Vietnamese Dipping Sauce: Nuoc Cham or Nước Chấm

Vietnamese is part of the Austroasiatic language family, which includes several other languages, the largest of which are Khmer, the national language of Cambodia, and Mon, which is one of the languages of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). Vietnamese has several diacritic marks, commonly called "accent markings" by some, and Vietnamese was influenced beginning in the late 1700s by Portuguese, later by French and by Engish (largely via Americans) and by Chinese.

This is one of those sauces with a large variety of recipes, as many people simply make it at home, although I believe I've heard there are commercial brands of this dipping sauce. Please don't be afraid of fish sauce. Yes, it has both a strong odor and a strong salty and fishy taste, but when mixed with other ingredients, it provides a special savory flavor. A small amount is a common addition to a number of Southeast Asian recipes, but in the case of this sauce, it has a larger representation, especially given the small of amount of overall ingredients, but I absolutely love this sauce; and remember, this is a "dipping sauce," not a beverage. Myself, I haven't had a drink of it for at least 15 or 20 minutes. hahaha  Also, I tend to use one small hot chili pepper and half of a small milder, but still with some heat, red chili pepper. If you don't like much heat, I'd suggest just using a pinch of red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper instead of the fresh hot chilies. If you're a busy person, making this sauce could be a tough one, because it will take all of about 4 or 5 minutes to make it ... wow, so time consuming. hahaha! 

 

You can vary the amount of some ingredients to fine tune the sauce to your own taste preference. Hm, if this is a "dipping sauce," maybe old Randy has another recipe? Stay tuned! (And it's "ol' Randy!")

 

Ingredients:

 

4 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon sugar (more to taste, if needed)

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice 

1 or 2 small hot red chili peppers, minced

1 large clove of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon fish sauce 

Dissolve the sugar in 2 tablespoons of warm, not hot, water, then add the other 2 tablespoons of water, the lime juice, the rice vinegar and the fish sauce. Mix well, then add the chili pepper and garlic and mix well again. Taste the sauce to see if it needs a little more sugar, or perhaps some more lime juice. 

 

WORD HISTORY:

Example/Sample-These words are closely linked and they are closely related to "exempt," a Latin-derived word borrowed by English via French (with lots of influence from Latin itself). The first part of "example" goes back to Indo European "eghs/ekhs," which had the notion, "out from, away from," and this gave Latin "ex," with the same basic meanings. The main body of the the word is from Indo European "em," which meant, "to take," and this gave Latin the verb "emere," initially meaning "to take," but with added meanings, "to obtain, to acquire;" thus also, "to buy." Together the parts gave Latin the verb "eximere," meaning, "to take away from;" thus, "to remove." This produced the Latin noun "exemplum," meaning, "a pattern or model (taken from an item or event);" thus, "a sample (taken from a product)," but also, "a warning or lesson;" as taken from an event or a person; as in, "Let that man's prison sentence be a warning (or example) to you." The Latin form was rendered as "essemple/essample," and English borrowed the word in the 1300s with seemingly variable spellings (not uncommon in those tymes .. ah, I mean times), but centered around "essample." By the second half of the 1400s, under the influence of Latin, the spelling added "ex" for the first part of the word (French did the same, as there was something of a revival of Latin influence and, thus, spellings.) Old French "essemple/essample"  produced the shortened form "saumple" in the French that developed in England over time and this was borrowed by English in the 1300s, with the modern spelling following in the 1400s (?). The commercial idea of "a small portion of a product used to promote the sale of a product" seems to be from the first half of the 1400s, and the use of the term for medical and scientific purposes is from the second half of the 1800s. The verb use of the word developed in the mid 1700s meaning, "to take small parts of things, often food, to get the notion of the whole objects;" as in, "I want to sample all 10 flavors of ice cream to see which one I like best."   

African Hot Pepper Sauce: Pili Pili (Piri Piri)

The territories that came to form Mozambique were visited by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498, with increasing Portuguese influence in the area as the decades and centuries passed, and with chili peppers being one of the influences contributed by the Portuguese to parts of African cuisine, including in Mozambique, which became independent of Portugal in the mid 1970s.* The Portuguese and the Spanish had gotten chili peppers in the New World, but it was the Portuguese and their developing vast system of international trade and colonial possessions that is credited with spreading the use of chili peppers to quite a number of places around the world. 

  

"Pili pili" hot pepper sauce is used in a number of African countries and recipes vary from just a few ingredients to additions like carrot, tomato, sweet red pepper and onion. The name is pronounced as if, "peely peely," and it comes from the Swahili term for "pepper," and it is also known as "piri-piri" and "peri-peri." The Portuguese version, often written as "piripiri" in Portugal, is a common part of Portuguese cuisine, both as a part of recipes and more commonly as a condiment to season and to add "heat" to already prepared foods. The Portuguese also use chili peppers to make a type of "hot chili paste." 

