Tet is coming, I miss my grandmother's fake dog meat dish.

She has a talent for cooking very well. Among those delicious dishes, I am most impressed with the fake dog meat dish.

Amidst the lingering cold of winter, the yellow chrysanthemums bloomed all over the hills, signaling the arrival of spring in the vast Central Highlands. The bright, joyful and bustling colors of spring spread and crept into the small kitchen, reminding me of my grandmother.

It has been three years since the terrible stroke that suddenly struck her, leaving her paralyzed on one side. Since then, she has been confined to bed, unable to walk or laugh. Her squinting, milky white eyes kept blinking as she looked around, as if trying to remember what had happened. In my childhood memories, she was as gentle and kind as a fairy in a fairy tale.

She has a very attractive way of talking, especially the ability to lead the story in a roundabout way without getting lost in the topic. According to my mother, she used to be very good at trading. She sold salt and fish sauce. At that time, fish sauce was very scarce, so she often bought sea fish to cook into fish sauce to sell to everyone. Not only that, she also had a talent for cooking very well. Among those delicious dishes, I was most impressed with the fake dog meat dish.

I don’t know when I became addicted to that special meat dish, and every year I eagerly look forward to Tet so I can go back to my maternal home to enjoy it. Strangely enough, the name of this dish makes people feel scared and disgusted, but once they taste it, they can’t put down their chopsticks.

I don't know why I keep remembering the memory of when I was six years old, my parents let me go back to my hometown in Nghe An to celebrate Tet with my grandmother. The New Year's Eve offering tray at my grandmother's house on the afternoon of the 30th of Tet was very simple, consisting of only four bowls of white rice, a plate of banh chung (square glutinous rice cake) with bean filling, and a bowl of dark brown meat. When it was served, I only ate a piece of banh chung and did not touch the bowl of meat at all. Seeing that, my grandmother gently put two large pieces of meat in my bowl and kindly said: "You eat, the Tet specialty "fake dog meat" that I made myself."

Because I was very afraid of dogs, when I heard the word "cây" I absolutely refused to eat it. It was only after a long time after my grandmother explained about the "fake dog meat" that I reluctantly opened my mouth to let her feed me. When the meat just entered my mouth, I was captivated by its richness and seductive flavor. The salty taste of shrimp paste mixed with the sweetness of cane sugar, the crunchy ribs of pig's ear, the fatty taste of pig's leg, along with the aroma of galangal and lemongrass, made my saliva flow like a non-stop stream. I chewed and swallowed quickly as if I was afraid the meat would run back out. And just like that, I "devoured" the bowl of meat in a split second without even noticing that the whole family was looking at the empty bowl.

Yet it has been almost three years since I have enjoyed the strong aroma of galangal and lemongrass and the fatty taste of pork cooked by my grandmother. The sudden stroke paralyzed her right arm, so she can no longer cook. In the past, she used to say: "Choa is a go fish person, only knows how to chop big and braise salty food". I also did not understand what "go fish person" meant, so I followed my grandmother to ask. Every time like that, my grandmother would glare at me, then scold me lovingly: "Your ancestors keep asking, go fish people are poor and frugal. That's why they often cook simply, whatever is available". Indeed, the dishes cooked by my grandmother are not elaborate but extremely simple, but each dish is unforgettable and flavorful.

The fake dog meat dish is the most special, it is considered a luxurious, sophisticated dish and is only prepared by her on Tet to entertain guests. Its specialness is shown in all stages from choosing ingredients to processing. She said that to make the meat dish delicious and standard, the meat ingredient must be the hind leg, not the front leg because it has less meat. In addition, you need to choose a little pig's ear to have a crunchy rib flavor and a little shoulder meat to make it chewy and enjoyable to chew. Spices such as galangal and lemongrass must be large, old roots to be spicy, and shrimp paste must also be the original type without mixing to ensure delicious flavor.

Talking about the preparation and processing, it is also quite elaborate. Soak the pig's feet, pig's ears, and shoulder meat in salt water, wash, chop and slice into bite-sized pieces, then put them in a pan with enough oil to fry until golden brown. Once the meat is fried until golden brown, put it in a large pot and marinate it with galangal, lemongrass, minced chili, salt, sugar, pepper powder, Knorr, cane sugar and shrimp paste. After marinating for about 12 hours, put the pot on the stove and turn on low heat until the meat juice thickens and the meat turns dark brown, then turn off the stove. The dish of fake dog meat is usually eaten with hot rice. Every time this dish is prepared, no matter how big the pot of rice is, it will dry up.

The strange thing is that since grandma got sick and couldn't make fake dog meat anymore, every time Tet comes, mom also goes into the kitchen to make this dish. But mom's fake dog meat has a completely different flavor from the one grandma makes. Mom said: "I also season it exactly like grandma, but I don't understand why it's not as delicious as grandma's." It's very possible that when making that fake dog meat, in addition to the ingredients mentioned above, grandma also added in the bitterness and poverty of life, so it's so delicious and rich, right grandma?

It's very late at night, leaving behind my memories of grandma and the special fake dog meat dish on the page, I wish you peace and happiness, grandma. I love and miss you so much.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/ban-doc/cuoc-thi-viet-huong-vi-tet-tet-sap-toi-nho-mon-thit-gia-cay-cua-ba-ngoai-20230116220430456.htm