It is not just the culture and royal heritage that makes Hue special. This is clearly shown in dishes involving a special mixture of rice and salt – Hue style – which is prepared according to Vietnamese.
In the old days, the salted rice was cooked in honors of special guests. It was luxury. A Hue’s salted rice feast, like its name, is made of just rice and salt. But these two ingredients are used in a special way which makes the meal taste exquisite. The cooked rice was ordinary rice but it was perfumed like today’s “Nang Thom” or “Nang Huong”.
Rice was pounded, but its “vo lua” remained unbroken (“lut” rice) and cooked in a small earthenware pot. This mean it was cooked well but not split, dry but now raw. The cooks of official families or in the Imperial palace of the Nguyen Dynasty often included “de An Cuu” rice (attributed to the King) to make the salted rice feast.
Salt is roasted before it goes into the pot. Areca palm is used to thoroughly mix the soft white grains of raw salt which crackle in the pot. Depending in the mixture and process, salt dishes differ in terms of colour, taste and character. Roasted salt soaked in grease, salt dried mixed with pepper, salt stewed with chili, salt dried citronella, salt dried with citronella, salt mixed with shredded shrimp and the list goes on. Taking part in a salted rice meal one should follow the etiquette of eating the meal. Take a small amount of rice and chew slowly, keeping one’s mouth closed. Eating and chewing this way allows the delicate flavors to be savored.
Hue’s reputation as a food city is based on the fact that everyone, not only the rich and glamorous, knows how to eat well. Hue people are famous for being quietly dedicated to the culture of their food and not showing off too much about it.
Food specialists didn’t know that the Hue’s salted rice should be included in both royal and normal menus because it was loved by both kings and common people. Today Hue salted rice dishes are on the menus of many big restaurants in Hue and is still traditionally prepared on special guests. Hue households take enormous effort in preparing a unique meal with different flavors.
A normal salt meal includes up to 10 salt dishes, but local folklore has it that one Hue cook can usually prepare more than 30 different varieties. They say Hue people too are salty, zesty can live without salt. Rice and salt two simple ingredients that led to a new cuisine.
This article written by Lanh Nguyen from Vietnam Heritage Travel
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