American chef Chad Kubanoff feels 'fascinated' by the beauty of Vietnamese fish sauce

It is impossible to mention Vietnamese cuisine without mentioning fish sauce. But not everyone, including indigenous people, has the opportunity to visit and admire the fish sauce barrel house, the birthplace of quintessential spice drops known as the symbol of Vietnamese cuisine.

From the viewpoint of an American chef with an endless love for Vietnamese cuisine over the past 15 years, Chad Kubanoff said that this was the first time he had visited a fish sauce barrel house and really felt "fascinated" by the beauty of Vietnamese fish sauce. Observing the stages of fish sauce production, he was extremely impressed with the elaborate selection of raw materials, the hundreds of years of traditional method of brewing Chuop (the fish caught and salted on the boat when alive), and the magical transformation from nature. All created the unique flavor of fish sauce.

At An Thoi port, Chad was introduced to the first step in the fish sauce-making process, namely choosing anchovies. In particular, the boat will carry salt used to directly marinate the newly caught anchovies to maintain their freshness and firmness. This type of salt is also specially selected from Ba Ria and must be allowed to "breathe" for at least three months before being used, aiming to bring a salty taste that is not bitter.

Salted anchovies arriving at the port must pass a strict selection step with dozens of criteria on size, freshness, dryness, percentage of trash fish, etc. Qualified anchovies will be brought to brew Chuop at the Chin-su Phu Quoc barrel house, which has a scale of up to 22,000 m² with approximately 500 Chuop composting barrels. Each barrel is about 2.6m high and nearly 3m wide, holds 13–15 tons of fish, operates throughout, and is managed by a production process that meets international standards.

Mr. Bui Huy Nhich, Head of Technology Department at Chin-su Phu Quoc barrel house, added: "For us, quality is the top factor." The barrel house has brewed Chuop to make fish sauce in a traditional way for hundreds of years; the anchovies and salt are kept fermented for 9–12 months at a stable, warm temperature without other influences. In addition, the entire process of Chuop brewing and operation at the barrel house follows international standards inspected and certified by a third party, such as CODEX HACCP:2003, ISO 14001:2015, EU Code Certification, etc.

Talking more about his chance with the fish sauce barrel house, the American chef shared: "There is one interesting thing that I have just known: this barrel house has been operating since 2008, which was also the time I first set foot in Vietnam. Actually, I also feel a bit regretful because it was not until now that I had the chance to discover firsthand the stories behind this spice, even though I have heard and learned about it before. These are definitely experiences that I will mention many times in the future to my international friends and relatives, who also love Vietnamese cuisine very much."

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

After the US, Canada, Australia, Europe, Japan, Korea... CHIN-SU aims to let consumers anywhere in the world enjoy Vietnamese fish sauce, thereby increasing love for the rich and quintessential flavor of the "miraculous" spice considered the leading symbol of Vietnamese cuisine.