I've experimented with fish sauce before, just be real careful because even mixed into a marinade, it's so strong and distinctive then you can easily pick it out and after a couple tablespoons it'll completely overwhelm every other flavor.

I'll also say get the higher quality fish sauce, it really makes a difference.

The cheaper fish sauces do not play well with other flavors.

I don't like the liquid smoke myself, that usually turns my batches into Walmart jerky territory.

but I only have ever used q couple kinds and hated them, so I'm sure out of the billion types of liquid smoke there are a couple that are inoffensive.

and there's always personal taste.

what is liquid smoke? is it actual bits of dust?

yep, it's little bits of smoke mixed and condensed into a liquid.

have fun, I hope you have more free time, I agree it's a lot of fun to make the jerky to specification.

[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

Yeah, the trick with both liquid smoke and fish sauce is to use way less than you think you need. You'll notice I'm only putting a teaspoon in about a full cup of marinade, and that's enough to give a very distinctly smoky flavour. You can easily cut that back to a half or quarter teaspoon if you prefer it more subtle.

For fish sauce, I'm going to start out with the same kind of measures. I'll probably go with 1tsp and then adjust up or down from there. If you can taste the fish sauce in the finished product you've used too much. And yes, brand absolutely matters. I only ever use Squid brand fish sauce personally.