavor of the fish dish.

I estimated the quantities of flavors in the tomato juice by recalling that Miss Pinedo cautioned her readers to only use a few cloves in any recipe.  I thought one tablespoon of finely chopped mint would be enough to taste without being overwhelming.  Marinades are typically strong in flavor before cooking, so that was my goal.

Yes, that finely chopped!

Garlic, mint, salt, and pepper mixed.

The marinade

First layer:  the fish

Then the onions

With the marinade

Finally, with the oil and vinegar.

A second layer, ready for the oven

After one hour of baking.

The Verdict

I served it with a side dish of potatoes that were baked, then sliced and slowly fried in a cast iron pan with olive oil.  I made a sauce of the stewed tomatoes that were pureed and mixed with garlic, salt, and pepper.  This was poured over the potatoes in the pan, then the whole thing was topped with shredded asiago cheese.  I covered the pan and let it cook slowly to fry the potato bottoms, heat the sauce, and melt the cheese.

Potatoes on the left, fish on the right.

The fish in fine marinade was very good!  I am becoming convinced that cooking fish immersed in liquid makes it nearly impossible to overcook the fish.  Usually fish cooks quickly but I baked it for one hour -- it was done perfectly, moist and tender.  I suspect the long cooking time gave the onion a chance to soften and get a mellow flavor.

One serving.  Wine included but not in the picture.

Fish is cooked and moist.

I was intrigued by the use of the mint in the marinade.  I don't think I've ever had fish cooked with mint before, and I was not disappointed.  Its flavor was not strong -- it was really just a hint of mint, a lot like a tingle on the tongue while eating a bite.  I actually think doubling the amount of mint would be good, just to give it more of a leading role in the flavor profile.  

The garlic taste was there, but not overwhelming.  I think it was balanced in the mix.  The onions were subtle, too.  I didn't not taste the vinegar, but I think the balance would have been lacking without it. 

I believe I could have used half the amount of oil and vinegar and still have a good outcome.  That would fit better with the idea of "drizzle" as she specified. 

Viewed as a whole, the fish in its sauce was tasty and we enjoyed it very much.  My guest taster said, "If I was served this in a restaurant, I would not be unhappy."  In other words, it wasn't Earth-shattering or an amazing meal, but it was a good meal.  The potato side dish was a good pairing.  We had both parts for two meals, and enjoyed them both times.

Miss Pinedo was cooking for a large family, so I suspect she could put many layers together in a big pan, put it over a slow fire, and go do other things while it cooked.  A large quantity would benefit from cooking for two to three hours as she specified.  She would still serve a delicious main course, with time to fix side dishes or perhaps work on writing her cookbook.

Success!

Rock Fish in sauce -- a Pinedo recipe

My neighbors, G & T, gave me some dorado filets that G had caught himself.  Wonderful of them to share it with me!  I had to do it an honor by cooking a Pinedo recipe.  (Search this blog under the keyword "Pinedo" to see all of the posts and why she is important to me.)

This recipe is on page 203.

My Translation

Rock fish in sauce.

         Cut the fish into large slices. On the other hand, onion and garlic are fried in butter with salt and pepper, and when the onion is well browned, a glass of claret wine is added.

         Place the fish slices in this sauce, covering the casserole well and letting it cook over a low heat for fifteen minutes.

My Redaction

True confessions:  I made this recipe twice.  The first time was with some store-bought tilapia.  I want to present both versions so you can make choices.  The italicized ingredients are the ones that differ between versions.

First version:

1 pound tilapia

1 large onion, sliced into narrow strips 1 to 2 inches long

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

6 ounces cabernet wine  

Second version:

1 pound dorado

1 large onion, sliced into narrow strips 1 to 2 inches long

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

6 ounces pinot noir wine

Ingredients with the dorado

Melt the butter in a Dutch oven.  Add the onions and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until they begin to brown.  Add the garlic, salt, and pepper; cook a few minutes longer, stirring continuously to avoid burning the garlic.

Add the wine and stir well.

Add the fish filets.  For the tilapia, I spooned about half of the onion-wine sauce over the top of the fish.  For the dorado, I put the filets in skin side UP and made sure the filets were imbedded in the sauce.

