After heavy rain, people in the rice district of Nghe An go to the fields to hunt rats as a 'specialty'
(Baonghean.vn) - After a day of heavy rain, people in Yen Thanh district (Nghe An) are busy going to the fields to hunt for "special" rats - a famous culinary dish in this countryside.
Due to the impact of the storm, Nghe An area has heavy rain, when the water in the fields rises, making it impossible for rats to find food, it is also the time when field rats go into burrows on the banks of the fields to take shelter. This is also the right time for rat hunters to "practice their profession".
After a heavy rain, waiting for the sky to brighten, a group of 4-5 "rat hunters" in Yen Thanh prepare to go out to the fields to hunt.
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| After days of heavy rain, people in the rice fields go back to hunting rats. Photo: Duc Thanh |
Tools tomouse huntingIt is also very simple, including a hoe, a bucket of water and a sack to hold the mouse. To hunt mice effectively, you must know their habits. Mouse holes usually have 1-3 recesses, mouse hunters just need to cover the remaining recesses with soil and then choose the main hole, take a bucket of water and pour it in. Using a bucket of water to fill the hole will cause the mouse to suffocate, the mouse will be afraid and rush out to the main hole, at that time, mouse hunters just need to use their "specialty" to catch the mouse.
Holding up his hand that had just been bitten by a rat and was bleeding, Mr. Ho Van Tra (born in 1987, Tho Bang hamlet, Duc Thanh commune) said: "To catch a rat, you need to grab its head or tail and then rotate your hand 360 degrees so that the rat is dizzy and cannot bite it. If you are not careful, when the rat panics and runs out of its hole and grabs its leg, it will be bitten immediately."
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| A rat hole is filled with water, waiting for the rat to suffocate and run out; catching rats by hand often results in hunters being bitten. Photo: Duc Thanh |
According to their habits, field mice often live in groups, so there are usually 2-3 holes, but there are holes that can hold about 9-10. Just hunting for a few hours, if you are lucky, you can find a nest of mice, if you catch dozens at once, it is considered a "bumper harvest" that day.
Field mouse meat is now not only a daily food for families in the countryside of Yen Thanh but also a “specialty” dish in some restaurants. The delicious type of mouse today is only eaten by field mice. Because this type is not as smelly and dirty as sewer rats, moles and is not as small as mice.
They live in cool places, mainly eat agricultural products and natural foods (such as crabs, snails, etc.), and do not eat foods containing chemicals like many industrially raised animals.
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| This “specialty” is now processed into many different dishes depending on taste. (Photo: Mice are marinated in spices and grilled on a charcoal stove). Photo: Duc Thanh |
After the field mice are roasted until golden brown, the skin is peeled off. Then the belly is cut open to remove all the intestines. The Yen Thanh people process the mouse meat into many attractive dishes such as: fake dog mice, stir-fried mice with lemongrass and chili, minced mice, fried mice.... On this occasion, when returning to the rice fields, everyone will enjoy these dishes.attractive dishes made from field micewhich locals call a countryside specialty after the harvest.
