Smoked eel pate by chefs in Ho Chi Minh City

Using Phu Yen field eel as the main ingredient, the chef of Esta Eatery restaurant creates a dish with a simple appearance but a taste that conquers fastidious diners.

Using eel to make pate is not common in Vietnam. According to the traditional way of processing, eel is often stir-fried, braised with banana or cooked in porridge, soup… At Esta Eatery, eel is processed into a premium smoked pate. At first glance, the dish has an unusual form, consisting of a monochromatic milk-brown pate, accompanied by 3 slices of sourdough bread. However, smoked eel pate has always been a “superstar” on this restaurant’s menu since the first days of opening. “Currently, there is no second restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City serving this eel pate”, chef Francis Thuan introduced the dish. Eel pate is the first item on the restaurant’s menu. The dish has a modern Asian flavor when using local ingredients, applying European cooking methods. The Vietnamese flavor embodied in this dish is Phu Yen field eel meat, a cross between European cuisines through pate making and smoking techniques. This type of eel is caught wild, gives firmer and sweeter meat than conventional farmed eel. In addition to Phu Yen eel, the restaurant also uses eel caught in Nam Cat Tien. Referring to eel, most diners will think of traditional Vietnamese dishes. On the other hand, pate is a dish of French origin, usually made from pork, beef or foie gras. It is the use of pure Vietnamese ingredients to make French dishes that makes eel pate so special. Upgrading a familiar eel dish to a premium version depends a lot on the choice of ingredients. Wild-caught eels give fresh meat quality, hunting, and sweeter taste than farmed eels. In turn, the eel size is not uniform. The fat will give more meat and fat, the meat flavor is stronger. To make pate, in addition to the main ingredients, eel, there are also sour cream, olive oil, tare sauce, wasabi, wild pepper, foie gras and sourdough bread. Chef Thuan shared that foie gras is the highlight, marking the perfection of this eel pate. Originally, the eel pate recipe did not include foie gras. After 6 months of serving diners, the chef added wild pepper foie gras ingredients. This ingredient adds the missing greasy taste of the dish. At the same time, the use of foie gras represents the culinary intersection of modern fusion cuisine. Foie gras is grated to ensure that the eel pate retains the dominant flavor. The chef of Esta restaurant shared that the work of creating dishes is not standardized, so it is difficult to give a specific reason why adding this ingredient or removing another ingredient in a dish. “Creativity sometimes lies in the moment when suddenly thinking of an ingredient and forming a new dish at that moment,” said chef Francis Thuan. Making delicious food is like building a house. There are drawings with creative ideas, but the house is beautiful and good or not depends much on the construction process. Cooking is the same. The finished product is perfect, the taste conquers diners thanks largely to the processing stage. The process of making eel pate is the most elaborate in the smoking part. Before each batch of pate comes out of the oven, the eel is smoked for 4 hours. The smoking technique creates a distinctive flavor for this dish. When smoked at low temperature, eel will retain moisture, eel meat is soft, succulent, fragrant with typical smoked aroma. Before smoking, eels are carefully cleaned. Raw eel is very viscous, if not processed carefully, it will have a fishy smell, affecting the quality. The chef uses white salt to rub all over the eel, then rinse with lemon juice. The remaining oil is flushed 4-5 times until completely clean. While chatting with me, the chef shoveled charcoal to heat the oven. Because it is an open kitchen, the wood stove is designed to ensure that no smoke enters the dining area. When the oven reaches the right temperature, the chef arranges the eels about 40 cm long on a metal tray. The tray is placed about 2 hands away from the charcoal, the fire is adjusted just enough for the eel to cook slowly from the inside out. The oven is covered so that the smoke does not escape, sticking to the eel meat. After 4 hours of smoking, the chef carefully filters the eel meat. The small filtered eel meat is pureed with sour cream, fish sauce, pepper and lemon juice. The finished product is a smooth, creamy, milky-white pate. Pate is placed in a light brown ceramic bowl, almost the same color as the dish, making the portion less prominent. The chef uses a spoon to make a small circular groove in the middle of the pate, then put wasabi, olive oil, tare sauce in. These condiments are hidden by a layer of grated foie gras on top. The complete dish is served with a basket of crispy hot and sour bread. The complete appetizer to diners has a simple form. “It is only when the tip of your tongue tells you that this dish is not ordinary, when you bite into a slice of hot bread spread with pate, you will understand why eel pate holds the star position in the restaurant,” said the chef. Francis Thuan describes the taste of eel pate. The highlight of the dish lies in the spices hidden in the soft pate layer. Roll a piece of pate, diners will see a layer of tare sauce overflowing, along with wasabi and olive oil. The appearance of these two ingredients in the pate by Chef Thuan is inspired by the taste of Japanese eel sushi. “It sounds unrelated, but I separate ingredients such as eel, wasabi, tare sauce of Japanese eel sushi and combine them into pate,” said Mr. Thuan. When eaten with bread, diners will clearly feel the pungent taste of wasabi, the salty taste of the brown sauce similar to soy sauce. There is another spicy taste that makes you numb the tip of your tongue, which is wild pepper soaked in grated foie gras. This seasoning helps foie gras reduce fat, suitable for Vietnamese taste. Each dish that arrives at the table will be carefully introduced to the ingredients and how to enjoy. Following the chef’s instructions, I rolled the pate from the middle so that the spices flowed out evenly on both sides. I used a knife to get the pate, not forgetting to mix it with the seasoning. Holding a slice of hot sourdough bread from the basket, I spread the pate evenly on the cake, slowly enjoying the dish. From the first bite, I felt many layers of flavors. The crispy bread is blended with the soft, fatty pate, in which there is also the salty taste of tare sauce, the taste of olive oil clinging to the tip of the tongue, the spicy aroma of wasabi and wild pepper. The aftertaste that lingers in the throat is a distinct smoked smell. After having this appetizer, the chef suggested I drink a glass of riesling (white grape wine). I can’t figure out how to look at it, that’s how I think about this dish. When I first heard the name, I imagined the fishy smell of the eel that I had eaten before, so I didn’t expect much. Moreover, the food looks really unimpressive, if not boring. However, the taste surprised me after using all 3 slices of bread with eel pate. The fishy taste of the eel is no longer due to being carefully prepared, mixed with spices to increase the smell. If you are afraid to enjoy eel in the traditional way, eel pate served with sourdough bread served at Esta restaurant is a combination worth experiencing.