Turn the heat to low.  For the tilapia, I forgot to cover the pan, so it cooked 23 minutes until the meat was flaking.  For the dorado, I covered the pan and cooked it 15 minutes for the meat to be flaky.

Onions just starting to brown, with seasonings added.

The entire sauce.

Note that the filets are pushed down into the sauce for cooking.

Cooked.  One filet was turned over to check on doneness.

The Verdict

I served the filets in a bowl with some of the sauce spooned over the top.  It was good to have the onion mixture already on top of the fish when served.  I didn't include a lot of the liquid into the bowl.  I used a spatula to move the filets to our plates, which included the cooked onions but not the liquid part of the sauce (not much, anyway).

I think some fresh parsley on top would have been pretty.

The meat was, as said, flaky, and very moist.  The flavor was good in both cases, with two differences.

First, the tilapia needed more salt, which is why I increased the salt quantity for the dorado version.  The sauce on the tilapia was bright and tangy, which I thought came from the cabernet (acid and fruity) and the pepper.  I chose cabernet because it is close to claret, which I didn't have on hand.

In contrast, the dorado had just the right amount of salt, but the sauce was not as bright or tangy.  The pinot noir just didn't have the robust flavor of the cabernet, so while it was good, it was not as good.  I wanted that tang on my tongue.

In both versions, my guest taster and I thoroughly enjoyed the fish.  The fact that I didn't overcook them (and I think it would be hard to do it with this technique) made it good, and the sauce with the onions made it even better.  The onions were cooked enough that they added their sweetness, the butter added a good mouthfeel, and the garlic-salt-pepper seasoning was just right.  The garlic flavor was a supporting role:  it didn't stand out but it did add its distinctive flavor to the background.

Success, twice!

I have to say that this recipe is very easy to prepare, and I got a lovely main course out of it.  While everything was cooking, I put together the rest of the meal.  For example. the dorado had a side Caesar salad, a quinoa pilaf, and some cranberry sauce.

A good dinner.

Mrs. Charles Darwin's Fish Croquettes

Sometimes I just pick a cookbook off the shelf and look for a recipe to make from it.  Today's recipe is from Mrs. Charles Darwin's Recipe Book, Revived and Illustrated, by Dusha Bateson and Weslie Janeway.

ISBN: 978-0-9801557-3-0

Like many wives, before and since, Emma Wedgwood Darwin, wife of Charles Darwin, compile a cookery notebook.  ... this book offers a glimpse behind the kitchen and dining-room doors of one of the Victorian era's most eminent families. ... More than a cookbook, Mrs. Charles Darwin's Recipe Book delineates a lifestyle at the top of English society and intelligentsia.   (quoted from inside flap)

I bought the book because I am a Charles Darwin fan of sorts, so when you combine that with cookery and yet more Victoriana information, well, it had to happen.  The production of the book is lovely, with botanical art scattered throughout and reproductions of Mrs. Darwin's recipes in her own writing.  In other words, very pretty and visually appealing.  

The recipes themselves aren't necessarily very different from other Victorian era recipes I've seen before, although some didn't look familiar when I skimmed the book.  I was particularly drawn to the desserts section because like Charles Darwin, I have a sweet tooth.  However for this post, I was well-behaved and chose to make a savory dish.

The fish croquettes recipe appealed to me because it looked fairly straightforward but it also has one twist:  instead of binding the fish flakes together with the usual cooked potato, it uses a very thick white sauce.  Please see page 61 for this recipe.

Fish Croquettes

1 pound (450 g) cooked fish, chilled

1 ounce (30 g) butter

1 ounce (30 g) flour

1/2 cup (125 ml) milk from cooking the fish

1 tablespoon cream

1 egg yolk

Salt and pepper

1 egg, beaten and breadcrumbs for coating

Butter for frying

1. Flake the fish into a bowl, being careful to remove any skin and bones.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour, cook for 1 - 2 minutes.

3. Add enough of the reserved cooking liquid, stirring constantly to make a thick, smooth sauce.  Let it bubble gently for a few minutes.  Add the cream.

4. Add the egg yolk, give the sauce a quick stir, and remove the pan from the heat.

5. Stir the fish into the sauce and mix gently to combine the two without breaking up the flakes of fish too much.  The mixture should be fairly stiff; it will become more so as it cools.  Let it get cold.

