The strange soup ‘Bitter Heart’: Thanh’s specialty, eats in the face but is easy to get addicted to

It sounds strange, but this is a famous soup in Thanh Hoa province.
Each region of Vietnam has soups made from typical leaves and plants. For Thanh Hoa, it is bitter soup, the main ingredient used is bitter leaves, which are grown a lot in the mountains of Thanh.

Bitter leaves have a bitter and sweet taste, when cooking soup, it is indispensable for batches and lemongrass, creating a sour and sour taste, reducing bitterness but making the bowl of soup more fragrant. Bitter leaves cook soup in Thanh Hoa province. (Photo: Internet) Depending on the locality in the province, bitter leaf soup will have different cooking methods, can be cooked with chicken, pork, beef, fish…, but traditional and best known is bitter leaf soup cooked with pig heart. People call grafting in a rustic way “Bitter Heart” soup. The folk calling with bitter leaves and pig’s heart is curious for netizens. (Photo: Internet) Soup “Bitter Heart” (bitter leaf soup cooked with pig’s heart) is a specialty dish of the Muong, Thanh Hoa. You will hardly get used to the taste of this soup at first taste. And even if you are a person who likes bitter foods, you will also feel very strange, numb in your throat, even shivering and closing your eyes when tasting the broth. This dish is not really attractive at first taste because of its characteristic bitter taste. (Photo: Internet) However, for visitors who have eaten this dish a few times, it will be like being hypnotized by that strange taste. Bitter leaves blend perfectly with the sweetness of the heart, the spiciness of the chili, the sourness of the batch, the aroma of onions and lemongrass, forming a bold Thanh soup that invites visitors. To cook a standard bitter leaf soup, you should cook it with pork intestines and choose bitter leaves (the type with serrated, thin blades). Bitter leaves are likened to the soul of this dish, so they must be finely chopped or minced. Part of it helps to reduce the bitterness, part of it adds to the aesthetics of the dish. After being cleaned, the pig’s heart is cut into bite-sized pieces, then marinated with spices including batch, shrimp paste, lemongrass, pepper, and chili. Next step, stir fry with onion and garlic and add broth. Wait for the water to boil, quickly put the bitter vegetables in and wait for about three minutes, then take it out, enjoy it while it’s still hot. Ingredients for making “Bitter Heart” soup. (Photo: Internet) From the name to the ingredients, the cooking method of “Bitter Heart” soup stimulates the curiosity of diners and will explode the taste when tasting. Those who can’t eat are fine, but eating is addicted, hard to forget the special taste of Thanh cuisine and Vietnamese specialties.