Eat the Famous Mutilated Beef of Southern Vietnam Today
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The fine beef is a great ingredient for various succulent dishes from the renowned Pho noodle to the stir-fried beef and the beef tube pan. And today, let us draw your attention to the special version of the beef in the southern Vietnam: the mutilated beef (called “bò tùng xẻo” in Vietnamese). While the name of the dish surprises you, the delicious taste interests you much with the eye-catching display.
Introducing To the Mutilated Beef
The mutilated beef is made from the fine kinds of beef for the succulent dish once grilled. In the south of Vietnam, this version of beef gains recognition thanks to the very tasty flavor since the beef is intensively spiced.
People in the southern Vietnam often rumor about the origin of the renowned mutilated beef. That said, around a half of century ago, the landowners explored the vast land of the southern Vietnam, and they usually held big parties right in the field at the end of the year or the beginning of the New Year. The main course for the party was the whole young ox that was grilled over the hot coal. Since then, the locals have kept and passed the recipes for the mutilated beef dish from generation to generation, and made it the famous delicacy of the region.
How to Process the Mutilated Beef
To cook the delicious mutilated beef, the cookers need to pay close attention to the preparation stage. The first thing to do is selecting the ox, which should be neither too old nor too young. While the too-old beef meat is very tough, the too-young one is very flaccid. Therefore, it is the cooker’s experience that will guide them to pick up the most proper ox. Especially, some people even self-feed the ox to ensure the quality of the meat. As the primary rule, the ox should be fed with grass and leaf in the fertile delta so that the meat is nutritious.
Once the selected ox is killed, it will be un-haired and then disemboweled to take the innards out. After that, there uses the steel string to needle through the stomach that is now filled with the aromatic herbs. Then, people will put the processed ox on a couple of the iron crossing bars. They tie the four legs of the ox into the four branches of the two iron bars to begin the grilling stage until the ox turns yellow.
This procedure requires the cookers’ patience and carefulness; they need to keep the fires appropriately to cook the whole ox. If they fail to keep the fires, the grilled completion might be over-fired, which is not only less delicious but also less attractive. The standard mutilated beef meat should be pink but ripen, and the skin should be crispy but neither dried, chewy, nor smoky.
How to Eat the Succulent Mutilated Beef
To enjoy this special dish of the southern Vietnam, the gourmets need a knife to cut the favorite meat severely from the body of the ox. You cut the meat as you eat. Then, do not forget to dip the beef meat into the soy sauce or pepper-and-salt mixture. Especially, the indispensable parts are the slices of star fruit, and green banana served with the rice alcohol. If possible, enjoy this succulent dish with champagne or red wine to uplift the taste.
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