Fish sauce substitute

[hopelessdreamer]

What can I use instead of fish sauce?

[jenp]

Good olive oil and pink salt

[stane]

There's nothing wrong with fish sauce if you buy one of the 'clean' brands. The four below are all Paleo-safe, and probably AIP as well:

Son (my favorite, but exceptionally hard to find) is pure, no additives!  I only found it in California at a Vietnamese market.
Red Boat is good, easy to find, and also pure. I use it for 'finish' seasoning.
Megachef is also good and easy to find, but it's a bit more coarse so I use it when cooking, and not for the finish.
3 Mien is also supposedly Paleo-friendly (no additives), although I haven't found it for sale here.

Son is a niche/artisanal brand, and absolutely top quality.  It's about $8 to $12USD when you can find it at a Vietnamese market.  Red Boat and MegaChef can be found at any of the larger Asian grocery stores in most metropolitan areas, and run $2 to $5USD per bottle.  The Vietnamese folks I work with didn't recognize 3 Mien, so it may be a Left Coast thing; it certainly doesn't make it out to Dallas.

Here's what to look for in the Asian grocery stores (I use the Red Boat 40N and Megachef 30N myself):



Son ingredients: Anchovy + Sea Salt (used to say on their website that it's gluten-free, probably still is)
Red Boat ingredients: fresh caught wild black anchovies and sea salt (Kosher certified)
Megachef ingredients (blue bottle): fresh anchovies mixed with sea salt (may contain unlisted sugar or fructose, as it's sweeter than the brown bottle)
Megachef ingredients (brown bottle): fresh anchovies mixed with sea salt (harder to find than the blue bottle)
3 Mien ingredients: anchovies and salt (hopefully sea salt, but I haven't been able to verify)