I was born and raised in Central Illinois but grits were on the table every morning for breakfast. None of my family are from the south but grits were always there. That with eggs, a mountain of bacon, sausage patties or sometimes sausage gravy and biscuits. Yes, all of that every morning of the week along with toast, cereal with fresh cream, (my grandmother owned a dairy farm) orange juice and coffee for the adults. Enough colestoral to plug the arteries of a horse. However, none of my family has ever had heart trouble. Well, my mother did but while she cooked all if it she never ate that big breakfast, just toast and very strong coffee.
Thinking of OG_BLUES post on lukefist, a Norwegian and Swedish fish concoction reminded me of the national condiment in Vietnam. It's called "Nouak Mam". It is fermented fish sauce. The Vietnamese use this instead of the soy sauce used by other Asians. It is a very potent condiment. Not alcohol potent as the alcohol has evaporated by the time it is consumed. Odor potent, as it smells like the rotten fish from which it is made, it is also very flaver potent. Here's how they make it:
In a huge ten foot diameter by twelve foot tall wooden vat they put a layer of anchovies, then a layer of rock salt. The layers are about a foot thick when made in the big vats. The fish and rock salt are layered all the way to the top and then a cover is placed on it to seal the vat. This is allowed to set in the hot sun, (Vietnam Temps were often 105-110 degrees.) The anchovies, of course, break down and liquify and then ferment. The salt also breaks down in the liquid and it and the alcohol preserves the product. This process takes many weeks and it is finished when the fermentation ceases and the bubbles0 stop rising. The Nouak Mam is now finished and the most desired product is the first drawn liquid. There is a spigot at the bottom of the vat that is used to draw off the Nouak Mam. The Vietnamese douse all their food with it. I heard a man say one time he liked it so much his teeth ached just thinking about it. The odor is very high and offensive to the western nose. As you can imagine it is also very high in sodium. Ya'll are going to think I'm crazy but I actually grew to like Nouak Mam and I keep a bottle in the fridge for when we have rice and stir fry. My family always bunch up at the far end of the table when I open the bottle.
Dale
