Enjoy “Drunk” Fish!

Using alcohol to flavor food isn’t new, but the way some of chefs in Hanoi use wine to make fish and meat more aromatic, is wonderful and met the theme of the contest “Home cooking from the period of integration of Vietnam” in the preliminary round of the 2014 Golden Spoon Contest held on September 24^th 2014.

After having a glance at the menu from the Luc Thuy restaurant (team number 13), Fried Fish steamed with whisky, some people from the Southern region were very complimentary. They thought this was extremely creative. However there is a trick to this. In this instance “Fried Fish” is actually the name of the fish and does not refer to the cooking method. The fish live in streams and rivers in the Northern region like Gam and Hong Rivers. The fish normally shelter in caves or the swirling waters and is similar to hemibagrus fish.

According to Wikipedia, “Cá chiên” has the scientific name Bagarius bagarius and it is a kind of catfish belonging to the Bagarius family. It is found in big rivers in South Asia and Southeast Asia specifically in Mekong Delta, Chao Phraya, and sometimes found in rivers like Salween, Maeklong and Thailand’s Peninsula.

Drunk duck dish has just been prepared but it already looked very delicious

When the fish get bigger the skin and fins normally will have a moldy appearance. “It is a Hong River specialty. Ten years ago the fish was considered big if it was 20 or 30 kg, but now 5 to 6 kg is considered big” said Cuong Duy Nguyen, the Chef Deputy of team number 13, especially if the fish has the yellow color of chicken fat.

However for Northern people love its crunchy entrails the most. It is priced is from VND 800,000 to 900,000 and normally most of the restaurants will buy from suppliers. People fish for it using mashed carp, baby chicken or duck as bait.

In the old days, traditional dishes used fish from the North which is quite similar to hemibagrus, and is cooked with sour bamboo shoots, to make a fish cake. However the chefs from team number 13 tried to create something unique.

They use a wine made from the brown sticky rice which has a pleasant, sweet aroma, as a main spice and use a little salt to season the fillet. This is put into a steamer. It is simple dish but has an amazing aroma.

It is excellent smell to have this fish steamed with rice whisky

In the tasting section, Mr Chiem Thanh Long, a food expert specializing in fish tasting, was very complimentary, saying, “This fish is very delicious and has new taste, for me. It looked like hemibagrus but the flesh is firmer, crunchier and fattier like lamprey.”

Another food expert, Judges Mrs Suong Thi Bui commented, “Maybe because the dish was a little bit over-cooked, the meat was a little too soft. The fish has the advantage of having a lot of flesh, but I wasn’t impressed so much. Sometimes I see it is sold in the Nguyen Tri Phuong market in district 10, HCM City.”

The preliminary of the 2014 Golden Spoon contest in Hanou. There were 15 teams from restaurant and hotels attended. 5 teams won the spot to enter to the semi-final round that included: the 1^st prize that awarded to the same teams of Vietnam Tourism Union (team number 12) and Bach Duong restaurant (team number 10). There were three second prized that awarded to Hilton hotel (team number 3), Sunway hotel (team number 5) and Luc Thuy restaurant (team number 13)

It was similar to the “Drunk” duck of the Hancinco Hotel (team number 6) which was also interesting. The chef boned the meat and seasoned it with salt, pepper and rice wine, before tying it like pork cake. Then it’s stewed in a pot of duck bone broth for one and half an hour on the gas stove or 10 minutes in a pressure cooker.

The sauce was also a complicated item. It was a reduction of sticky rice wine, mushroom, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, green onion and soya sauce. It is a pity that the sauce was quite salty and too concentrated, although the duck was very tender and tasted good. As you can see receiving compliments from experienced judges isn’t easy at all.

When the journey of drawing a Vietnam cuisine map stopped at any place there were always interesting, unique and typical items for that region found, making everyone happy.

Followed by Tan Toi - Phi Nguyen

The gioi tiep thi magazine