February 2023

Food & Drink RESTAURANT REVIEW Net Positive

With Kingfisher in Golden Hill, a top chef tests the limits of the almighty fish sauce

BY TROY JOHNSON PHOTOS BY KIMBERLY MOTOS

The Perfect Order CONGEE

BEEF TARTARE ROASTED DUCK

ish sauce is a hell of a magic trick. Unscrew the cap, and its bottle releases one of the most violent aromas in the modern food world. A real, “Oh-dear-god-what.” But that funky bottle of soda-colored, salty fermented fish liquid has been the secret sauce of cooks for more than 2,000 years. The earliest forms were found in ancient Greece and Rome, where they removed the bones and marinated the meat in salt and herbs, then squeezed it to release its concentrated serum. Called garum, that elixir sold for obscene F

amounts to the wealthiest foodies of Caesar’s realm. It was the truffle of the sea. Why? Because fish sauce is essentially pure liquid glutamates (the “G” in the unfairly maligned MSG)— the savory compound central to umami, one of the five basic tastes of the human mouth (and arguably the best one). Glutamates are the reason black truffles taste like a forest intoxicant. They’re why Parmesan cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms, and ribeyes inspire food lust. Use fish sauce as the base of a more complex sauce, or in a marinade or vinegary dip, and its seafood-case-

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