Pioneer in turning rustic dishes into specialties

Recently, many models of making smoked snails have been born and developed strongly in Vinh Long and Dong Thap provinces, and recently in Can Tho city. With the model of "Miss Ut's smoked snails", Ms. Dang The Quynh Anh has successfully "put to sleep" tons of snails each year. This rustic dish has now become a specialty sought after by consumers.

The "sleeping" area for snails of Ms. Dang The Quynh Anh's family.

GO FROM FAILURE TO SUCCESS

According to the custom of the people in the West, people often catch and clean the snails, then hang them on the stove. Under the influence of smoke and heat from the wood stove, the snails gradually dry out but do not die, but fall into a state of "hibernation". Thanks to that, the snails can be preserved naturally for many months without water or preservatives.

No one remembers exactly when this dish of grilled snails or snails hanging on the kitchen racks appeared. Adults only told us that every flood season, when the fields began to dry up, people would catch snails and store them by hanging them on the kitchen racks, waiting for the dry months or Tet holidays to use them. With its delicious, crispy, fatty flavor, grilled snails gradually became a specialty of the southern region.

Having enjoyed the grilled snail dish, along with information about this model through the media, Ms. Quynh Anh and her husband sparked the idea of ​​starting a business with this rather new model.

In 2019, Quynh Anh began experimenting with making snails in the traditional way taught by her parents, first with only a few dozen kilos. She failed many times, sometimes the snails died en masse because she bought weak or too young snails; without a technical background, she could not even distinguish which types of snails were capable of "hibernation".

With the mindset of “teaching a profession”, Ms. Quynh Anh researched, learned and gradually realized that snails can only “hibernate” if they are strong, fat and well-nourished before being hung up in the kitchen. From there, she improved the technique by spreading straw and rice husks under the floor, combining some devices to help control the temperature and humidity in the room. Every day, Ms. Quynh Anh proactively checks to remove weak, sick or dying snails so as not to affect the other snails.

The secret to keeping snails fresh for a long time, as shared by her, is to let the snails "sleep" in dry, cool conditions after being cleaned. Then the snails are kept in a waiting state, the nutrients from the tail are pushed up to nourish the body, so you can see the snail's body is white and beautiful, the meat is also tastier than usual, not fishy or has the muddy smell of newly caught snails.

In addition, the raw material for producing kitchen snails must also use snails from the middle to the end of the flood season; the reason is that during this time the snails' bodies accumulate enough nutrients for the hibernation process. However, not all types of snails can produce kitchen snails with high quality and survival rate.

Once the technique is mastered, the loss rate of kitchen snails is reduced to 30-50%, and the output of successfully "sleeping" snails increases. Up to now, on average, Ms. Quynh Anh imports about 6 tons of raw snails each year, bringing about 3-4 tons of finished kitchen snails to the market.

BRINGING QUALITY PRODUCTS TO MARKET

In 2023, seeing that the model had stabilized, she officially opened a business store under the brand name "Miss Ut's grilled snails". Currently, the product is supplied to about 30 wholesale customers in Can Tho, including convenience stores, restaurants, tourist areas and neighboring localities. In addition, some northern customers also choose grilled snails as gifts.

To have quality input materials, Ms. Quynh Anh did not hesitate to travel hundreds of kilometers to upstream provinces such as An Giang and Dong Thap to buy snails. This is considered an important input step to have the highest quality products, contributing to increasing the value of products to consumers.

After being imported, the snails are soaked in water for 6-8 hours to remove impurities, then placed on shelves for light activity and put into a "sleeping" room. After 7-30 days, the snails begin to fall into a "hibernation" state. After about 2-3 months, the snails are taken out, their shells are cleaned and packaged into finished products of 500g and 1kg, with a selling price of 220,000 VND/kg.

Mr. Le Thanh Tung from Vi Thuy district, Hau Giang province said: Once he went to Can Tho for work, he accidentally sat down to eat with friends and enjoyed the grilled snail dish. According to Mr. Tung, although the snail dish is not strange to him, this was the first time he enjoyed the grilled snail dish of Co Ut's establishment. "The taste is really strange, delicious and chewy, without any fishy smell, it really brings an unforgettable feeling, especially with the characteristics of Western products", Mr. Tung shared more.

Ms. Quynh Anh also shared the secret to making delicious grilled snails: after washing, soak the snails in a mixture of milk and chicken or duck eggs. After about 30-60 minutes, the snails will absorb all of the above mixture and can be processed and enjoyed.

From an amateur, Ms. Quynh Anh has now become one of the pioneers in applying the model of producing grilled snails at home, opening a new direction for the grilled snail business in the urban areas of the West. The rustic dish has become a local specialty, which is the interesting journey of the grilled snail. A delicious dish with a memorable smell, so that tourists coming to the West to eat grilled snails will remember forever, talk about it forever...

According to nhandan.vn

Source: https://baoapbac.vn/kinh-te/202506/nguoi-tien-phong-dua-mon-an-dan-da-tro-thanh-dac-san-1044452/