Weird food product of the day
Patis, otherwise known as fish sauce, or nuoc mam in Vietnam, or nam pla in Thailand. It's a Southeast Asian staple made by fermenting small, whole fish in brine, drawing off the liquid, and steeping that in the sunlight before it is bottled. It's very salty and used in the place of salt in lots of dishes, and (I think) is especially good with beef. Foodgoat puts in his goulash. Warning: it's stinky stuff, but don't let that get in the way of using it, it doesn't taste as bad as it smells. And go easy on it: a little bit goes a really long way. My family puts a tiny dish of it on the table so you can spoon a little out onto your food.