6. When ready to cook, take spoonfuls about the size of an egg and dip them in the beaten egg, then into the breadcrumbs.  Flatten them slightly and fry gently in butter for 8-10 minutes, turning them once.  They are done when crisp and golden on the outside and well heated through.

My Notes

The authors comment that if you don't start with leftover fish, you can poach the fresh fish "in a little milk together with some parsley, a sprig of thyme, and a bay leaf."  Note that if you do start with leftover fish, you still need that milk-based poaching liquid, so plan ahead.  

They also commented that many different kinds of fish can be used; they used smoked haddock and fresh cod.  From this I decided that the big piece of bonita I had would work.  Bonita is a sea fish (I caught it myself!) and has a fairly strong flavor.  Since the authors had used smoked haddock, I felt that a strong flavor wouldn't go wrong.

I didn't have any milk but I did have half-in-half, so I made up a poaching liquid of that with a small bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme, and a bay leaf.

The liquid and herbs were combined in a pan, then the fish set on top of it.  Since the fish was a big piece, I placed it in the cold liquid.  The whole thing was brought to just the beginning of a boil, then I reduced the temperature to make it have a slow simmer.  After about 4 minutes, I turned the fish pieces over, then cooked it for another 3 minutes.  

The fish was removed from the liquid to drain, and both fish and liquid were allowed to cool.

I used my hands to skin, debone, and flake the fish.  This made it easy to find the bones, pick off the little bits of skin, and to remove the dark red meat that bonita always has.  I have never liked that part and decided it would be best to leave it behind.  I tried to make the flakes large, considering that they would be broken up more when I mixed in the white sauce.

The recipe didn't specify when to add the salt and pepper, so I chose to add 1/4 teaspoon of each to the fish, using forks to toss it in well.

I made the roux in a cast iron frying pan, using a fork to mix the butter and flour well.  It was very thick, and stayed that way even after I mixed in the poaching liquid and egg yolk.  Since I used a half cream/half milk liquid for the base, I did not add the cream listed in the recipe.

The completed white sauce.

I used a rubber scraper and the technique of folding to mix the sauce and the fish together.  This worked well and didn't break the fish flakes up too much.

All together now.  

The mixture went into the refrigerator for about 45 minutes to chill.

In the meantime, I used the leftover egg white and one more egg, all beaten together, to make the egg wash.  

Then I formed the patties.  The authors said this should make 8 to 10 croquettes; I got 9 comfortably-sized ones.  

Fish patties and the breading station.

Each patty was dunked in the egg wash, rolled in breadcrumbs, and placed in the hot butter.  I estimate the butter was about 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep.  I kept the butter hot enough to make the food bubble when it went in but was careful to not let the butter burn.  The instructions said to cook the patties gently, and this seemed to achieve that.

The foaming butter did a good job of cooking the sides.

I shifted the patties around as they cooked to make sure they were all getting that golden brown coloring on both sides.  

It took about 8 to 10 minutes to cook them, as the recipe suggested.

Voila!  Croquettes!

The Verdict

We didn't have them as a meal, really.  It was more like a taste test.  I was primarily interested to see what my guest taster thought of them because he didn't know how they were prepared.  I interrogated him at length  : )  and here are his thoughts:

He could taste the fish but also got a definite herbal taste.  This showed me that using the poaching liquid was a good idea -- it put the parsley, thyme, and bay flavors into the dish.  

He could not taste the pepper but thought it might be there in a subtle way.  The salt content was just right.

The texture was nice:  a crunchy exterior with a good interior that was not creamy because "it has some substance."  In fact, he said the "crust is excellent."

It was not greasy or spicy, and was heated through to the center.

He tried them just as they were out of the frying pan, which he thought was very good.

He also tried them with some adornments, and thought they were best with either tartar sauce (homemade with mayonnaise, mustard, capers, sweet pickle relish, and a dash of white wine vinegar) or a sprinkling of lemon juice.  It was okay with a drizzle of a very aged balsamic vinegar but he wasn't as thrilled with that.

The tomatoes were a nice side for the croquettes.

