Kalyn’s Kitchen Picks: Three Crabs Fish Sauce
I love the the Umami flavors that fish Sauce adds to Asian Foods and for years Three Crabs Fish Sauce has been one of my favorite brands. And through the years of using fish sauce, I’ve tried more and more recipes with fish sauce that have become favorites! Have you cooked with this Asian ingredient?
I’m not an expert on Asian ingredients, so years ago when I ran across a post touting Three Crabs Fish Sauce on a blog called The Perfect Pantry, I was more than happy to listen to Lydia’s fish sauce recommendations. Shortly after that my step-sister Karyn asked me what I wanted from San Francisco and I requested a bottle of Three Crabs Fish Sauce.
Then I discovered I could buy this type of fish sauce at several Asian markets in Salt Lake, and now it’s one of only two fish sauces I buy. The fun side note to this fish sauce success story is that I also became good friends with Lydia from The Perfect Pantry and now we e-mail often.
What is Fish Sauce?
For those who aren’t familiar with fish sauce, it’s an ingredient used in Thai and Vietnamese cooking to add a salty flavor to the food. The smell is a little intense, but a small amount of this in a sauce or salad dressing really transforms the flavor to something memorable. And some of my favorite Asian dishes are recipes that use fish sauce!
What other fish sauce do I like?
I’ve been a fish sauce fan ever since I first tried Thai food years ago, but since I discovered this brand I’ve been using fish sauce a lot more often. Check out my post about Red Boat Fish Sauce to see my other favorite Fish Sauce and even more ideas for using it!
My Favorite Recipes with Fish Sauce:
Spicy Grilled Eggplant and Zucchini Salad
Thai-Inspired Ground Turkey Stir-Fryj
Cucumber Noodle Salad with Shrimp
Thai-Inspired Turkey Larb Salad
Vietnamese Chicken Salad with Cabbage
Recipes with Fish Sauce from Other Blogs:
Vietnamese Fish Sauce Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Mam Cham) from White on Rice Couple
Thai Beef Salad from The Perfect Pantry
Brussels Sprouts with Cracklings and Fish Sauce from Viet World Kitchen
Pad Thai from Gimme Some Oven
Thai Noodle Salad with Peanut Sauce from Simply Recipes
About Kalyn’s Kitchen Picks:
I purchased the fish sauce in the photo myself and the company has no idea that I’m writing about their product. All items featured as Kalyn’s Kitchen Picks are things I happily buy over and over, and because I want readers to know that my opinions are completely unbiased, I don’t accept sample products of any kind from the many companies who offer to send them to me. You can see the complete list of products I’ve given my stamp of approval to at Kalyn’s Kitchen Picks.
17 Comments on “Kalyn’s Kitchen Picks: Three Crabs Fish Sauce”
Cathi, I'm on a trip right now but I bet you can find that by googling it.
Hi: I would like to know what the ingredients are in the "Crab's Fish Sauce. Could you please list them for me. I have certian ingredients that I cannnot use for health reasons. Thank you for your help, Sincerely,
Cathi
Dan I'm not a fish sauce purist, but will check that one out.
Three Crabs tastes better than the other Thai-made fish sauces available on the market because of two things. Firstly, they use more sugar than other products. Secondly, they add hydrolyzed wheat protein, which increases the umami in the sauce. Remember to check the ingredients.
The brand to get is Red Boat. It is a first pressing of only anchovies and salt.
Jenna, I do keep mine in the fridge and it seems fine, but I use it up pretty quickly!
After trying 3 or 4 brands I agree Three Crabs is by far the best!! One tip I have heard also is not to store your fish sauce in the fridge- it gets cloudy- but rather in a dark cool place.
Biggie, have not seen that brand but I will keep an eye out for it!
Maria, that is my experience as well! The flavor is just so much better.
My Asian market proprietress also recommended Three Crab. We have a 20-minute Pho recipe (Cooks Illustracted, one of the Best of volumes) (Vietnamese Noodle Soup) in which we'd always used the grocery brand (Tiparos or Thai Kitchen). We made it with Three Crab and just exclaimed to each other what a great taste it gave the already good recipe! marcia in colorado
I used to use Three Crabs a lot, but switched to Golden Boy a number of years ago based on Kasma Loha-unchit's recommendation. It's harder to find, but utterly delicious. http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/features/fishsauce1a.html
Stephanie, I love shopping there; so many fun things to try!
I always stock up on everything when I go to the Asian Supermarket. Especially sauces!
Nate, that is a great recommendation coming from you!
We always kept a bottle of Three Crabs in our house. It's the best.
Amber, I think it's so much better than the usual brands you get at the grocery store. Worth a trip to the Asian market!
The proprietor at our local Asian recommended Three Crabs as the best fish sauce you can get here in the states. I'm happy to say I have a bottle sitting in my fridge right now! We love it.
Lydia, me too!!!
I'm still a huge fan of Three Crabs, and it's the only fish sauce I keep in my pantry. So glad you have selected it as a Kitchen Pick, and that you discovered it (and we discovered each other) on my blog all those years ago.