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Substitutions · 31 dishes here use it
Salt and deep savoriness, and it smells far stronger than it tastes once it is in something. A teaspoon disappears into a dish and takes the flatness with it.
Everything below is judged against that job. A swap that covers it is a swap; one that only looks similar is not.
6 of the 31 dishes here that mention fish sauce list it as optional — 19% of them. In those, the correct substitution is nothing.
Functional substitution system
For fish sauce, the page's working definition is: Salt and deep savoriness, and it smells far stronger than it tastes once it is in something. A teaspoon disappears into a dish and takes the flatness with it. The swap cards below are judged against that job rather than visual resemblance.
Job → candidate → side effects → small test → correct.
1 · Job
What is the missing ingredient doing?
2 · Candidate
Choose the shelf item that replaces that function.
3 · Side effects
Check water, fat, salt, acid, sweetness, and texture.
4 · Small test
Change a spoonful or small portion first when possible.
5 · Correct
Taste again and move only the axis that is still wrong.
Instead · 1
one for one on the soy, a few drops of vinegar per tablespoon
Instead · 2
one for one
Instead · 3
one fillet per tablespoon
These dishes list fish sauce as optional. They were written to work without it, so no ratio is needed and nothing has to be bought.
The company fish sauce keeps in this library, counted off required ingredients. A swap that argues with the top two is the wrong swap, whatever a chart says.