 A bowl ofbún mắm. | |
| Type | Soup |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Vietnam |
| Main ingredients | Shrimp,fish paste,shrimp paste,rice vermicelli |
Bún mắm is aVietnamesevermicelli soup made from fermented fish calledmắm, sometimes called "Vietnamesegumbo."[1][2][3]
Food reviewer Mike Sula explains, "Bun refers to the steamed rice vermicelli, which can be a bit mushy. But the key to this soup is themam, as inmam ca loc (fermented fish paste) ormam tom (fermented shrimp paste), a murky purple slurry that on its own is one of the most odoriferous substances this side of a tannery fire. But added judiciously to soups or stir-fries it provides the elusive element of deep rounded flavor that puts themam inumami."[4]
The origins of this dish is speculated to have come fromCambodia.[5][6] When the dish came intoVietnam, instead of usingmắm bò hóc as a sauce for the broth, it was substituted forfish sauce usingmắm cá linh ormắm cá sặc to adapt to the local taste by reducing the strong smell and making it easier to eat.[7][8] It has become a southern Vietnamese dish created from theMekong Delta,[9] owing to its use of the unique and specific fish found from the rivers of the Mekong Delta.[10] Bún mắm is usually served along with fresh greens and herbs.[11]
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Food critic Mike Sula described thebún mắm in a restaurant, Nha Hang Viet Nam, inChicago'sWest Argyle Street Historic District (also known as Little Vietnam): "[I] recommend you fill your soup requirement with thebun mam, a.k.a. Vietnamese gumbo, a sour seafood soup not unlike Thai tom yam that originated in the Mekong Delta. It may not best the bowl you'd cool down with in the sweltering damp of Saigon's Ben Thanh market—that one incorporates pork too—but it's a solid one, brimming with eggplant, shrimp, squid, and silky, thinly sliced fish, accompanied by a heaping side of bean sprouts, cilantro, mint, and jalapeños."[4]
A restaurant reviewer in the Boston area praised its delivery at the "Hien Vuong - a needle of a restaurant in a haystack of Vietnamese restaurants that makes up Fields Corner,Dorchester." The critic described this "rarely-found noodle soup whose heady broth is made of pickled/fermented anchovy" as "a huge bowl of murky opaque broth [filled] with thin vermicelli noodles, coarse chunks of skin-on salmon steak, shrimp, and squid. A side of the standardpho embellishments, e.g., sprouts, basil leaves, etc., was presented. Best ways to describe it: Rich, smelly, salty, heady, tangy, sweet & sour, spicy and pungent. Umami-city."[12]
After describing the difficulty of findingbún mắm in theSan Francisco Bay Area, food critic Tim Costner praised a restaurant inOakland, California: "The front-runner for the Bay Area's bestbun mam is probably Bun Mam Soc Trang in Oakland, which really captures the spoils of the Mekong Delta (where the Vietnamese city of Soc Trang is located). Thebun mam at BMST features tender shrimp, earthy catfish, crispy pork, steamed pork belly, and of course, vermicelli noodles. If you've never tastedbun mam, the word "fermented-fish" might still be rolling around in your head. And what about this broth? Well, at BMST, the bun mam broth isn't nearly as pungent as, say, fish sauce. In fact, it's subtle in its complexity and delicate in its flavor. And it will make you forget about all but the very bestpho."[13]
According to Chau, the dish was originally from Cambodia, where the broth was made from mam bo hoc - Cambodian fermented fish sauce.
In fact, many people speculate that the origins of bún mắm lie not in Vietnam but in neighbouring Cambodia, whose Khmer empire once ruled over what is now southern Vietnam.
Nonetheless, instead of being cooked with prahok sauce (crushed, salted fermented mudfish sauce), Mekong Delta' Bun Mam is cooked with the sauce made from moustached danio or snakeskin gourami. That is why the aroma is not as strong as the original version and easier to eat.
Bún mắm is a southern Vietnamese dish, thought to have originated in Sóc Trăng Province, in the Mekong Delta.
One of the things that southern Vietnamese dishes (especially soups) are famous for is the plethora of fresh greens that they are served with. Even by southern standards, bún mắm is accompanied by a jungle of leaves, stalks, stems, flowers and herbs. These come on a separate plate, either uncooked or blanched in hot water.
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