First of all, I need a general concept to have a relative definition of nem to avoid confusion. Nem, according to the concept of Thanh, Nghe, Khu Bon people, is a kind of rare meat mixed with rice bran to ferment. Because the world of nem is so much and perhaps I am only proficient in the Northern region with famous types such as nem Phung Dan Phuong, nem nam Giao Thuy Nam Dinh, nem Bui Bac Ninh, nem An Tho Hai Phong...
The main ingredient for making nem is not high-class but mainly pig skin. In the past, pig skin was quite valuable because it was almost as rare as meat, but now it is not very popular. In butcher shops, the skin is usually filtered separately and people do not care much about this side part, but with nem, the skin is the main ingredient, easy to eat, not too fatty, chewy, and takes a long time to get bored.
Usually, the most delicious and fatty things are not necessarily liked by people, for example lean meat, many people do not like it because they find it dry and tough. When my mother was young and not suffering from diseases like diabetes or high cholesterol, she loved eating fatty meat. She said that the fat was as sweet as rock sugar. It is true that a piece of meat that has both lean meat and fat, stewed well and eaten with rice, will melt in your mouth like a slice of ice cream, both sweet and soft. Pork skin has a characteristic toughness and elasticity, looking at the skin that is cooked well, clear, and soaked in all kinds of things, just looking at it makes you feel happy.
The pork skin in Nem Phung is cut into thin, even strips like vermicelli. The unique feature of Nem Phung is the moist and fragrant taste. It is a type of spring roll that is loose and separate, not pressed into a ball. To have a delicious Nem Phung, you must buy it in Phung town, Dan Phuong district, the hometown of poet Quang Dung. Why? Because it is a new type of spring roll, sometimes when customers buy it, the restaurant mixes the spring roll. The fig leaves are young and large because near Phung town there are fig growers near the Tich Giang river that specialize in selling leaves, so it is very enjoyable to eat. The fig leaves are fresh all year round, wrapping the spring roll in them and eating it, you can taste the astringency of the leaves, the toughness of the skin, the sweetness of the meat and the fragrance of the powder. If the same name is Nem Phung and it is sold in the inner city of Hanoi and kept in the refrigerator for a few days, the freshness will have diminished and it is impossible to find the best fig leaves. Nem Phung without fresh young fig leaves to eat with it, the deliciousness will have been relatively lost. That's why the locals have a song:
“Nem Phung eaten with fig leaves
To make people from all over the world remember forever."
In recent years, Hanoi has had some nem shops from other places. Nem Giao Thuy, Nam Dinh is a famous dish. Nem Giao Thuy is rolled into a ball like a child's fist, and when eaten, you gently squeeze it to loosen it. To be pressed into a roll, the nem must be a little wetter, so Nem Giao Thuy is moister and the pork skin is cut larger than Nem Phung. I also like to eat Nem Giao Thuy because it is soft, sweet, easy to eat, has enough garlic and chili, and is also served with fig leaves, perilla leaves or ginseng. Nam Dinh people have brought this nem to many places and sell it in all the corners of Hanoi, but the nem shop I like the most is near Dien market. The young girl from Nam Dinh makes nem very skillfully, not only is the nem delicious but it is also beautiful because she is skillful at cutting, the pork skin is as thin as rice leaves, transparent, almost as big as a little finger, rolled up and spread out like a flower, very attractive to the eye. A rustic dish, made by a girl with a very high aesthetic sense, looks delicious and enjoyable. But unfortunately, in recent years, I went back to Dien market but could not find the spring roll seller. Has she gotten married or changed her job? Although people still sell Giao Thuy style spring rolls, I could not find the spring roll with the skin fibers spread out like a flower. Only then did I know that the dish is delicious but the person who makes the dish is elegant and graceful, so the customers who eat the spring rolls will always remember it...
