If you only make pate to eat, you can learn the recipe below from Hoa Lavender, a Hai Phong native who is currently living in Ho Chi Minh City. Ms. Hoa said that she was lucky to be born in Hai Phong – where there are many delicious dishes such as crab cakes, spring rolls, pate bread, che flat, banh beo, pillow cakes, bui din, crab spring rolls .. . Cooking is not her forte, but since moving to the South – there are no dishes from her homeland, so Hoa has to tinker and learn by herself. Cooking became a habit, fell in love with cooking from there. Miss Flowers Lavender. “The snack of Hai Phong, perhaps I remember the longest in my memory is Khanh Nap pate bread on Hang Kenh street. That was almost 30 years ago, when I was in middle school, I used to eat there with them. with you” – the mother shared. According to Ms. Hoa, if you want to make good pate, the ingredients need to be fresh. She often goes to the market early in the morning to choose fresh and delicious liver and meat. If you also like pate but are in the epidemic season or want to “score” with everyone, you can learn how to cook Hoa Lavender below: Resources: (The finished product is about 1 kg of pate) 500g dragon’s head pork shoulder (shoulder with fat makes it more delicious) 300g pork liver 200 ml of fresh milk without sugar (for liver detoxification) 2 pieces of cheese Laughing cow 200g pork skin 250g portion fat 1 tablespoon white wine noodle soup rượu 10 dried onions 1/2 small onion 1 bulb of garlic Just enough pepper (for the whole grain) 1 tablespoon oyster sauce 1 tablespoon fish sauce noodle Just enough soup powder 1 piece of bread with intestines to remove fishy for the liver and increase the stickiness of the pate. Making The liver is washed, sliced, poured 100ml of fresh milk in and soaked for 15 minutes to remove fishy and toxic.. 1. Liver washed, sliced, poured 100ml of fresh milk into 15 minutes to remove fishy and toxic. When choosing a liver, you have to keep a few things in mind: A healthy animal liver has a dark red or light purple color. It feels soft and smooth to the touch. Use your index finger to press on the liver surface, the liver will concave and keep the indentation when withdrawing the finger. In contrast, the livers of infected cattle often change color to brick, yellow or silver-white. The liver of animals infected with infectious diseases is often mushy like mud, absolutely do not use this liver, must be destroyed. The bread is torn into small pieces, watered with 100ml of fresh milk to soften. 2. Shredded bread core, watered with 100ml fresh milk to soften. Has the effect of reducing fishy for the liver and increasing the stickiness of the pate. 3. Clean skin, boiled soft. Remove the liver and wash it. Boiled skin is also washed. Remove 50g of fat, diced and boiled. The remaining 200g cut into large pieces to line the bottom of the bowl for steaming. 4. Remove 50g of fat, diced and then boiled. The remaining 200g cut into large pieces to line the bottom of the bowl for steaming. 5. Chop the skin into small pieces and grind it with meat, liver, cheese and bread intestines until smooth. Put the meat and liver mixture on the island. 6. Put the pan on the stove. Add the chopped onion, garlic, and onion to the pan. Put the meat and liver mixture on the island. Season to taste. North to the kitchen. Sprinkle pepper. Add wine for aroma and to remove fishy liver. (Now you can feel the taste of the pate! If you taste it medium, or salty, adjust it from now on). Pour the mixture into the blender again until smooth. 7. Pour the whole mixture into the blender again until smooth. Add fat and mix well. Then pour into a large bowl, line the bottom with fat so that when upside down to create a beautiful shape, eat the fat leopard! 8. Fill the steamer with water for 3 to 5 hours if it is a regular steamer and depends on the amount of pate you make! If steamed with a pressure cooker, only 2 hours is just delicious! (Pour water below, put steaming bowl on top). Put foil on top and cover the pot to prevent water from falling on the pate when steaming. Finished products: Smooth, fatty, delicious paste! Shelf life: Refrigerate for 1 week and freeze for several months. Good luck!

