Town delicacies

Phu Tho town nestles along the Thao River, famous for its many hometown specialties. Especially the cakes that have a history of hundreds of years. On every street, on every corner, you can find small shops with familiar dishes, attached to the taste of childhood, the taste of the countryside for the people of the town and surrounding areas...

Ear cake is a specialty of Phu Tho town.

When it comes to the delicacies of Phu Tho town, many people will immediately remember the specialty of Banh Tai. This breakfast has existed for a long time and has now become an indispensable choice for many people when they have the opportunity to return to the town. The cake is shaped like an ear, made from rice cakes, pork filling, easy to make because the process is not too complicated, the tools are not sophisticated, but not everyone can make it with the right flavor. Banh Tai is best eaten on the spot. When the cake is brought out by the seller while it is still hot, lined with a piece of banana leaf or held with bare hands, dipped in mixed fish sauce, bringing a feeling of softness, richness, fat, and aroma mixed in each piece.

Previously, the famous banh tai shop in the town was known to many people as the one at Gieng Thanh of Mrs. Gian Dinh's family in Bach Dang street, Au Co ward. The profession has been passed down through many generations, and currently in the town there are a number of shops that are rated by locals for their delicious taste, almost unchanged: Chien Lap banh tai shop, Phong Chau ward, Phu Tho town; Co Hoan banh tai at Me market, banh tai at Hung Vuong ward market... There are no famous brands, but almost every market in the town sells this breakfast food produced by a number of families in Ha Thach.

Along with the specialty of banh tai, on any street or small alley of the town, you can find breakfast stalls: porridge, vermicelli, glass noodles, pho. Although small, they can always satisfy all customers. There is a type of cake that is also popular among the town's residents: banh cuon. There are banh cuon stalls that have been around for nearly a few decades. That is Ms. Tam's banh cuon stall located behind Sa Dec Secondary School, Hung Vuong Ward. It is both a house and a stall, located in a small alley but many people know it, even those who are not from the town. The quality and flavor of the cakes, the fragrant sausage, the sweet and sour papaya, and the well-rounded dipping sauce have created a brand that not every luxury shop can do. The cakes and sausages are made directly by the owner at home. They are made as soon as the customers arrive to ensure the heat and aroma.

A plate of banh cuon with the rolls rolled just right, not too loose, not too tight, with meat and wood ear inside, still steaming when brought out. To have a soft, chewy cake, she carefully selected the flour, mixed it in the right proportion, when eaten it was chewy and fragrant, without any sour taste. Pick up a piece of cake to eat with a piece of grilled pork on charcoal, add a little papaya and dip it in the bright yellow sauce, the flavor seems to explode in the mouth. In addition to Ms. Tam's banh cuon stall, many people also choose the banh cuon stalls behind Le Dong Primary School for more experiences.

There is a traditional profession that has existed in the town for nearly a hundred years, which is making moon cakes. A year mainly focuses on nearly one month, but the taste of the baked cakes and sticky rice cakes of the shops in the town has been favored by many customers in provinces and cities across the country. Moon cakes have become a gift chosen by many people to give to friends and business partners. The profession of making moon cakes in the town is said to have originated from Mr. Hoang Quy, in Noi Am village, Lien Ninh, Thanh Tri, who went to Hanoi to follow the confectionery profession since he was young. Before 1930, he brought his family to Phu Tho town to settle down, opened a confectionery shop and named the shop Quang Hung Long. Later, his children, Mr. Hoang Ky (son), Ms. Hoang Thi Hue (daughter) and Mr. Ta Quyet (son-in-law), worked together in the Tien Bo Cooperative specializing in the production of confectionery. Production developed, with the permission of the State, Mr. Hoang Ky opened a private production facility named Hoang Van; Mr. Hue and Mr. Quyet opened a confectionery production facility named Ta Quyet. Later, his children and grandchildren developed more confectionery production facilities with the names: Thu Thuy, Tuan Anh, Luan Sang, Hoang Dung, Hoang Cai...

Moon cakes have two types: baked and soft. Each baked cake and soft cake has an outer layer called the cake core and the inside is the cake filling. Everyone probably knows how to make the cake, but to create a brand, it is a professional secret. The careful selection of ingredients, the artistic sophistication in processing is a process of experience and creativity that outsiders cannot know. The standards of flour, the standards of sugar water, then the ratio of powdered sugar, fat, how to choose, how to boil, how long to marinate with sugar, how to get grapefruit flower water, then the ratio to put in the cake... to make the cake have a cool, fragrant flavor, rich but not hard, soft but not soggy, fatty but not boring, luxurious but not too fussy, affordable price, that is Hoang Van, Ta Quyet, Tuan Anh, Kim Lien moon cakes... of Phu Tho town.

The town is small but each dish, each flavor contains the quintessence of hundreds of years, decades as well as the care of the makers. If there is no time to go to each street to feel the culinary features of the town, perhaps many people will choose Me market. After finishing the main market, going down to the end of the market are a series of shops with all kinds of cakes, snacks. From vermicelli, porridge, pho, vermicelli to cakes: fried cakes, sticky rice cakes, rice cakes, rice cakes... to snacks: boiled snails, various sweet soups, papaya salad... This is also the place where mothers and grandmothers stop by after each market visit to buy some food as gifts for their children and grandchildren at home. That is a beauty from thousands of years ago containing the love passed down from their ancestors.

Ha An