Fish Sauce (Pre-Mixed?)
We've been to a lot of Thai restaurants and in most of the dishes, as you probably know, they use fish sauce. We always ask/request if it can be made sans the fish sauce. We've been to vegetarian/vegan Thai places and haven't had a problem with 'feeling safe that it's fish-sauce free. We've been to a few places in the past though where we've asked and either they said: 1) it's pre-mixed already w/ fish sauce or 2) they can make it without fish sauce. I'm thinking that it's just pre-mixed and they just 'say' that they can make it without so as not to lose business...but we've walked out on a few places because it hasn't seemed believable, or they didn't seem to know what vegetarian/vegan even is.... So we're pretty much sticking to the veg*n places to be 'sure'... just wanted to know your thoughts on this? Do you think it's pre-mixed or they make a fresh batch and can omit the sauce? We absolutely love Panang curry.... I really need to learn how to make this! :P
Yikes, I've been eating at a few Thai places lately without even thinking about a possible Fish sauce... oops... looks like I'm getting the Thai Chopped Salad when I go out with my dad tonight. (You don't think peanut dressing has it too, does it? The waitstaff's English isn't very good, so I don't think asking for it to be seafood-free is going to be an easy task.)
I wouldn't think it would be pre-mixed-- in the case of oyster sauce at least, too many people have shellfish allergies for them to just throw it into every dish they prepare. I would think fish sauce would be the same. (?) But this is coming from the girl who didn't know that Thai cuisine USED fish sauce... so, might not want to take my word for it.
At our neighborhood Chinese restaurant, the manager/owner mixed all of the sauces first thing in the morning. It kept the formula secret from the staff. Also, cooking stir fry has to be efficient, which means most sauces have to be ready to go- but they have several sauces, and some places may keep the fish sauce separate while others pre mix. When I watch stir-frys being made, they usually scoop different sauces from several containers.
I just had this experience last week. I tried to order the red curry without fish sauce and the lady told me that all of the curries were premade :(, but that they could make something else without. I ended up trying a noodle dish called Lad Na that was very good.