Wearing swimming goggles to stock fish, people in Vu Dai village are busy during Tet

Wearing swimming goggles to stock fish, people in Vu Dai village are busy during Tet

Tuesday, February 6, 2024 12:53 PM (GMT+7)

Every Tet holiday, people in Vu Dai village are busy with pots of braised fish, a rustic and nutritious dish to serve people all over the country. With the long time of braising fish, the continuous smoke affects the cook's eyes, so people have to wear swimming goggles.

For a long time, Vu Dai village has been famous for its traditional rustic dish of braised fish. Near the Lunar New Year of Giap Thin, every household in the village is busy braising fish all night long, to serve domestic diners and even for export.

In Vu Dai, there are about 50 households trading in braised fish, of which 10 are large-scale producers, with a quantity of 1,000-3,000 pots per crop.

People said that the fish used for cooking is black carp, weighing from 4-8 kg.

The pot must be made of clay to retain heat and the salty taste of the dish. Each pot of fish is lined with a layer of thinly sliced galangal at the bottom to prevent burning when cooking on the stove.

In each finished pot are familiar spices such as galangal, ginger, chili, lemon, onion, salt, sugar and traditional broth.

Unlike many other traditional craft villages that use electricity and gas as fuel, Vu Dai people still use the traditional method of burning firewood.

Firewood used to cook fish must be longan wood, because this type of wood gives off a high amount of heat, eliminating the smell of baked clay and helping the fish to soften the bones and cook through.

With long periods of braising fish, the continuous amount of smoke affects the cook, so the person braising fish must prepare items to reduce the effects of smoke on the eyes and respiratory tract.

"I've been doing this fish braising job for a while now. At first, I couldn't stand the smoke and difficulty breathing. But after a while, I got used to it, so I just put on my swimming goggles and covered my face and went to work," a fish braising worker shared.

Each batch of braised fish is cooked for 12 hours. The cook constantly checks to make sure the fire is not too high, adding more water and monitoring, if any pot cracks, they must quickly fix it.

"The fish here always has a moderate salty taste and a sour taste to distinguish it from braised fish elsewhere. The salty taste comes from the fish sauce and the sour taste comes from the lemon. The fish braising water is made from the rich taste of pork belly, stewed bones, and crab broth. The salty taste creates the firmness of the fish, the softness of the bones, and the caramel color creates the brown color," said Ms. Huong (owner of a fish braising facility in Hoa Hau commune, Ly Nhan, Ha Nam ).

According to the locals, for Vu Dai braised fish to be delicious, the meat must be firm but the bones soft. To achieve this, it must be cooked over hot coals, the temperature maintained for many hours, and during the braising process, water is continuously added to the fish.

The special thing about Vu Dai braised fish is that if kept in a cool place, this dish can retain its fresh flavor for up to 2-3 weeks without using any preservatives. The finished braised fish dish has an extremely eye-catching color, and when cooled, it does not have any fishy taste. Depending on the size and weight of the fish pot, the price ranges from 700,000 - 1,500,000 VND/pot.

Writing

Source: https://danviet.vn/deo-kinh-boi-kho-ca-nguoi-dan-lang-vu-dai-tat-bat-vao-vu-tet-20240206101721836.htm