duck noodle

The small house is full of love, there are always delicious dishes for grandma to give to her children and grandchildren. Every time I return home, my grandmother cooks pickled duck. “This dish is only available in my hometown. I can’t eat it if I want it here!”. I hugged my grandmother and said: “My family’s number one duck!”.

It’s not that I’m flattering my grandmother, but I find it really delicious. Braised duck is a specialty of Bac Binh, often cooked during Tet holidays and family reunions. The characteristic sour, spicy, and fatty taste is unlike any other duck dish.

My grandmother taught me that if you want to cook well, you must first choose a good duck. Choose the right grass ducks, free-range ducks that only eat rice and insects. Grass duck has thin skin, little fat, sweet and chewy meat, and is fragrant when cooked. The step of cleaning the duck contributes significantly to the flavor of the duck dish. Take the duck home, clean its feathers, mix a mixture of salt, fresh ginger, and white wine and apply it evenly on the duck from the inside out, from head to toe, leave for about twenty minutes to absorb, then rinse. When cooked, the bad smell will be eliminated, leaving only the sweet flavor of duck. Leave the whole duck in a pot of boiling water. Water covers the duck, add a few slices of fresh ginger for aroma.

While the duck is boiling, grandma prepares the spices. It’s garlic, ginger, chili, tamarind, peanuts, fish sauce, sugar, a little bit of everything. Grandma used small purple garlic cloves that were both spicy and fragrant. Old ginger root with tight skin. Ripe red peppers and pound them finely. The sour taste of the broth made from salted tamarind is gentle. Choose ripe tamarind fruits, separate the seeds, marinate with a little salt and put them in a jar. The longer you leave them, the tastier they will be. On the summer side there is a shady tamarind tree, and my grandmother diligently picks up each fallen fruit and saves it for cooking. Mix tamarind with hot water, remove the flesh. Roast peanuts with salt until golden, peel, and pound finely.

After finishing all those spices, the duck is just cooked. Take out, drain, and cut into bite-sized pieces. The duck meat is fragrant and the skin is shiny and attractive. Grandma knows how to give me my head, my insides, and my intestines.

Grandma added the mixture of garlic, ginger and chili, tamarind juice, and peanuts to the duck broth. Season with sugar and fish sauce to taste. Grandma is very picky about fish sauce, never using industrial fish sauce but homemade anchovy fish sauce. Opening the bottle cap, the smell of fish wafts from the kitchen to the door step.

The deliciousness of the dish is partly thanks to the dipping sauce. Grandma made a cup of ginger fish sauce, both to dip the duck and to reduce saltiness and sweetness when eating. Ginger, garlic, and chili are minced, mixed in a bowl of rich dipping sauce, with an attractive aroma.

For accompanying vegetables, only use coriander and mint. Grandma cut the vegetables into small pieces to put on top, not into the broth, as it can easily become bitter.

Unlike other dishes that are eaten hot, pickled duck is delicious when eaten warm. Put some vermicelli leaves in a bowl, pour in the seasoned broth, sprinkle some vegetables, a few roasted peanuts, and the pickled duck dish is ready to fill your stomach.

Looking at the bowl of noodles, my stomach kept churning. The smell of duck mixed with the smell of vegetables and mixed spices is fragrant. The fatty, sweet taste of duck juice mixed with the aromatic fatty taste of peanuts creates a very unique flavor. Add a bit of sourness from salted tamarind, a bit of warmth from ginger and chili. Bite into the duck, soft, chewy, fatty, sweet. Eat one bite, want a second one. Suddenly, the bowl of vermicelli was left with only the bottom. The belly is full but the mouth is still hungry. Grandma watched me slurp my food, her hands continuously picking up delicious pieces for me, affectionately. “A few days later, my grandmother made one for me to eat.” I happily smiled from ear to ear.

I once asked my grandmother why it’s called pickled duck. Grandma said the name pickled duck has been passed down in our country for many generations. I don’t know who came up with it, and no one wondered why it was called that way. I thought, maybe it’s because of the way it’s prepared, why is it called that?

Braised duck dish is interesting in that the main ingredients are the same, but each family’s cooking style is different, creating a family heirloom dish. Some people add tomatoes to create an eye-catching red color, some people add pineapple, which not only increases the acidity of the broth, but also adds beauty to the surface. Vegetables are also added depending on your preference. Personally, I still like my family’s recipe, simple but delicious. Perhaps it is seasoned with a special spice, which is my grandmother’s immense love.

Pickled duck is not only a dish, it is also a way to recognize people from the same hometown. Stepping out of the banks of the Luy River, pickled duck is like something very strange, no one knows about it. If somewhere there is pickled duck, it is for a child from Bac Binh who wants to become a bride or start a business. Cooking pickled duck helps children remember their roots, and is also a way to relieve themselves of the loneliness of the countryside. home. In the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city, if you suddenly hear someone say the words “beamed duck”, you immediately know that they are people from your country, or at least, they have visited and met that beloved villager.

Sometimes my grandmother cooks pickled duck and sends it to me. I don’t understand why it’s still the same duck, the same recipe, but eating a bowl of vermicelli in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the streets, doesn’t feel as delicious as eating in the kitchen at home. Where there is a busy figure of my grandmother, always doing this and that. Telling my grandmother to come in and rest, she shook her head and only rested when the front and back alleys were clean without any trash, the cups and bowls were shiny with no grease stains, and the cutlery was sharpened to a sharp edge. Grandmother’s place saves every gift from the countryside, a portion for her children and grandchildren when they return, or sends it to someone who lives far away, “so they don’t crave it”.

Now my grandmother has returned to the realm of nothingness. The recipe for braised duck was passed down intact to my aunts. In that same kitchen, looking at my aunt busily preparing pickled duck, I was reminded of my grandmother’s appearance. Remember the loving smile on her wrinkled face, remember the way my grandmother took care of her older grandchildren, whose heads were still small in her loving arms.