"Remember to buy Cua Lo fish sauce"

(Baonghean) - Every time I have a chance to go back to my hometown, maybe for a death anniversary or a business trip, my mother, my aunt and many friends and colleagues tell me that sentence. I remember one time when I returned from my hometown, I received a surprised look from a taxi driver: "Are you selling fish sauce?"...

I remember the day I invited my parents to Hanoi to live with my husband and I more than 10 years ago, my mother kept thinking: "Let's just let your parents live in the countryside, there is still the fish sauce business, my child, leaving the fish sauce business makes me very sad, when one person is missing then we will know..." Knowing that my mother missed her hometown and her profession, my two sisters and I had to keep encouraging her. We were children of a fishing village, attached to the sea since childhood, growing up thanks to the fish sauce jars my mother worked hard to make, more than anyone, I understood what my mother was thinking. But the three of us sisters all started a business in Hanoi, leaving our parents in the countryside was not acceptable. In the end, my grandparents also agreed with their children's wishes. The day my mother left my hometown, I saw her standing hesitantly in front of the salt tanks in the garden. She opened each cap, as a habit over the years, even though there was no more fish sauce in them...

Aunt Bien checked the annealing tank.

My family's meals are never without the taste of fish sauce from my hometown. Every time I see Cua Lo fish sauce on TV or in the newspaper, my mother's face always shines brightly. "There, you see, Cua Lo fish sauce is delicious, soaked in sesame seeds to protect against the cold for people going to sea in winter, and to treat stomachaches from wind and storms." She repeats what people have written and said with obvious pride. Every time she misses her job, my mother calls my aunt Bien to ask about the village, the sea and the making of fish sauce. Whenever I have a chance to go back to my hometown, my mother reminds my aunt to bring fish sauce as a gift...

And this time, having just finished the conference in Cua Lo, I hurriedly stopped by Aunt Bien's house. My aunt lives in Hai Giang 1 block, Nghi Hai ward. From the beginning of the alley, I could already smell the salty scent. Aunt Bien's yard was filled with round fish sauce tanks, so big that an adult's arms couldn't hold them all. My aunt was bending over, opening each hat on top of the fish sauce tanks to welcome the sunlight. Looking at her, looking at the brown fish sauce tanks, I felt like I was reliving my childhood, like I was reliving my mother from the past. My uncle Thuong came out of the kitchen, welcoming me with a warm smile: "Knowing you were coming home, I came home early to cook rice, I've been waiting for you for a long time." I said I wouldn't eat yet, I'd come home to watch you and your aunt make fish sauce.

My uncle led me to the yard: "This year, my aunt and uncle invested in making more, my child. There are nearly 100 fish sauce tanks, many types of fish sauce, my child." My uncle picked up a fish sauce tank and showed it to me: "These are fish sauce tanks with high protein content (20-30 degrees of protein) that are ready to eat, can be stored for a long time, and still retain their delicious flavor year after year." My uncle used the tip of his chopsticks to dip a bit of fish sauce and brought it to my mouth. "So fragrant", hearing me compliment, he laughed out loud: "Praising the fragrant fish sauce, you are truly a country fisherman!" My uncle said this is fish sauce made from anchovies. When the anchovy season comes (April every year), after returning from the sea, my aunt and uncle sit and pick up fresh, fat anchovies to make fish sauce.

My uncle said: When I was a child, I followed my father to the sea to fish. The first trip was when I was only 8 years old. At that time, I only thought about going to see the sea, to know what fishing was like, so everyone in Nghi Hai fishing village bought a boat to go out to sea. It was also the first time that the 8-year-old boy knew about anchovies. It was because he was exhausted from the wind and waves that my uncle heard his father shouting loudly: "This batch is all anchovies, grandma." My uncle asked: "Is it a fish as small as a grain of rice, dad?". "See, it's a type of fish as small as a finger, ivory white in color. This type is used by my mother to make very delicious fish sauce." As he grew older, my uncle learned to love his mother's fish sauce making job even more. Every night, my uncle stayed up to watch my mother marinate the fish, measure the salt, and even make the fish sauce jar covers... When he was 10 years old, he was already proficient in making fish sauce. My uncle said that the traditional criteria for evaluating the quality of pure fish sauce is the protein content. Good fish sauce must first of all not have a bitter taste, accompanied by a high protein content, then must have a characteristic smell without being fishy. It is a harmonious combination between the freshness of the fish with the moderate salty taste of sea salt, and the sunlight. Due to the land, the water, the sea, the sunlight and the hands that salt the fish, Cua Lo fish sauce always has its own characteristic flavor and color, not mixed with any other fish sauces from other regions.

