Famous Tan Son stream duck
Ms. Ha Thi Yen, Chairwoman of Xuan Son Commune People's Committee, blindfolded herself to try to identify duck meat. Photo: Duong Dinh Tuong
Blindfolded, still able to recognize stream duck from Xom Nhang
Besides 9-spur chicken, stream duck is a long-famous specialty of Tan Son district, Phu Tho province. With a rich stream system here, many communes have become famous for raising ducks such as Kim Thuong, Xuan Son, Xuan Dai, Thu Cuc...
However, Ms. Ha Thi Yen, Chairman of the People's Committee of Xuan Son Commune, a native of Kim Thuong Commune, firmly asserted that her hometown's ducks were the best, so we did a small experiment together. A duck from Xom Nhang stream in Kim Thuong Commune and a duck from Xom Du stream in Xuan Son Commune were brought to the restaurant for processing.
That afternoon, the meal was served, the highlight was two plates of boiled duck with golden skin. The only participants besides me were a few commune officials. After the cloth was placed over Yen's eyes, everyone picked up two pieces of duck from the two plates and placed them in her bowl.
I noticed that she was holding a piece of meat that she had not eaten yet, but gently brought it to her nose to smell. After eating both pieces of meat, she said: “This is a piece of duck meat from Xom Nhang stream, Kim Thuong commune, my hometown. Although it is still young and only has a quality score of 6-7, the aroma and sweetness are still unmistakable.” The restaurant owner was called to verify and confirmed that it was indeed a piece of duck meat from Xom Nhang stream.
We happily enjoyed our meal. The Kim Thuong stream duck dish was quickly gone. The Kim Thuong stream duck meat was sweet and fragrant, leaving a long lasting aftertaste in our mouths.
That afternoon, I asked for directions to the hamlet of Nhang to find out why the ducks here were so special. The concrete road stretched to the end of the hamlet, with rice fields in their prime on one side and the Nhang stream flowing from Chay Mountain winding around like a green silk ribbon on the other.
Mr. Ha Van Choang, a resident of the hamlet, explained that this stream flows through the communes of Kim Thuong, Xuan Dai, Minh Dai and then flows into the river. On both banks, Muong people often use it to raise ducks, but the ducks of Nhang hamlet are still the most delicious:
“Every family here raises ducks, on average 2 batches per year, each batch has 10-20 ducks, many 100 ducks, one year my family raised a record of 200 ducks. In the past, people raised their own duck eggs and then let the chickens incubate them, but now they mainly buy them from the market with 2 types of white gourds and earthen gourds. When they were young, we fed the ducks industrial feed, after 2 weeks we started to gradually reduce it, switching to rice, cassava, banana stems, for more than 1 month 100% of the feed was self-mixed and processed.
The ducks are released into the stream, fed twice a day, and the rest of the time they dig for snails, shrimp, prawns, and moss, and swim freely. After 2.5 months, the ducks will cross their wings and start to eat, but to be delicious, they have to wait about 4 months. At that time, their skin will be yellow like chicken skin. If it is a white duck, the feathers will turn yellow. When boiled, the meat will be firm, rich, fragrant, and sweet, so you can tell right away when you eat it. White ducks and earth ducks are equally delicious when raised like this, but customers usually prefer earth ducks, while the villagers prefer white ducks because the feathers are easy to pluck.
The same stream, Nhang, flows to Chieng hamlet, just over 1 km away from my hamlet. The duck skin is lighter yellow, the meat is less fragrant and less fatty, although still sweet and delicious; down to Xuan Dai commune, the meat quality is even worse.
Whenever there is a family event such as harvesting or planting, ducks are slaughtered. In festivals, whenever there is meat, there is duck with dishes such as boiled, grilled, roasted, only it is not brought to the altar like chicken. In addition to local consumption, we also ship goods to distant places. With an average selling price of 100,000 VND/kg, each duck breeder makes an average profit of 50-60,000 VND.
Stream ducks past and present
Hearing this, Mrs. Sa Thi Chot, Mr. Choang's wife, joined in: “Since I was a child, I have seen my parents raising stream ducks. Here, when a daughter gets married, her parents usually give her 10-20 ducks for breeding. Before, people mainly raised ducks to improve their meals, but in the past ten years, they have become a commodity. Whenever a flock of ducks is ready for meat, the breeder takes a photo and posts it on Zalo or Facebook so that customers can order. When they pass by and see a flock of ducks swimming in the stream, they ask who the owner is and then go in to buy.
If the ducks are raised by themselves, the meat will be more delicious than ducks bought from the market, even though their skin color is still yellow. In the summer of 2023, the flood water from the mountains returned, the ducks groped around the stream for a long time, when they were butchered, their gizzards were very yellow. Two journalists from Phu Tho came to my house, I treated them to duck meat, after eating, they praised the stream ducks from Xom Nhang as the best and insisted on buying them to bring home. Thanks to raising ducks, my family can save about 10 million VND each year, not to mention the 10-20 ducks left to eat."
Ms. Tran Thi Luyen said that her family used to raise 50-70 stream ducks, then saw the high market demand in 2024, so they decided to pool capital with her brother, each family 20 million to raise up to 1,000 ducks. Because the flock of ducks is so large, there must always be 2 people to look after them to prevent them from getting lost and to prevent theft.
Unfortunately, that year the summer was too hot, many ducks died, and there were too many so they had to sell them wholesale instead of retail, which only cost 70,000 VND/kg, which was only equal to raising 50-70 ducks. Since then, her family has returned to the old scale of raising ducks for easier management. Every 2 months, they raise a batch of ducks, so they can raise up to 4 batches a year.
“The duck you are eating today is mine, it has only been raised for 2.5 months, its wings are not crossed yet, it still has down feathers so the quality is not very good. Ducks have to be raised for over 4 months, their wings are crossed, they lose their feathers, become thin and then grow feathers again, get fat again, have a shiny green neck, and are ready to mate, then the meat will be delicious. I know that, but since Tet, every house in the neighborhood has had young ducks like that, so there is no better type to choose from,” Ms. Luyen explained.
I left the hamlet of Nhang with a stream duck as a gift. It is a pity that despite its fame, Kim Thuong stream duck has no brand, and the households raising it have not been organized into groups or cooperatives to link production to consumption.
Huong Hoai (According to nongnghiep.vn)
Source: http://baovinhphuc.com.vn/Multimedia/Images/Id/127244/Thit-vit-suoi-xom-Nhang-da-vang-nhu-da-ga
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