Bac Lieu is not short of shrimp and fish, so when Tet comes, the traditional specialties will become boring. To entertain guests on Tet, the host often grills dried dishes, quickly adding spicy flavor with a glass of spring wine. One of the dried dishes that is currently popular here is dried buffalo.
Famous for its deliciousness
When coming to Bac Lieu, if you ask where to buy famous delicious buffalo jerky, the locals will direct you to Phi Van facility located right at Phuoc Long town market, Phuoc Long district.
Coming here on the days before Tet 2024, visitors will see an old couple, one of them is busy running around drying the dried beef jerky in front of the house. The other is busy packing hundreds of kilograms of dried buffalo jerky to send to Taiwan and Hong Kong.
With the help of my nephews, some are sold online, some are packaged and sent. If anyone wants soft food, please let me know in advance. We make as much as we order, so we can ensure that all products are of good quality.
Speaking to a reporter from Kinh te va Do thi newspaper, 62-year-old Phi Van said: “In the past, I worked in another profession, but suddenly I thought I should research and make dried buffalo meat. Seeing that the income was stable, I followed the profession. However, thanks to its delicious taste, for more than 20 years, dried buffalo meat has been exported all over the world.”
“Every month, Phi Van sells several hundred kilograms to tons to the market. But the most is during Tet, consuming 2.5 to 3 tons is normal,” Mr. Phi Van added.
At that time, they just invited people to try it, found it delicious so they encouraged them to make it on a large scale for business. Gradually, many people got to know about it and ordered it as gifts from their hometown for Tet, and the buffalo jerky business of Mr. Van and his wife became stable like today. Thanks to that, all of their children have finished their studies and are now working far away. "The problem is, when they have stable jobs, none of them come back to help, leaving the old couple alone" - said Ms. Nguyen Thi Theu, 58 years old, Mr. Van's wife.
The secret to building a brand
The couple said that to make the famous buffalo jerky, meat and spices are the two most important ingredients. All steps must be done meticulously by hand. Accordingly, the buffalo meat is only the muscle and thigh meat collected from slaughterhouses around the area. When still fresh, the tendons and fat must be removed so that when eaten, it is not tough and fishy. The spices mainly include sugar, salt, MSG, soy sauce, garlic, chili, and minced lemongrass.
But the most important step to make delicious jerky is the sun drying step. After marinating the buffalo meat with spices, it must be dried in the sun for 3 days (ie 3 days of strong sunlight). After processing and drying, 2.5 kg of fresh meat will produce 1 kg of buffalo jerky. Therefore, the current price of each kg of buffalo jerky is fluctuating from 580,000 to 600,000 VND/kg.
Buffalo meat must be fresh and have tendons and fat removed (Hoang Nam)
“When it rains but the water is not dry enough, we have to vacuum it and put it in the refrigerator to wait for the sun to dry it again. If anyone wants it softer, they can tell us, and we will dry it in a weaker sun. But we absolutely cannot dry it by machine, because the quality of the dried buffalo will be poor, this is the rule. So when it rains heavily, we have to give up” – Uncle Phi Van said.
Speaking to Kinh te va Do thi newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Men, Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Phuoc Long district, said: “Buffalo jerky at Phi Van facility is considered a famous strong brand of the district, loved by consumers for many years. In 2024, the district will support the promotion of procedures to make this item a 3-star OCOP product.”
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