Pressed cake. Pressed cakes are sold “abundantly” on every corner of Hue, but the taste of the cake is not the same as any other shop. The cake is small but contains many special things: the greasy, chewy taste of the cake, the crunchy sourness of pickled papaya, the aroma of green onions, meat, eggs… Pressed cake is actually an improved filter cake, not fussy in processing. The main ingredients include filter powder and many different types of fillings such as eggs, dried beef, bacon, meat, etc., depending on the style of each restaurant. All ingredients are processed individually. The cake is pressed between two pieces of cast iron on a charcoal oven. In turn, put the filter powder into thin press and then add the filling to press again. Its name is also derived from this way of processing – pressing the dough in a cast iron plate. The fragrant aroma and the pleasant sound of the dough sizzling make diners waiting for the cake everyone wants to eat. Cakes are pressed or crunchy depending on the customer’s request. While waiting for the cake, the diners can make their own fish sauce, adjust the amount of spicy accordingly. Perhaps thanks to the time waiting for the cake to cook, adding homemade dipping sauce makes the dish even more delicious. The cake is more delicious when eaten hot and must be eaten with sweet and sour, laksa leaves, cucumbers, etc. The chewy taste of the filter powder, the fatty taste of the filling, and the freshness of vegetables and melons make diners eat forever until they eat. full but still not bored. In addition, pressed cakes also have a “dry pressed cake” version for customers to buy as gifts. Dry pressed cake at first glance, you will see it looks like an omelette but the ingredients and taste are completely different. Fat meat is spread evenly, add a little scallions and crunchy, served with very flavorful chili sauce. There is a very interesting way to eat dried pressed cakes that is to spread a little pate and chili sauce on the cake and sandwich it together. When eating, you will feel the crispy taste of the cake, the fatty taste of the pate, the spicy taste of the chili sauce.

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.

Beefsteak: 700g Liver Pate: 1 box Green pepper: 10 branches Carrots: 200g Potatoes: 250g Onion: 1 bulb Butter: 50g Fresh coconut water: 1 fruit Tomato box: 1/2 box Bread Onions, minced garlic, cilantro, basil, basil, lemon, chili Spices: salt, sugar, pepper, cooking oil, five flavors, seasoning seeds, monosodium glutamate, soy sauce. Beef cooked with green pepper pate simple but surprisingly delicious (Artwork) How to make green pepper beef cook Step 1: Cut beef into a bowl, add minced garlic onion, salt, sugar, pepper, five flavors, monosodium glutamate, seasoning seeds, soy sauce and marinate for 30 minutes. The potato cuts the fried cubes. Carrots cut cubes. Pomegranate onions. Crushed green pepper. Finely ground liver pate. Chopped cilantro. Step 2: Non-aromatic minced garlic onion and a little green pepper, put the beef in the pressure cooker (soft cooked meat but still retain the delicious taste) stir-fry, add coconut water and tomatoes, cover, cook about 10 minutes, turn off the fire. Enjoy the delicious and delicious beef boiled with green pepper (Artwork) Open the pressure cooker, put carrots in uncovered cooking for about 2 minutes, cook until carrots, potatoes are soft. Put cooking oil in a hot pan, add the remaining green pepper, sautéed onion. Pate the pate and half a cup of water in the canopy to make the pate puree, add the butter to the stirring until the butter dissolves. Put the beef in the pot. Stir, taste taste, turn off the heat. Step 3: Put the beef in the bowl, sprinkle with cilantro. Served with herbs, dipping beef with lemon pepper salt is very delicious and delicious.

Beefsteak: 700g

Liver Pate: 1 box

Green pepper: 10 branches

Carrots: 200g

Potatoes: 250g

Onion: 1 bulb

Butter: 50g

Fresh coconut water: 1 fruit

Tomato box: 1/2 box

Bread

Onions, minced garlic, cilantro, basil, basil, lemon, chili

Spices: salt, sugar, pepper, cooking oil, five flavors, seasoning seeds, monosodium glutamate, soy sauce.

Beef cooked with green pepper pate simple but surprisingly delicious (Artwork)

How to make green pepper beef cook

Step 1: Cut beef into a bowl, add minced garlic onion, salt, sugar, pepper, five flavors, monosodium glutamate, seasoning seeds, soy sauce and marinate for 30 minutes.

Potatoes, slice fried. Carrots cut cubes. Pomegranate onions. Crushed green pepper. Finely ground liver pate. Chopped cilantro.

Step 2: Non-aromatic minced garlic onion and a little green pepper, put the beef in the pressure cooker (soft cooked meat but still retain the delicious taste) stir-fry, add coconut water and tomatoes, cover, cook about 10 minutes, turn off the fire.

Enjoy the delicious and delicious beef boiled with green pepper (Artwork)

Open the pressure cooker, put carrots in uncovered cooking for about 2 minutes, cook until carrots, potatoes are soft.

Put cooking oil in a hot pan, add the remaining green pepper, sautéed onion.

Pate the pate and half a cup of water in the canopy to make the pate puree, add the butter to the stirring until the butter dissolves. Put the beef in the pot. Stir, taste taste, turn off the heat.

Step 3: Put the beef in the bowl, sprinkle with cilantro. Served with herbs, dipping beef with lemon pepper salt is very delicious and delicious.