We imagined them being served at a buffet, and we thought they could be topped with a piping of tartar sauce to look more interesting and to make the sauce readily available.

Like this but with a star tip for piping to make it prettier.

We declared it a success!  I think the keys here were using the poaching liquid, keeping the flakes big, and gently cooking the patties.  

The authors commented that they had to be careful or the croquettes would fall apart while cooking.  I did not have that issue.  They were firmly together the whole time and I used a metal spatula below and a fork above to turn them.

The only thing I would change in my process is the chilling time -- the mixture wasn't chilled to the center when I formed the patties, which I think would have been better for handling.  So chill at least an hour, or even longer.  This is a bonus because you could make the mixture in advance of cooking.  What a convenience!

Roman Fish Sauce -- Liquamen, Garum -- Once Again

A little over a year ago, a fisherman friend, MB, gave me a bag of mackerel he had caught off a local pier.  I decided I wanted to make liquamen again, but this time with a lower salt ratio.

My previous attempt is documented here.  Beware:  Some of the pictures are pretty graphic.

After reading around the internet at other bloggers' attempts, I decided to use the smallest recommended amount of salt, roughly 10 parts fish to 1 part salt, by weight.

The mix of whole fish and salt went into a glass container that I sealed up tight and put on the floor by a sliding glass door.  The idea was that I could see it go through the process, get some sunshine on it, and still not stink up my house.  Well, that and keep the cats out of it, too. 

The container sat on my floor for an entire year.  I watched it first start accumulating liquid, then the fish started "melting" into the liquid.  Occasionally I shook the container just to see how it was coming along.

After a while I saw fish bones and brown chunky muck as the majority of the contents.  And then the muck started separating into layers:  chunks on the bottom, clear liquid on top, and other particulate liquid on top of that.  Even after I shook it, the layers would reappear.

You can see the layers reforming after the container was moved.

Once the one-year mark passed, I opened the container and began filtering the contents.   One thing I noticed is that there were no big particles left -- all the flesh had broken down into tiny bits.  The only things that were big were the bones.

This is what I ladled out, leaving bones behind.  Very fine textures.

First filtering.

I used the same bag and metal filtering process I used before.  The bag got out the "big" particles but the liquid was still cloudy.  The metal coffee filter cleared it up.

But now the big test had arrived.  How did it taste as compared to the previous attempt and to what you can buy in the Asian market?

I asked my Vietnamese friends, CN and LP, to give it a try.  CN had told me once, "I am Vietnamese!  We have fish sauce in our blood!"  So I knew they were the right people to judge.

They had tried my first attempt and I asked them to compare it to my second attempt.

Their assessment was put so nicely in a note from LP: 

I have never had pure fish sauce before.  It's so good, especially the second time with less salt.  The taste is rich in protein.

I have had fish sauce my whole life and this sauce is the best.  I have used a couple of teaspoons in soup.  It tasted better than the fish sauce I bought in the store. 

There you have it!  An expert's opinion!

I liked it, too.  My thought was that, with less salt, I could taste more of a sweetness to it.  Perhaps it was wishful thinking or perhaps it was that I expected it to taste more like the Thai fish sauce + reduced grape juice mixture that I tried first.  (See this post.)  But it tasted better to me.

I am so glad I tried the "reduced salt" version.  Trust me, it is still very salty, but I think more flavorful.

I use it in soups and stews, to increase the salt content but, more importantly, to raise up the richness and meaty taste, the "umami" fifth flavor we love so much.  Sometimes I made a sauce from it.  It is really good on grilled beef.

Success!  I won't actively seek out more raw fish to make this sauce, but if some happens to come my way, I know what to do with it.

 

Liquamen/Garum -- Making Roman Empire Fish Sauce from Fish

Previously I had made liquamen at home via Sally Grainger's recipe using a premade fish sauce and adjusting the flavor with reduced white grape juice.  See the results here.

But now it is time to try making it on my own, from scratch, using fish.  I had talked to people at last February's Culinary Symposium about it, and they assured me it was a reasonable task to undertake.

Many websites talk about how to make it, and many bloggers have tried.  Let's see how this goes!


WARNING:  Some of the pictures show dead fish parts.  Decide before you look if you can stomach it.


