The secret to making delicious "tongue-aching" fish sauce from people in Nghe An coastal village
(Baonghean.vn) - People in Quynh Di ward (Hoang Mai town, Nghe An) have a traditional profession of making delicious dried shrimp, famous throughout Nghe An, with a special, unique secret.
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| Coastal people here have a long-standing profession of hunting clams to make crab sauce. Photo: Viet Hung |
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| Mussels are a species of crab family, living in concentrated areas of mangrove rivers in coastal communes. Mussels grow a lot from around June to September. Photo: Viet Hung |
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| When the tide in the mangrove rivers goes down, people gather to catch clams, using fishing rods. On average, each person catches 5 - 10 kg of clams per session. Photo: Viet Hung |
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| The clams are brought back, washed, drained, then the shells are separated, and the roe is removed into a bowl before being processed into floss. Photo: Viet Hung. |
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| The crab legs are separated and the hard edges are cut off to make it easier to grind. Photo: Viet Hung. |
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Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh, a fish sauce maker in Quynh Di, said: "Caught fish are processed into fish sauce with a very simple recipe, but whether it is delicious or not depends on each person's secret; just a little bit of salt or fish sauce is missing and the delicious taste is lost." Photo: Viet Hung |
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| . Once the entire body of the clam is separated, the important step is to pound it. Currently, most households use a machine to grind it. According to people, when the clams are mashed, they are scooped into a basin, for every 1 kg of clams, add about 100 grams (100 grams) of salt, mix well, then cover tightly and leave for about 2-3 days. After the incubation is complete, the meat and liquid are collected, the residue is separated and then left to dry outside for 3 months until ripe. Photo: Viet Hung |
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| According to local people, to have a delicious fish sauce with a strong salty taste of the sea, the fish sauce must be dried outdoors. Processed purely, without mixing with rice bran or yeast, Quynh Di fish sauce has a unique flavor. Quynh Di currently has about 20 households working in hunting and processing fish sauce. Currently, 1 kg of fish sauce is sold for 250,000 VND. Although this is not the main profession, it helps people have extra income, from 3 - 5 million VND/household/month. Photo: Viet Hung |
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| Fish sauce is used to dip boiled sweet potato leaves and eat with hot rice; when mixing fish sauce, depending on taste, add sugar, lemon, and chili. The fish sauce at that time is imbued with a salty, strong, aromatic flavor mixed with a bit of sourness from lemon, awakening the tingling sensation on the tip of the tongue thanks to garlic and chili... really attractive. Photo: Viet Hung. |
