Unique dried pork, split shrimp, shrimp crackers
Arriving at Lich Hoi Thuong town (Tran De district, Soc Trang province), we were introduced by Mr. Thach Ho Xuan Thanh - Chairman of the town People's Committee: "In our locality, there are many delicious dishes that are mentioned by many people inside and outside the province, even abroad, such as dried pork, sliced shrimp, and shrimp crackers".
Ms. Ta Thi Ngoc Thu with dried pork products.
According to Mr. Tam (a local resident), in some places in the province, there are people who make dried pork but it is not as good as the dried pork in Lich Hoi Thuong. Dried pork is a dish mainly prepared by local Chinese people.
Speaking of this unique type of jerky, the origin as well as the earliest development is still Lich Hoi Thuong. To have delicious jerky, you need ingredients such as lean pork, liqueur, sugar, salt and spices.
With the secret of processing and balancing the ingredients, the specific dosage will make the dried meat have a delicious taste. Pork farmers often choose thigh meat, slice it into thin pieces, marinate it with spices until it is absorbed evenly and then dry it in the sun.
If the sun is good, you only need to dry the pork in the sun for two days and it will be dry. Put it in a bag to preserve and eat gradually. If it rains, put it in the dryer.
The grilled dried pork has a fragrant aroma, is spicy and sweet, and a bit chewy and crispy, very delicious.
Ms. Ta Thi Ngoc Thu, owner of Dong Hoa 2 dried pork production facility in Hoi Trung hamlet, Lich Hoi Thuong town, said her family has been doing this business for nearly 30 years. Working year-round, she produces about 10kg of dried pork every day. During Tet, she can produce up to a hundred kilos a day.
Ms. Thu said: "To have delicious dried pork, the first step is to choose the ingredients. The meat to make dried pork is the thigh and cutlet (the delicious part of the pig's back). The meat must be fresh, hot, and just slaughtered.
Next, rinse with clean water and use a sharp knife to slice into thin pieces, about the size of an adult's hand and of moderate thickness, each piece the same, removing all the tendons stuck in the meat, including the fat.
According to her, after completing the preliminary processing stage, the pork is marinated with spices, including salt, sugar, pepper, garlic... according to the family's own recipe.
While marinating, you must adjust each type appropriately to create delicious dried pieces. After marinating, you must wait for the meat to absorb all the spices and then dry it in the sun.
To keep the meat's natural color, use a string to pierce the meat, hang it on a pole and then dry it in a sunny place. About two days of sun drying is enough.
If it rains, dry it. The dried meat can be stored outdoors for two months. If kept in the refrigerator, it can be kept for 5-6 months.
Sausage of Dong Hoa 2 facility.
It is known that to have 1 kg of dried pork, 3 kg of fresh pork is needed. Currently, 1 kg of dried pork is sold for 360,000 VND.
When I asked about the standard of delicious dried pork, Ms. Thu said: "A delicious dried pork is one that, after being fried, has a salty and sweet taste of spices and delicious pork."
Variety of dry products
In Soc Trang, Tran De town (Tran De district) is a coastal locality with the number of fishing boats accounting for nearly 50% of the whole province.
In addition to catching aquatic resources at sea to serve the aquatic resources for the market in and outside the province, local people have taken advantage of the abundant aquatic resources to process famous, local specialties.
These days, the dried village in Cang hamlet (Tran De town, Tran De district) becomes bustling as production facilities prepare dried products for the 2024 Lunar New Year market.
Ms. Tran Thi Phuong, Dung Phuong dried fruit production facility, said: "We make dried fruit all year round, but Tet is the busiest time because the demand from customers to buy for personal use or as gifts for Tet increases."
Shredded dried shrimp.
The prices of dried foods here are also diverse, meeting the needs and budgets of customers. In particular, the most expensive dried food is dried black fish, at this time it is 6.5 million VND/kg, and near Tet it will definitely be higher because this type of dried food is very rare, if you want to use it, you have to order it from the facility many days, even many months in advance.
Currently, dried green eagle costs 1.5 million VND/kg, dried two-bladed eagle costs 900,000 VND/kg, dried squid costs from 1.1 million VND/kg...
Every year, the price of dried fish will depend on the amount of catch of local fishing boats operating at sea, with the price fluctuating between each type of dried fish increasing or decreasing from 50,000 - 100,000 VND/kg...
For nearly a month, Thao Nguyen dried seafood production facility (Tran De town, Tran De district) has been busy preparing all kinds of dried products to serve the Tet market.
Ms. Nguyen Nhu Y, owner of Thao Nguyen dried seafood production facility, said that her family has a large capacity boat for offshore fishing, so the source of raw materials is always available, ensuring freshness and variety. Therefore, the wholesale and retail price of dried products is 5-10% lower than other local facilities.
According to Ms. Nguyen Nhu Y, to make a product with a delicious taste and meet food hygiene requirements, the person drying it must perform many steps from selecting the ingredients to the implementation process such as preliminary processing, marinating, etc. Most of them are done by hand and dried directly under the sun.
This year, due to the decrease in the output of aquatic products exploited by ships and boats compared to last year, depending on the type of dried product, the price has increased, such as: dried squid price increased from 100,000 VND/kg, dried yellowstripe scad increased from 10,000 VND/kg or more, split shrimp increased from 50,000 VND/kg...
Famous dry village of Cang hamlet
Cang hamlet dried village (Tran De town, Tran De district) is a famous place in Soc Trang province for processing and selling dried sea fish, specializing in providing dried specialties such as black stingray, dried anchovy, croaker, buffalo tongue, split shrimp...
Dried foods in Cang Hamlet are always in high demand.
With prices ranging from tens of thousands of dong to hundreds of thousands of dong, even millions of dong per kilogram, customers can easily choose according to their needs.
Mr. Le Thanh Hai, in Binh Tan District (HCMC) said: "We have heard about and know that the dried fish here is delicious and clean, so whenever we have the opportunity to go to Soc Trang, we go to Tran De at any cost to visit and buy dried fish to bring home to eat or as gifts for relatives.
The dried food here is clean, tasty, and processed by hand without using any colorants, so it is very safe and secure."
Mr. Nguyen Trung Nghia (a resident of Cang Hamlet) shared: "The deliciousness of Cang Hamlet's dried food has been famous for a long time. To have delicious dried food that meets food hygiene requirements, the person making the dried food must go through many steps such as selecting fresh ingredients, pre-processing, marinating...".
According to the leader of the People's Committee of Tran De town, the Cang hamlet drying village has been formed and developed for decades, many families have been attached to the drying profession for many years and consider this their main source of income.
Thanks to maintaining and developing the drying profession, many households in Tran De town have had stable lives and become quite rich.
Mr. Ong Tien Chuong, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Tran De town, said: "The coastal town has advantages in exploiting and catching aquatic products. The whole town has 410 fishing boats, including 336 offshore fishing boats with an annual output of over 40,000 tons.
Shrimp crackers in Cang hamlet.
Local people have taken advantage of that resource to process into local specialties. Up to now, the whole town has 12 dried food processing facilities and dozens of dried food stalls throughout the area.
According to Mr. Ong Tien Chuong, the local government is currently reviewing and planning to develop typical dried products into OCOP products.
At the same time, mobilize small and medium-sized production and business households to establish production cooperatives, gradually moving towards building cooperatives to promote production linkages as well as consumption in the market.
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