Deliciousness of Thăng Long-Hà Nội cuisine
VGP - There are likely to be certain variations in conceptions of the deliciousness of cuisines in different regions and localities. Thăng Long-Hà Nội is not an exception. However several assessment standards for dishes have been set by Hanoians based on the same conditions of ambience and culture. They include those for flavor, hygiene, and appearance.
Firstly, to become palatable a dish should be properly cooked with specifically good
tastes and clear colors. To meet these requirements, the cook must have a
thorough grasp of the techniques of using spices and other food additives. For
example, small colza should be cooked with fish sauce and can be cooked with
pork, fish or shrimp; gourds should be cooked with shrimp only; loofah fruits
and basella alba with crabs or shrimps; beef with ginger or garlic; pork with
fish sauce and onions; fish braised with galingale or saffron.
A typical
daily meal in Hà Nội – Illustration photo
Some examples of standards for “deliciousness” are listed below:
Food |
Delicious |
Undelicious |
Cooked rice |
Soft, done to a turn |
Pasty, overcooked, undercooked |
Celery soup |
Half-cooked |
Overcooked, tough |
Colza soup |
Well-cooked |
Undercooked |
Boiled bindweed |
Green, done to a turn |
Yellow, overcooked |
Boiled chicken or pork |
Done to a turn |
Overcooked, tasteless and loose |
Grilled chicken or pork |
Bright yellow, fragrant |
Burnt |
Fried fish |
Brown yellow |
Burnt |
Braised fish |
Brown yellow, dry |
Overcooked |
Stewed pork or ribs |
Well-cooked |
Undercooked |
The deliciousness of food in Thăng Long-Hà Nội is also defined by
cleanliness. In addition to following a hygienic
and safe cooking process, Hanoians also observe some other strict rules related
to experiences in traditional medicine. For example, cold food should be added
with hot spices; food that is eaten raw, like some vegetables, should be well
soaked in salty water; and, raw fish should be served with apricot leaves to
avoid digestive problems. Also, food hygiene regulations are maintained by
ensuring that all the tableware, including
bowls, dishes, chopsticks, spoons, glasses, etc. are clean.
As a saying goes: “Nhà sạch thì mát, bát sạch ngon cơm” (A clean house
makes one feel cool; a clean bowl makes the food look appetizing). This is a
compulsory standard for the deliciousness of food.
Whether a dish is good or not is finally determined by its appearance.
More specifically, good food should be eye-catching. In Hanoians’ opinion, this
aesthetic factor is associated with rules about
tastes and spices. Some food additives like crocus, tomato and nước hàng (sugar
heated until it turns into brown-yellow and thick syrup) are used in cooking
not only to flavor the food but also to add more colors to it so that it
becomes more appealing. If a food is not cooked properly with the right colors,
it will take away one’s appetite right at first sight. For example,
braised pork without nước hàng, braised fish without saffron and nước
hàng, and snail cooked with green bananas and tofu without saffron.
Besides this, the decoration of dishes on a tray either in a daily meal or in a feast contributes to their
aesthetic attraction. Some vegetables and roots like hot peppers, carrots,
tomatoes, cucumbers, and coriandrum sativum are used not only to create good
smells for dishes but also to decorate them. These strict
rules about which spices and other seasonings should accompany
dishes enhance the attractiveness of the food.
For example, a dish of boiled chicken will look better if dusted with green
lemon leaves sliced into small pieces and a bowl of snails with green bananas
and tofu soaked with saffron will become more appetizing if adorned with sliced
purple palm-mint leaves. Thanks to these cooking tips, Thăng Long-Hà Nội
cuisine is attractive to everyone.