The motherlode.
The stuff that tests your commitment to serious Thai cuisine (and most serious Far East cuisines.) The line that separates the women from the girls.
The initial smell while frying? Intense; not entirely unpleasant but decidedly an acquired taste.
The initial smell while roasting? Over-the-top intense. Definitely a test of character and commitment to the culinary arts.
The taste? Indescribably silky-smooth "mouth feel" that is completely impossible to replicate + a layered complexity to the dish + umami up-the-wazoo.
How is it made? Perhaps you don't care to know in the spirit of not wanting to know how sausage is made. If so, bailout now.
Basically, there are these tiny shrimp called keuy, and they are macerated with tons of sea salt, and left to dry. The stuff is then macerated again with more salt, and left to dry, and so on and so forth until you get the above smooth dark-brown almost-purplish paste.
The stuff lasts pretty much indefinitely. Nothing is going to grow in that amount of salt.
The quality of the ingredients matter as does the care taken to produce it. Folks in the "know" are just as sniffy and snooty about their shrimp paste as they would be about the finest parmigiano-reggiano, or the finest miso or the finest mangoes.
Just for the record, here's a translation table:
Indonesian: terasi
Malay: belacan
Vietnamese: mắm tôm
Filipino: alamang
In practice, the CC has most commonly encountered the Thai + Malay words. Why, he cannot possibly tell you.
Go forth and enjoy. May all your sauces be rich and complex.
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