Day 1

I started with about 5 lbs of bonita parts:  heads, skeletons (the leftover parts after removing the tasty flesh), innards (it is important to use the intestines for the enzymes they bring), and bits of meat that just weren't worth trying to cook.  I put them in a clean plastic bucket **that had a lid** along with about 1 lb of kosher salt.

I first put in a layer of salt, then some fish parts, then sprinkled the parts with more salt.  Then I kept layering until about 1 lb (20% by weight of the fish parts) was used.  I stirred the whole thing as best as I could (to coat the pieces), put the lid on, and placed the whole container out on the back patio, where it would get a lot of sun.

Salted bonita parts.  

You really need a lid, to keep out dirt but also to keep out the flies that are very attracted to it.  I put a heavy weight on top of it to discourage nighttime visitors from getting into it.

The Romans used unglazed ceramic containers.  Most of the bloggers used glass jars.  I didn't have a jar or a ceramic container big enough to hold all this, so I was glad for the advice to use a plastic bucket.

You can see that the fish parts filled about 1/4 to 1/3 of the bucket.

Day 2

The next day, when stirring it, I decided it needed more whole fish, so I bought some frozen mackerel, about 73 ounces worth, and added that and another 10 ounces of salt to the bucket.  Again, I stirred the whole thing as well as I could.  I noticed some liquid was already forming.  The smell was fishy and a little rotten, so I was glad I could get the brown liquid to coat everything.

Salty mackerel, before stirring.

The blogs that talk about it say the salt-to-fish ratio runs from 1/10 to 1/5, so I figured I was in the right range, without obsessing over exact quantities.

Day 3

I stirred everything again.  The mackerel was starting to break apart, so they were easily pushed down into the dark brown liquid that was now deeper than the day before.  The smell was fishy, but not rotten, which surprised me.  It actually smelled better than the day before.

Day 4

This time I didn't stir as much as I used the spoons to push the mackerel down into the liquid.  This broke them up a little more, too.  The liquid level was almost to the top of the fish.

The smell was very faint.  Very mildly fishy and I could not smell it at all outside the bucket.  I am astonished.

Day 7

The fish parts are all broken up and the whole quantity has compacted down to about 1/4 of the bucket's volume.  The liquid was thick and brown on top, but when I stirred it, I found thinner liquid underneath.  I think that stirring it was a good idea, as it took the pieces that were on top and got them coated in the salty liquid.

Day 22

I left the whole thing alone until today.  There was a layer of "stuff" floating on the surface, and lots of liquid underneath.  I could see bones (backbone and ribs) that were completely devoid of muscle and flesh.  Instead of stirring, I rotated the bucket around to splash the liquid up on the surface stuff and mix it up a bit.  The smell was pretty fishy but not disgusting, so I am letting it continue.

My fingers are crossed for luck!

Day 30

This is the one month mark, so I took pictures before and after stirring.

Before stirring.

After stirring.

I scooped out about 1 cup of the mixture.

As it was, right out of the container.

First I poured it through a small strainer, which removed the biggest bits and some of the gritty-looking parts.  Then I put it all into a fine filter, a metal coffee strainer that had never been used for making coffee.  This was put over a container and covered with plastic, so it could drip through.

The odor was fishy but not disgusting.  The cats thought the smell was amazing, so I gave them several drops of the liquid, which they quickly licked up.

I filtered it but could not get it clear, so I put the liquid into the refrigerator to see what would happen.  I noticed that everything the liquid touched had a greasy film on it, which wasn't very pleasant at all.

I tasted it and it was very, very fishy.  It did not have that slightly sweet taste the liquamen I made from the fish sauce and grape juice had.  I really didn't like it much but I do have to note that it wasn't too salty, and it didn't taste rotten.

So after one month of fermenting, I think it should continue.

Four Months

The mixture has been sitting on the patio for four months now, and it is time to finish it.  When I opened the container, I was really put off.  The smell was unpleasant and it looked weird, and I was unsure whether what I saw was fish oil or mold.  But before I reacted, I checked with my online friends who have done this before.



D G-T gave me this description:

Fishy salty sludge that looks like chucky mud?  That's OK.  Strain out the solids and you have liquid yuck.  Run that through a coffee filter or wet paper towel and you should get clear amber salty fishy goodness ... that's the goal.  It will flow through the filter VERY slowly.

