Fish sauce is often made from anchovies, salt, and water, and is intensely flavoured. Anchovies and salt are arranged in wooden barrels to ferment and are slowly pressed, yielding the salty, fishy liquid. The salt extracts the liquid via osmosis. Southeast Asians generally use fish sauce as a cooking sauce. However, there is a sweet and sour version of this sauce which is used more commonly as a dipping sauce (see "nước chấm"). Fish sauce in Burma is called "ngan bya yay" (ငံပြာရည်). In Cambodia, fish sauce is known as "teuk trei" (ទឹកត្រី), of which there are a variety of sauces using
Fish sauce rice porridge called "arroz caldo", and as a condiment for fried fish. Patis is also used in place of table salt in meals to enhance the flavor of the food, where it can either be dashed from a dispensing bottle onto the food, or poured into a saucer and mixed with calamansi and used as a dipping sauce. Fish sauce in Thailand is called "nam pla" (). In Isan, it is called "nam pa". Similar to the Laotian "padaek" is "pla ra" (), also used in Thai cuisine. In Thailand, fish sauce is used both in cooking and also served