Awaken the aroma of snakehead fish with its tail in its mouth

Many ways to catch fish

My hometown people have a saying: I read the Book of Poetry / The fish lies under the grass, I suspect it is a snakehead fish.

Snakehead fish are omnivorous and hardy, so the Dam River ecosystem is a paradise for this fish to thrive, in all layers of deep water, mid-water or surface water. Not to mention snakehead fish can burrow into the mud to hide or jump up to dry fields during the first storms of the season.

Because of this multi-habitat lifestyle, the ancient ways of catching snakehead fish were also flexible. There were all kinds of ways: casting nets, hooks, casts, duck fishing, and catching octopuses.

Walking along the rice fields near the riverbank with lots of sedge, where snakehead fish often bite the grass to make nests, the "fish hunter" released a juvenile duck to pretend to disturb the fish nests.

The mother fish heard the noise and came up to protect it. At the same time, the clever angler discovered the fish's toothpick, lifted the duck up and dropped the hook with the small frog hooked. The mother snakehead fish flew up to take the bait and got hooked. This way of fishing for ducks usually catches big fish, but few people like it. Because catching the mother fish also means leaving the baby fish helpless.

When I was a child, I loved using kerosene lamps the most. On nights when the flood waters rose up to the rice fields, I held the lamp in my left hand and the fishing net in my right. The fish caught by the kerosene lamp stood still and watched, just holding the fishing net and putting it in the basket.

The most fun way to catch people together in the old village was to drain the pond. A few pairs of shoulder buckets scooped water and poured it onto the fields until the pond was dry and the muddy bottom was exposed. Then everyone waded in together to catch them.

Special dish

Snakehead fish is a meaty, firm fish that can be made into many delicious dishes. Sour soup with star fruit, stewed with old bananas, grilled over straw fire with the fish stuck upside down so the fish head cooks first, or filleted and cooked with Quang noodles… All are sweet and full of the rustic flavor.

But the best dish for me is the famous grilled snakehead fish with ginger fish sauce - a wonderful dish that my mother often meticulously prepared on the days before Tet.

Choose the Dam River snakehead fish that are about the size of a wrist. Scale and gut the fish, cut off half of the head, rub with coarse salt and a little lemon juice to remove the fishy smell, wash and drain, and make light diagonal cuts along both sides of the fish's flank. This cut, in addition to helping the fish absorb the seasoning, also helps the fish's body to be easily rounded and the tail to be held in place in the next step.

After marinating the spices (crushed fresh turmeric with shallots, peanut oil, fish sauce, sugar...) evenly into the cuts, my mother used her hands to shape the fish body into a circle so that the fish's mouth had to cover the tail, then used a bamboo stick to poke horizontally through the body to lock the circle of fish so that it wouldn't come loose, and also had something to hold onto when grilling. On the charcoal grill, the fish meat gradually shriveled and became firm, slowly and evenly cooked from the outside in, just cooked inside but ensuring the outside wasn't burnt.

Grilled and set aside, when ready to eat, take it out and de-compress it with peanut oil, simmer over low heat with a little crushed or shredded fresh ginger...

Looking at the golden fish rolled on the plate, with a few sprigs of cilantro across, makes my stomach growl. The fish meat is firm, fatty, and has a fragrant blend of turmeric, ginger, shallots, and the smell of smoke from the kitchen fire.

Remembering a time of hardship, most of the meat and fish dishes were often thought of in terms of how to process them to keep them for as long as possible. This braised grilled fish is also an ancient way to preserve food for a long time.

Although it is a rustic dish, it is quite elaborate to prepare. Rustic but Luc Hoa Ngu was still listed as a national treasure by King Minh Mang, so it is certainly not ordinary.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/day-huong-mon-ca-trau-ngam-duoi-3149389.html