Despite its strange shape, expensive price, from catching to processing are meticulous, but sam still becomes a specialty with a strong sea flavor “is loved” by gourmets.
Sam is considered an expensive and valuable specialty, living mainly on the sandy strips in high tide areas. In Vietnam, this creature appears much in the waters of Cat Ba, Ha Long, Can Gio or Quang Yen …
At first glance, Sam looks like a helmet, very thick and hard shell. They have 4 eyes and 8 feet, in which two eyes protrude on the side of the body and the other two eyes above the head are close together. At the tail part, dorsal edge, triangular.
Sams live in pairs, the male cling to the female’s back, wherever he goes. That’s why folk say “stick like sam”. For fishermen, the fidelity of the sam species has become a symbol of marital friendship, solidarity, and noble sacrifice. Therefore, they often catch both sams at the same time. If there is only one individual caught in the net, the fishermen will quickly release it back to the sea.
Ms. Hoang Thuong, a seafood supplier in Quang Ninh, said that she is available all year round, but most of it is from June to September. “If caught in the right season, the female will have a lot of eggs. They are larger in size than male sams, a female sam usually weighs 1.5 – 3 kg, sometimes heavier. And male sam is less than half, only 1-2 kg, “she said.
This small trader also said that the fishing is quite difficult. Sam only lived about 3 days when leaving the sea, so not all diners have the opportunity to enjoy this famous dish.
Previously, sam was not very popular, so the price was very cheap, only a few tens of thousands. In recent years, tourism has developed much more, people know sam and find it interesting and strange with dishes made from this unique animal.
Depending on the time that the price of sam is also different. Sam is sold in pairs, each with a price ranging from 500,000 to 1,000,000 VND. There are days when fishermen catch a little, the quantity of fish is scarce and customers need to find and buy a lot, so the price of “team” is nearly 1,500,000 VND / pair.
The price is cheaper for a few hundred thousand dongs, with low weight, not in the right season, and less delicious meat.
Not only the difficulty from catching but also the processing of sam is quite a feat, if not careful, the dish is “considered discarded”.
Pham Van Phong – owner of a seafood restaurant in Hai Phong with many years of experience in processing sam said that the most important and difficult stage is to remove the liver and intestines.
“Processing must be very careful when cutting flesh. When cutting blood, it is necessary to cut into new rays to not lose the sharpness of the meat. Particularly the liver and intestines are carefully filtered. If accidentally break the liver, Samples, sticking to the meat can cause consequences for people who eat sam foods such as allergies or stomach pain, … “, he said.
According to this man, many gourmet customers are not afraid to spend several million VND on shopping and then ask the restaurant for processing. There are peak days, he “handled” more than a dozen pairs of sam. However, the processing stage is sophisticated and requires concentration and care, so even though the customers order a large quantity, he does not dare to do much. “Safety first, I have experience but not be subjective”.
Sam is a welded crustacean, so when processing, it requires the cook to mix hot spices to rebalance dishes such as garlic, lemongrass, chili, guise leaves, … after removing the hard shell, a portion of the meat that weighs about ⅔ of its original weight will be obtained. From sea pork, the chef will process a lot of different dishes such as sam salad, stir-fried sam with lemongrass and chilli lemongrass, sam vermicelli, crispy sam, …
But the most popular and “favored” dish is the sweet and sour stir-fried sam and sam foot salad. Females in the breeding season usually carry a large, protein-rich egg belly, so they are often processed into baked sam eggs, making anyone who eats once will remember the unforgettable taste.
With sweet and sour stir-fried samsam, after preparing the clean legs, the cook will chop them into bite-sized pieces. The combination of a special chewy sauce that has a sour, spicy, sweet, and rich aroma from the guise leaves makes stir-fried sweet and sour samsa delicious, easy to eat, characteristic flavor, rich in flavor. sea. The shell is soft, so when enjoying it, it is easy to filter the meat, eating like crab is very interesting.
Sam salad is a very effective dipping dish, which is loved by many diners. Vegetables such as cucumbers, carrots, lotus leaves are sliced together with peanuts, chili, and herbs mixed with sam and spicy and sour fish sauce to make the dish more rich without drowning out the strange flavor of the sam.
Many restaurants also process grilled sam to serve the diverse needs of diners. After marinating sam with spices to infuse, people put sam on the grill, rotate the sides until golden ripe, aroma. Diners often eat with grilled sam with pickled grapefruit, chopped radish in vinegar, herbs, crushed roasted peanuts, garlic fish sauce, chili, onion …
Because it is difficult to catch and does not live long in processing, Sam only appears on the menu at some restaurants. Many diners who want to enjoy sam have to accept moving hundreds of kilometers to the sea of Hai Phong, Quang Ninh in order to “item the market” of strange dishes from sam.
Mr. Hoang Cong Huy (Hanoi) shared, once on a business trip back to Hai Phong, he enjoyed a very impressive 7-course feast from sams meat and liked the strange taste of this special seafood.
“The first time I ate but I could not guess what it was, it was not until the restaurant staff introduced and explained that it was sam. After that time, I was so impressed that I asked many acquaintances to buy it. “Buying is also difficult but processing is even more difficult, so now if you want to eat, you only have to find a restaurant to sell to have the opportunity to enjoy,” he said.
Ms. Phuong Linh (from Quang Ninh) confided, luckily, the house near the sea should know the food from sam. “The price of sam is more expensive than lobster, but the taste is difficult for any seafood to match. Those who do not eat it will feel uncomfortable with the smell of sam meat but our family likes it.
Having bought sams from the sea, fishermen have just caught, but we also have to find a professional chef to hire them to process. If you do not dare to do it yourself, it is very dangerous if you do not know how to prepare it, “said the young woman.
However, according to many experienced people, diners should not eat too many eggs and sea samsar at the same time because the toxins in seaweed and seaweed – sam’s food may not be fully decomposed. healthy user.
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