Fish sauce are made with anchovies, mackerel, scabbard fish and salt. The bigger the fish, the more mercury you might expect, especially if predator fish like scabbard fish. They do not have any additives like sugar, hydrolyzed protein, or preservatives. Vietnamese prefer sauces without a strong smell, and transparent with a deep golden amber color. "First press" fish sauce, meaning the sauce is bottled from the first time the fermenting barrels are drained, also indicates quality. Lastly, when measuring the nitrogen level of fish sauces (N), most fish sauce on the market falls within the mid 20N range. Anything over 30N is
Soy sauce the acid-hydrolyzed vegetable protein variety. In Indonesia, soy sauce is known as "kecap" (old spelling: "ketjap"), which is a catch-all term for fermented sauces, and cognate to the English word "ketchup". The most popular type of soy sauce in Indonesian cuisine is "kecap manis" or sweet soy sauce. The term "kecap" is also used to describe other non soy-based sauces, such as "kecap ikan" (fish sauce) and "kecap Inggris" (worcestershire sauce; lit. "English sauce", due to worchestershire sauce originating in England). Three common varieties of soy-based "kecap" exist in Indonesian cuisine, used either as ingredients or condiments: "Shōyu" is traditionally