Published:  09:09 Tuesday - April 10, 2012

Besides beautiful beaches and charming attractions, Quang Binh is also famous about dishes which make visitors unforgettable. Grilled spring fish is considered one of the tastiest dishes in Quang Binh.

Nhat Le Sea open-handed rewards Quang Binh people with many kinds of seafood such as tiger shrimp, ngua (ngứa) fish, squid… and especially spring fish, contributing to the feature of local menu.

To make the grilled spring fish, people choose the type of fish which is at least 0.5 kg, fat and fresh. Fish is scaled before being operated so that the spices can well absorb inside. People operate fish along the backbone instead of belly side so that when putting the fish up, the fish is soft and the scrammed spices inside the fish exposing with hot charcoal will spread the good smell absorbing into fish. The knife used to operate fish must be very sharp. People must slash straightly, decisively; slashing many times will make the fish crushed. After leaving fish gall, they start to treat and scram fish with spices which includes ginger, garlic, citronella, onion, wild mint leaves… 

The most special point of Quang Binh grilled spring fish is how to grill. People put two sides of slashed fish up, rub to form a layer of galingale powder and rice powder outside the fish then grip it in grill trap. After that, fish has to be grilled with the wooden sticks of rocky mountain. If being grilled with the charcoal of bamboo or of different kinds of wood, fish will not be equally cooked and delicious. People must stick to dry fish to make it gradually, equally cooked. If they are hurry putting the fish too close to the fire, fish will be over burned outside but the inside will not sweet-smelling cooked enough. When extracting the fish into dish, local people have a creation using a thread clawing along the picking direction so that the taken fish is intact, not crushed.

 “One piece left is one piece wasted”. My friend said as well as put a piece of yellow grilled spring fish in my bowl. I lightly have a bite; the fish is very soft, little fat, not greasy and tasted sweeter after well chewed. The dish will be more delicious if enjoyed with white glutinous rice which is not only good-smelling but also soft. The spicy, sweet taste of fish mixed with taste of mint leaves is really unforgettable.