I felt much better about my experiment and set about with the filtering.

The first round was done outside, using a ladle to get the liquid out of the tub and into two strainers, one a little finer mesh than the other.  I also had a trashcan nearby so I could empty the strainers regularly.  I worked quickly, so I could get it done before too many flies found me.



The result of this first round of filtering was, yes, liquid yuck.  I did notice that the scent wasn't bad at all:  fishy but not rotten or nasty, and I kept getting a hint of the fruity scent that the previous liquamen had.

First round yuck.

I could see all the particles in the liquid and knew I would have to filter them a lot to get it clear.

Filtering, round two, was done indoors.  I used the ladle to scoop the liquid into a strainer that was even finer mesh than the two I used in the first round.  One scoop would drain for a little while and then I had to rotate the strainer to put the liquid over areas that weren't clogged with particles.

Strainer after the liquid passed through.  Time to shake and rinse!

Then I shook the particles out into a bowl.  After every two or three shakes, I rinsed the strainer under clear water.  This worked well.

It didn't take long to accumulate 14 cups (3.5 quarts) of the second round filtered liquid.

Liquid not-so-yuck.

It is still not clear.  Next I will run it through my metal coffee filter to see how that works.

One aspect of this that made me laugh at myself:  All the while I kept thinking, "I need to find a place in the refrigerator for this big container."  Then I realized it had been sitting on my patio for four months and didn't need to be kept cold!  The beauty of salt!

Putting the liquid through the coffee filter helped a lot.  This left me with a slightly cloudy amber liquid, so I poured it through a wet paper towel to finish it off.

The result was an almost perfectly clear amber liquid that smelled fishy but was not bad.

The Verdict

Time for a taste test!

I put the fermented liquamen up against Thai fish sauce and my homemade liquamen that was a mixture of the Thai fish sauce and reduced white grape juice.

All about the same color.  Newest on the right.

I tasted a little of each one and drank a lot of water between tastes to clear my palate.

My fermented liquamen was very salty, slightly sweet, and had a deep umami flavor that I liked.  That umami really made my tastebuds dance and sing.

The Thai fish sauce was salty but not as much as my fermented sauce, it was not sweet, it had a tangy sensation that I didn't like much, and it had umami but the fermented sauce had more.

The fish sauce plus grape juice was definitely sweeter (remember that I mixed them so I controlled the sauce/juice ratio, and I like sweet), not as salty, no tang, and not as rich in umami. 

The fermented sauce had the most umami and the most salt.  The Thai sauce was thicker, almost syrupy, than the other two. 

D G-T says she gets the best results using 7 parts fish to 1 part salt.  Mine was about 6 parts fish to 1 part salt, so I am not surprised about the salt levels in mine.

So was there a clear winner?  Not quite but I would choose depending on my food prep goal.  The fermented sauce was very salty but very umami, so I would take that into account in my recipe.  If I didn't want so much salt, I would use the fish/juice sauce.  The Thai sauce will be used to make more of the fish/juice sauce. 

I declare this to be a success!

One point to note:  at the one month interval, I noted that there was a greasy residue that stuck to everything and bothered me.  This no longer was an issue.  I could see oil/fat in the mixture but it was not sticky nor did it make itself known. 

I'm so glad I did this; what a neat experiment!  My plastic tub resulted in about 14 cups of liquid yuck, which I am still filtering.  Trying to filter it 1/2 cup at a time in the coffee filter was not the best use of time, so I set up a jelly bag (cloth bag for filtering juice for making clear jelly) in a tall jar so I could put in nearly two cups of yuck to filter over time but still cover it to cut down on the fishy odor in the house and keep out bugs/dust/cats.

Very. Slow. Drip.

This can take its time filtering and then I can wash and reuse the bag for the next batch.  Each batch gets filtered through the wet paper towel as the last step, then stored in a corked bottle.  I suspect I will be sharing this liquamen with fellow foodies to get their take on it.  At least I hope I will.

I am thankful to the friends who gave me encouragement and advice on fermenting fish.  I would not have finished it without you.  Special kudos to D G-T!