Sturgeon hotpot – a delicious dish when coming to Lao Cai

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Under the cold weather in the evening of the highlands, enjoying the hot sturgeon hotpot together is a hobby of many tourists.

Coming to Sa Pa, Y Ty or any other place in Lao Cai, visitors can easily enjoy the famous sturgeon hotpot. This is a suitable dish in the cold weather in the highlands in the evening.

[sturgeon hotpot is a favorite dish of many tourists when visiting Lao Cai.  Photo: Hoang Danh Dung
[sturgeon hotpot is a favorite dish of many tourists when visiting Lao Cai. Photo: Hoang Danh Dung

According to skilled chefs, what makes the dish so attractive is the fish. Processed sturgeon must be fresh fish, with clear eyes, and fish scales still attached to the body when purchased. The body of the fish must be shiny and strong, the color is bright, the gills of the snapper and the flesh of the fish must have good elasticity.

After preliminary processing by removing intestines and gills, the chef will use salt and vinegar to rub all over the fish for a few minutes, then rinse and drain. Next, the fish is cut into bite-sized chunks to drop into the hot pot.

The delicious broth is also what helps a restaurant selling hot pot become attractive. The standard hot pot must be clear, sweet, sour and fragrant with pineapple and other spices. In the area to the top of Co San, instead of using instant noodles to eat hot pot, diners will be served a type of vermicelli made from ground tubers of local people. This type of vermicelli is as big as a little finger and often has to be submerged in the broth for more than 10 minutes before it can be eaten. In return, the dish is chewy, chewy, imbued with the sweet and sour taste of hot pot and is loved by diners.

In addition to being used as a hot pot, sturgeon is also processed into porridge and deep-fried.  Photo: Phuong Anh
In addition to being used as a hot pot, sturgeon is also processed into porridge and deep-fried. Photo: Phuong Anh

In addition to shiitake mushrooms, celery sticks, tomatoes, and cabbage served, Lao Cai sturgeon hotpot also has cabbage and other vegetables grown in the mountains, picked by the people to eat with. These vegetables are bitter, crunchy, and very suitable for hot pot. Sturgeon in addition to cooking hot pot, restaurants also process it into other dishes such as salt-roasted, deep-fried or cooked with porridge.

Some of the shops selling dishes made from sturgeon are Tinh Tue restaurant (Lao Cai city), Y Ty Dai thousand Homestay (Nhi Co San, Bat Xat) or Cau May 2 (SaPa). The average price for each meal is about 100,000 VND per person.

At some restaurants, salmon is also served together when guests order sturgeon hotpot.  Photo: Phuong Anh
At some restaurants, salmon is also served together when guests order sturgeon hotpot. Photo: Phuong Anh
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