The maker of artisan fish sauce, Red Boat, just debuted its newest product, Kho Sauce.
This flavorful bottled sauce, of which I received a sample recently, is designed to make braising a breeze.
Based on Red Boat Founder Cuong Pham’s family recipe, the sauce is a savory blend of the signature fish sauce (fermented with only anchovies and salt in the time-honored way), plus ginger, shallots, green onions, black pepper, crushed red pepper, and organic coconut sugar.
It’s briny, sweet, peppery, and a little spicy. It’s also gluten-free.
Just add 1/3 cup or more of the sauce (and a splash of water — or not) to a pan to braise tofu, fish, shrimp, chicken or pork until tender. Depending on how long you let the pot simmer, the sauce will reduce and thicken, and even form a glaze.
I tried it on cubes of pork with Japanese turnips to create an easy, complex tasting stew to spoon over rice. Red Boat also includes a few recipes on its web site, in case you need a little more guidance.
An 11.8-ounce bottle is $8.95 on the Red Boat site. It makes for a no-fuss way to inject Vietnamese flavors into everyday cooking.