The spring rolls originating from An Lao, Hai Phong have a different style. This is not a style of spring rolls mixed with powdered rice like Phung spring rolls, Giao Thuy spring rolls, but is closer to Thanh Hoa spring rolls. The difference between Hai Phong spring rolls and Thanh Hoa spring rolls is that Hai Phong spring rolls are not rolled into a long shape but are left loose, usually wrapped in a rectangular shape. The skin is also thinly sliced, transparent fibers mixed with lean meat, wrapped tightly to ferment to a beautiful pink-red color. Hai Phong spring rolls do not have as much garlic and chili as Thanh Hoa spring rolls. This spring roll from the Port City is served with cassava leaves, so it has a very unique flavor. Cassava is a woody plant with many uses. Cassava leaves can cure common diseases because of their high antibacterial ability. People break off small branches of cassava leaves to eat with the spring rolls. For each piece of spring rolls, they pick off a few cassava leaves to eat with them. The slightly astringent, crunchy, fragrant taste of the leaves goes well with the slightly sour, cool spring rolls. The act of plucking each leaf to eat as a salad has its own pleasure and it seems that in every region people find a special type of leaf to make raw vegetables. As I was very surprised when I went to Cao Lanh, Dong Thap and saw people eating bundles of young Lagerstroemia leaves with banh xeo. The feeling of eating a strange dish combined with the special leaf makes the taste special. With An Lao spring rolls, Hai Phong, eating them when they are just slightly fermented is the most suitable because the spring rolls are pleasing to the eye and cool to the stomach. If you let the spring rolls cook for a bit longer, the dish will be a bit tough and sour like Thanh Hoa spring rolls.
Another typical style of nem thinh is nem Bui, Bac Ninh. This type of nem is different from nem Phung in that it is wetter. If nem Phung is almost all skin, then nem from Kinh Bac has both fat and meat. Nem Bui is pressed into a square package, with lean meat, skin, fat, and thinh, the nem package seems to be more nutritious than other types. If nem Phung has a light, airy taste, nem Giao Thuy has a sweet, moist taste, nem An Lao has a cool, slightly sour taste, then nem Bui has a rich, rich taste. Nem Bui is eaten with fig leaves, ginseng leaves, and in the Kinh Bac countryside, fig trees are never scarce, so this type of salad leaf is always generously wrapped in the nem packages. Nem Bui is wrapped in fresh young fig leaves, opening it promises a rich, protein-rich countryside gift, combined with the astringent leaves that are just right and balanced, enough to fill you up.
There is another type of nem, which has been famous for a long time and perhaps everyone knows, which is Thanh Hoa sour nem. Nem from Thanh Hoa is wrapped in an oblong shape like a thumb or bigger. When trains and cars pass through this area, passengers get off to drink water and rest, and almost everyone buys one or two dozen nem as gifts for family and friends. Thanh Hoa nem is only eaten when it is sour, the nem is wrapped tightly, with garlic, chili and a small piece of guava leaf. The main flavor of the dish is skin and meat, the ingredients are similar to Hai Phong nem. Peel off the outer layer of banana leaves and you will see a pretty pink nem, dipped in chili sauce or fish sauce depending on taste. Unlike other types of nem, Thanh Hoa nem is not wrapped with herbs, diners will enjoy a pure nem and people can process it in other ways such as grilling or frying to create new flavors.
There are many more types of nem that I have not eaten, almost every region of Vietnam has its own typical nem and Vietnamese people seem to really like these rustic gifts from the countryside. When I intended to write about nem, a friend asked me, have you eaten nem Dong Anh, Hanoi? Another friend said Thanh Hoa not only has nem chua but also nem thinh, nem nuong which are also very delicious, in Thai Binh there is nem Thai Thuy. And there are also very far away lands in the Central and Southern regions, there are many famous nem dishes that I have only heard of, have not had the chance to enjoy such as nem cho Sai in Quang Tri, nem cho Huyen in Binh Dinh, nem Thu Duc in Saigon, nem Lai Vung in Dong Thap... If you spend a period of time just eating nem dishes, it might take a whole month to finish, and nem dishes in each region have their own characteristics and flavors.
The simple and typical Vietnamese dish is something that we can eat forever and never get bored of, and we can still remember it no matter how many times we talk about it… And it seems that the more rustic and friendly something is, the more it will last?
Source: https://daidoanket.vn/dac-sac-mon-nem-cua-nguoi-viet-10301337.html
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