To get a golden-yellow fish sauce with a brownish color and a distinctive, rich aroma is a arduous process, exposed to the sun, wind, and dewy nights. I, Duong, told: The first step is to wake up early, the people of the fishing village wait for the fishing boats to return from the sea to buy mackerel and anchovies, which have a lot of protein. If you buy fresh fish, not yet frozen, the fish sauce will have a fragrant aroma even when it is not cooked. Even in less sunny weather, the fish sauce will still be fragrant because you bought fresh, green fish. The fish used to salt the fish sauce is not washed to preserve the original sweetness of the fish. The salt used to salt the fish must be white and clean. Therefore, every family that makes fish sauce builds a small, high, clean cell to store the salt. When the season comes, white, dry fish is bought and stored to make fish sauce all year round. One ton of fish is equivalent to 2 quintals of salt. After the fish and salt are mixed well, they are put into the tank.

Using a grid (a grid made from new bamboo stems) and stones pressed tightly together, about 3 days later, the fish sauce and salt from the tank flow out. Every early morning, the fish sauce maker in Cua Lo sea takes the water and divides it into small jars and leaves it to dry in the sun until evening, then pours it into the fish tank. Doing this continuously for a whole month, the fish sauce is finished, achieving a high protein content. After 12 months, the fish sauce is ripe, the fish sauce drips drop by drop through a bamboo tube that the fish sauce maker has drilled a small hole with a bamboo tube attached, below is a large tank to catch the fish sauce. Bottles, jars, and pots containing the fish sauce are also quite important, they must be rinsed and cleaned with boiling water, and dried in the sun. Because, if just one drop of water gets into the fish sauce, it cannot be stored for long. In the process of making fish sauce, it is absolutely necessary to not let foreign water get in, the fish sauce will not meet the standards. Therefore, the fish sauce maker must always be aware of, guard against rain and wind, and weather...

While engrossed in conversation, my aunt came back in to prepare the rice, then called us in to eat. My aunt and uncle treated me to some very attractive local seafood dishes: fried squid with fish sauce, boiled squid with fish sauce, and sweet and salty fried squid... It had been a long time since I had smelled the aroma of a drop of fish sauce just scooped out of the jar, a golden color in a white porcelain bowl. Looking at me enjoying the delicious squid dipped in the fish sauce of my hometown, my aunt smiled happily and boasted: "Nowadays, not only Nghi Hai ward makes a lot of fish sauce, my child, in Nghi Tan, Nghi Thuy... every family that makes fish sauce has at least fifty or seventy batches of fish sauce, it's very busy, my child. Fish sauce dealers place orders, restaurants, hotels, and families also buy a lot, especially during the tourist season. Guests coming to Cua Lo for vacation, before returning, do not forget to buy a few liters of fish sauce, some people order dozens of liters, then people from the South and the North call back to ask to send the fish sauce by car, just need to contact the car company, spend a few tens of thousands of dong on the fare and you will have the fish sauce of my hometown right away". My aunt's sincere joy also made me happy.

I just realized that, even though they have been away from home for a long time, my parents still have not forgotten the taste of their hometown fish sauce. Many people from far away have come here, longing to return, also remembering and craving the taste of my hometown sea, because the deliciousness of the fish sauce is also imbued with sincerity, with the hospitality of the people...

The cool breeze from Cua Lo beach blew in, carrying the aroma of someone’s boat just hauling in a batch of mackerel and anchovies. I took a deep breath of the scent of the sea and felt strangely refreshed. Outside, my aunt and uncle were busy with the fish sauce tanks, enjoying the sunlight, their shadows tilted in the sunlight…

Article and photos:An Ngoc