Garum

Just watched an episode of Tasting History. (An exploration of ancient recipes. ) They discus making garum, a Greek ingredient made from boiled down oily fish. I love using Japanese fish sauce but have never used garum. Is it the same?

[Robin Garr]

I don't know if you can get garum in the modern age, Carla, but it's always struck me as the same genre as all the Southeast Asian and East Asian fish sauces, nuoc mam and nam pla and patis and all the other regional variations. It goes back a long way, although I'd love to know how a condiment that was popular in ancient Rome is now characteristic of Asia.

I recently visited Super Lyan, a craft cocktail bar in Amsterdam. I chose a drink that listed "no-fish garam", a fish sauce without fish, as an ingredient. I asked the bartender that created it what was the difference between this and traditional garam. He placed a couple drops on the back of my hand to taste and it had a delicious salty, umami flavor. So, I asked the million dollar question, what's in it?

His answer was, "we extracted the liquid that remained from a combination of fermented koji rice and 5 kilo of meal worms". It was filtered and centrifuged prior to bottling. I ordered a second round.

Before the new world introduction of tomatoes and peppers it must have been a pretty bland food universe for the Romans, no wonder they invented Garum. I wonder if Garum had any role in the invention of Worcestershire sauce which also contains anchovies.

[Robin Garr]

I"we extracted the liquid that remained from a combination of fermented koji rice and 5 kilo of meal worms"