Frozen meat is always reminded every New Year next to the dishes that have become traditional such as Banh Chung, fatty meat, and pickled onions.
Referring to frozen meat, people immediately remember the typical dish of the Northern winter. This is a cold dish, consisting mainly of pork leg meat, fried pork skin with wood ear, shiitake mushrooms, and pepper. Thanks to the collagen in the pig’s skin, when left for a while, the fried meat closes like jelly (frost), delicious and cool.
Only the cold of the northern winter can match this dish in the most natural way. Many people believe that the origin of frozen meat is the stewed pork leg that was accidentally frozen in the cold of the north wind in late winter and early spring. Since then, it has become a delicious delicacy that has been passed down from generation to generation.
To make delicious frozen meat, housewives have to be skillful in choosing ingredients. The dish takes pork as the main, but must be the hind leg of the pig, the meat is still pink, lean, fat, and skin is harmonious. Choosing a delicious meat is not finished, it must be preliminarily processed to retain the aroma of pork and fat without causing fat. Usually, women will boil a pot of water to blanch the meat, drop in a little salt, onion, ginger, then drop the meat into the blanching. The stench of the flesh will be purified.
The ingredients are of good quality, so the marinade does not need to be too fussy. A little salt and fish sauce are just enough to season the dish. Wood ear, soaked shiitake mushrooms, then sliced to taste, lightly fried with marinated meat is to complete the preliminary processing.
Frozen meat is a dish formed from old house sticky rice, so nowadays, even with modern pressure cookers, cast iron pots are still used to cook frozen meat. The broth is poured over, simmer on low heat and must be skimmed continuously. The pot of frozen meat gives off a fragrant aroma, filled with the smell of Tet. This cooking stage will take a long time, but the result is a pot of tender meat, not cloudy, and the broth is clear.
Skilled housewives will often trim a few pieces of flowers from carrots, put them on the bottom of the bowl, and then pour the cooked meat over. If you add this step, when you turn the frozen meat upside down on the plate, you will see that the carrot flower color is very fresh, delicious and delicate according to the standard of Tet tray display. In the North, the Lunar New Year is usually cold, the meat is left to freeze for half a day.
Delicious dishes are not only in taste, but also in the culture revolving around the rice tray on Tet holiday. Frozen meat arranged on the tray always has an attraction. Clear amber color, pungent Northern pepper smell, light pink meat, soft and fragrant in every fiber, arouses appetite. Eat a bowl of hot rice, roll up a piece of frozen meat, add a couple of pickled onions, a delicious dish that can’t be refused. Vietnamese people value harmony, so even in a meal, whenever there is a full, easy-to-sick meat dish, they must immediately add a bowl of pickled onions and pickles. Only then will the food be harmonious, and the flavor will be full.
Doctor Le Quang Hao, National Institute of Nutrition, said frozen meat contains gelatin good for health, beautiful skin. When eating frozen meat with rice, it should be eaten in moderation. Frozen meat must be stored carefully in the refrigerator compartment. Each time you eat, you should take out the right amount and eat it all, to avoid rancidity and poisoning. Note that frozen meat can only be stored in the refrigerator for no more than 7 days.
After many New Year’s, frozen meat is still a typical dish in the rice tray, so that even though they can eat winter meat in four seasons, people still look forward to Tet to enjoy frozen meat in the cold of the North. . Frozen meat accompanied by pickled onions has preserved the culinary culture of the homeland, forming an indelible tradition.
( According to vnexpress )