 

You can use dried chilies if you don't have fresh chilies. The recipe below yields multiple servings; that is, servings in the sense of relatively small amounts being used for burgers or other sandwiches, or to add to recipes for some heat and flavor. Store the sauce in a glass container (the sauce can react with containers made from other materials) with a lid and place it in the refrigerator, where it should keep 2 to 3 weeks. 

Ingredients:

 

4 very hot chilies (like habaneros, scotch bonnets or African or Thai bird's eye chilies)

4 less hot red chilies (like Fresno chilies or cayenne peppers)

2 large cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil 

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 or 4 tablespoons water

 

Wear kitchen gloves when working with chili peppers. Use a blender or food processor. Remove the stems from the chilies, slit the chilies open and remove the seeds, although I generally leave a few seeds remain from the medium hot chilies. Process all of the ingredients, except the water, until smooth. Heat in a non reactive sauce pan or skillet over low heat for just a couple of minutes. The sauce will likely be very thick, so add a tablespoon of water and mix it in well, then see if you need to add another tablespoon of water or more to reach a good consistency. Transfer to a container and store unused portion in the refrigerator. The sauce will keep for 2 to 3 weeks in the refrigerator. Many African pili pili sauces are not particularly watery or runny; that is, they aren't much like Tabasco sauce or most other American type hot sauces, but rather a little thicker. 

* The capital of Mozambique is "Maputo," but it formerly was called "Lourenço Marques," named after a Portuguese explorer. The official language of Mozambique is Portuguese, but several African languages, including Swahili, are spoken in various parts of the country.

WORD HISTORY:

Constant-This is a prefixed word, with the "stant'' part being related to quite a number of words (or parts of words) like "stand," a word from the Germanic roots of English, also the "-stan" part of countries or regions like "Pakistan," with this suffix going back through Persian to Indo Iranian, to the verb "stay" (halt, remain), a word of Latin derivation borrowed by English via French. The "con-" prefix is a common Latin prefix (also as "com-") with the general meaning "with, together." The main part of the word goes back to Indo European "sta," which meant "to stand." This gave Latin "stare" (not to be confused with the English word of the same spelling), which meant "to stand, to remain in place." The two parts gave Latin "constare," meaning, "to stand with, to stand together." The participle form, "constans," and its accusative case form, gave Latin the adjective "constantem," meaning, "to stand together, to stand firm, to remain in place, unchanging." Latin-based Old French took the word as "constant," and English borrowed the word latter part of the 1300s from French, but with likely reinforcement from Latin.  

Louisiana Remoulade Sauce

Remoulade is a dipping sauce, often used for fried foods like fish, seafood and batter fried vegetables, but it is also used as a spread for sandwiches. Remoulade sauce, also often shortened to just remoulade, is a French sauce based upon mayonnaise, but with added chopped ingredients: capers, cornichons and herbs. The sauce's history is tough to determine, as there were various sauces of similar content and used in France dating back to like the 1400s and 1500s, but by the 1700s the sauce most closely resembling the modern version seems to have come into it's own. "Tartar sauce" can really be considered a type of remoulade. While remoulade originated in France, it has numerous variations, including "Americanized" versions, with an especially spicy type from Louisiana perhaps being the best known. This is my version of the Louisiana style remoulade.

Ingredients:

1 cup mayonnaise (low fat type is fine)
1 tablespoon smooth brown mustard
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed in the palm of your hand
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed in the palm of your hand
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed in the palm of your hand
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon onion, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper (or ground black pepper)
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper(or other ground hot red pepper)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon horseradish (freshly grated or from a jar)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon hot sauce (in the American South, especially in Louisiana, they "often" use Tabasco sauce)

Mix all ingredients together well in a bowl, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours (or longer) before serving.

WORD HISTORY:
Scuttle-English has more than one word of this spelling. This is the noun meaning, in somewhat more modern times, "a type of bucket for carrying and holding coal." The ancient history of the word is shaky, but it likely goes back to Indo European "skei," which meant, "to split, to cut off." This produced Indo European "skouto/skoito," meaning, "flat piece of wood, shield." This gave Latin "scutra," meaning, "tray, platter," and this then produced the diminutive form "scutella," meaning, "small bowl or dish," also, "shallow drinking bowl, or leather pouch" (in the past both often used for alcoholic drinks). This was borrowed into West Germanic, but it's unclear to me which West Germanic dialect or dialects borrowed it first, but whatever the case, the term spread, with Old English having "scutel," meaning, "dish, platter," which then became "scuttel," along with the meaning, "dish or basket used to sift grain." The spelling then became "scuttle" and the "dish/basket" idea was used for such a device to carry coal, which in the mid 1800s had become a bucket type container. Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "Schüssel" (bowl, dish),^ Low German has "Schötel" (dish), Dutch "schotel" (dish, saucer). Old Norse borrowed the word from English as "skutill" (dish, drinking vessel).

^ Long ago, a sound shift often changed many "t" sounds in certain circumstances in Germanic dialects to an "s" sound in many high dialects, which is the form that prevailed and thus continued into modern times in what is now standard German.