Meet again the veal dish– a specialty of Cau Mong

Thứ tư, 13/08/2014 16:14

The sautéed veal tenderloin – a specialty of Cau Mong - is naturally sweet and moist, and is beautifully presented.

The sautéed veal tenderloin – a specialty of Cau Mong - is naturally sweet and moist, and is beautifully presented.

Many western tourists in Hoi An didn’t want to try American or Australian, beef but always asked where to get grilled veal - a specialty of Cau Mong. Not only western visitors but also Vietnamese and local people want to try a plate of medium rare veal when they have opportunity to pass by Cau Lau Bridge on the 1A national road in Dien Phuong village, Dien Ban district Quang Nam province.

I am also one of them as I want to try the dish every time I stop by this place.

It is an amazing aroma

Although the Muoi restaurant is serving only one kind of food which is veal and the veal is prepared into various dishes such as grilled veal, stir-fried veal, rice noodle soup with veal and veal bone but it is always crowed. The most impressive dish is the grilled veal because its meat still a little bit pink, soft, moist, light sweet and has a little bit smell of fresh milk. You can eat without any sauce or dip with fish sauce paste or roll with rice paper and many kinds of vegetables which mainly have the sour taste, acrid and spicy such as star fruits, cucumber…any of them still have a great delicious taste. However people here don’t mix grilled veal with “thính”- a rice powder like in Saigon and Cu Chi province.

Chef Ly Anh Tu- head chef of Number 48 restaurant in district 1, HCM City used to have a statement that our wild veal has a special and unique aroma. It is similar with the fresh milk smell which most of cow in the farm won’t have it. Many diners who are good at tasting various foods love the beefsteak in Number 48 restaurant. Although chefs just use only the cow from Cu Chi, Tay Ninh not the cow from Duy Xuyen district in Quang Nam as this restaurant. Therefore it is difficult to taste the difference between them but if you taste it carefully you can feel that the veal of Duy Xuyen has better smell than Cu Chi and Tay Ninh, especially the good smell of fresh milk from the steak.

Only about grilled veal, the shop sold out 3 to 4 cow per day. So there are so many articles writing about this dish. There are some author try to explain and find out why this dish is so delicious like that. Here is the reason why: because they are baby cow that about 5 to 6 months year old and risen along the Thu Bon River where they can eat the fresh and young grass of the spring. However even in the summer time but the veal is already so good so how can we explain about that. Maybe because of the character of the region: weather, soil etc…

However to experienced and foods experts they still have a little bit disappointment about the quality of the veal nowadays. They said that they don’t know why but its taste is only half of the dish made 20 years ago.

The meat of the cow risen wildly along the river always good whatever of dish that it was made of

The most authentic dish should be the “baked” veal

“Exactly” – Writer Son Minh Nguyen from Quang Nam completely agreed with this comment. According to Mr Son, nowadays the way everyone baked the veal is not the same as before because it is just similar with grilling the veal on the coal.

“Rọi” is the traditional way of Quang Nam people called to describe how the veal is grilled or baked. If we do this properly it should take 4 to 5 hours to complete the dish. All the spices that stuffed inside the cow should be more than 10 kinds of leaves such as lemon grass, guava, lemon, grape fruits and “lá é” – its science name in Latin is Ocimum basilicumvar and some of wild leaves such as Syzygium cumini leaves (lá trâm).. We have to use sugar cane tree which has been squeezed all the juice out or straw or the trunk of the corn tree then dried them under the sun then make them become torch as big as the ankle of an adult.

At the beginning the cow will be put near the torch to burn all the hair then it will be put far away from the torch to avoid the veal cooked too well then it won’t be delicious anymore. All chef assistants will try to keep the fire on the torch or move the fan sometimes near and sometimes far to control the fire under coordination of the head chef then use a clean fabric to wash the whole body of the cow. This process will be continued until the whole cow has been well cooked.

But nowadays everyone use boiled water to clean the hair then use a blow-torch to burn the skin then put the veal on the coal. Therefore it couldn’t be as good as before.

Mr Vien Phuc Ung Nguyen- a Chinese doctor that transferred from his ancestor in the Nguyen Age living in Go Vap district, HCM City and his home town is Quang Nam province- also agreed with the comment of Mr Son. According to Mr Vien we should use the bagasse with the proportion as followings: 2/3 dried bagasse and 1/3 fresh bagasse then ties them together then burn. This will help the veal have a better smell.

Mr Son also shared that some of Quang people in his hometown still keep the old technique when they baked the veal. On occasion of Tet holiday, feast or national holiday or a successful harvest season farmers will kill a cow and bake it then open a big party.

The judges were impressed because of the presentation of the “Cau Mong veal” team because of its modern style

Teams won the first and second prizes in the preliminary round of the 2014 Golden Spoon contest.

The first prize: Hyatt Regency, Da Nang. The second prizes were awarded to Pullman Danang Beach Resort; Spa and Palm Garden Resort Quang Nam. It worth VND 30 millions

Won the Golden Spoon award

The Palm Garden Resort team (Team number 11) from Quang Nam also realized the specialty of the veal so they also took this important ingredient to attend the 2014 Golden Spoon contest in the North region in Danang city on August 6th 2014

The head chef Doanh Nguyen of this team modified the veal tenderloin – Cau Mong’s specialty to become sautéed served with fried potato and the sauce made of the broth, red wine, ginger with the brown color looked beautiful.

The food experts Suong Thi Bui – member of the judges commented that “Good techniques and the food is still remained its sweetness, moisture of the veal. The inside of the meat is still pink and the outside is well cooked. It was a pity that you couldn’t keep the crispy of the fried potato because it was put under the meat so it was soften by the sauce.

However food expert Long Thanh Chiem – member of the judges- thought that this dish wasn’t made of tenderloin because there was fat inside the meat. Mr Long gave a high rate of Quang noodle because it is tasty and attractive presentation.

Talented chefs have opportunities to show their skills through the reliable Golden Spoon contest

About the presentation and communication skill of the team number 11 Mrs Suong commented that “I was impressed about the modern presentation done by your team. You know how to use the height of the bowl, plates to emphasize the foods with different level of color. Moreover the presentation was well structure and convincible”

Finally Mr Doanh’s team won the second prize in this stressful and reputation contest. Through this contest everyone found out there is another version of the baked veal dish on its own hometown. It is certainly that this dish won’t be missed in the Vietnam cuisine map thanks to all food experts and talented chefs.

Followed by Tan Toi- Phi Nguyen
The Gioi Tiep Thi magazine


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