Quang Nam About 150 households in Binh Minh commune, Thang Binh district buy tons of squid from fishermen every day to steam and sell to the market.
At 4am in mid-July, 62-year-old Tran Thi Yen from An Tan village woke up and went to Binh Minh fish market, 500m from her house. The market is held on the sandy beach, where dozens of boats come ashore to sell seafood after a night of fishing. The market only operates in the summer, attracting hundreds of people buying and selling seafood before sunrise.
People go to Binh Minh fish market to buy squid, then sort and bring it home to steam. Photo: Son Thuy
Looking for ship owners she has known for many years, Ms. Yen chose to buy cuttlefish, a type that is abundant in the central coast from February to early June of the lunar calendar. Unlike squid, cuttlefish is only larger than a thumb, with thick, soft and sweet meat.
Fishermen set out to sea the previous afternoon, caught fish close to shore at night, and then brought them in to sell, so the squid was still fresh. The boat owner sorted the squid by size and put them in plastic trays, selling them for 80,000 to 300,000 VND per kilogram.
After more than an hour of shopping, Ms. Yen bought nearly 100 kg of squid and put it in two baskets tied to the back of her motorbike to take home. Her daughter-in-law - Ms. Truong Thi Ly (27 years old) and a worker poured the squid into a basin to process.
After 20 minutes, the bowls were filled with squid with their gall bladders removed, cleaned, sorted by size, and placed in 10 round bamboo baskets. Ms. Ly turned on the electric steamer system, placing each basket of squid into three pots of boiling water. After more than three minutes, the squid were cooked, plump, and pinkish red, and were scooped out and placed on a rack to drain.
Ms. Truong Thi Ly boiled three pots of water to steam squid. Photo: Son Thuy
The work was repeated until 6:30, Ms. Ly finished nearly 30 baskets of squid. "Steaming squid in the traditional way only adds a little white salt to the pot of water," Ms. Ly said, adding that in the past, squid was steamed with a wood stove, but now people have switched to using electric stoves. Steaming with an electric stove boils quickly and is not polluted by smoke and dust, and there is no need to keep track of the time to add firewood.
Steaming squid looks simple at first glance but is quite hard work due to the heat coming from the stove and steamer. "You have to be patient and skillful in each step. You have to clean the gallbladder, otherwise the black color will stick to the squid and look very ugly," Ms. Ly explained.
Ms. Tran Thi Yen puts baskets of steamed squid on her motorbike to take to sell. Photo: Son Thuy
The steamed squid is put into baskets, transported by motorbike to Ha Lam market, the center of Thang Binh district, 10 km from home. The steamed squid can be eaten immediately because it is cooked, or to be more careful, boil it in boiling water.
"Every day my facility buys 50-100 kg of squid to steam. After steaming, 1 kg of squid has about 0.7 kg left. Small steamed squid costs 100-200 thousand VND per kg, large squid is over 250 thousand VND," Ms. Yen said.
In addition to being sold at the market, steamed squid is placed in cold storage or packed in foam boxes and sold in many places. "Squid can be kept for a long time after thawing and still retains its flavor and quality," Ms. Yen said. Her family's income from steaming squid ranges from 300,000 to 1 million VND per day.
For more than 20 years in the business of steaming squid, Ms. Pham Thi Minh, from Ha Binh village, sells about 50 kg of squid every day. The woman, over 50 years old, said that to steam delicious squid, the ingredients must be fresh. "Do not let the squid be overcooked or undercooked. Overcooked squid will have black skin, while undercooked squid will have torn skin, which does not look nice. The whole body of a fully cooked squid is pink," Ms. Minh said.
Steamed squid has a very attractive pink-red color. Photo: Son Thuy
Mr. Le Xuan Toi, Vice Chairman of Binh Minh Commune, said that the locality has more than 100 fishing boats and 150 households engaged in squid steaming. Every day, people in the commune supply tons of squid to the market in the province, Ho Chi Minh City and the Central Highlands. The commune is building the Binh Minh steamed squid brand to expand the consumption market for the people.
People prepare and steam squid. Video : Son Thuy
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