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Sekai Gohan

Tiết Canh: Northern Vietnamese Blood Pudding and a Beet Version

Servings 4 small bowls

A bowl of northern Vietnamese pork tiết canh, the traditional raw version, scattered with roasted peanuts and black pepper, with fresh herbs and a lime wedge beside it
Steps with photos

Ingredients

Ingredient Amount Role
Cooked-through pork (throat meat or pork shoulder) 5¼ oz (150 g) The main bite of the filling
Pork rib cartilage 1¾ oz (50 g) The crunch that makes the filling
Pork or chicken liver 1¾ oz (50 g) Richness in the filling; a few thin slices go on top
Shallots 2 (about 1 oz / 30 g) One for the blanching water, one roasted into the filling
Salt ½ tsp, plus a little Blanching water; a pinch for blending the beets
Beets, peeled 10½ oz (300 g) The deep red color
Reserved cooking broth enough to bring the beet juice to 2½ cups (600 ml), plus about 2 tbsp cooled Body and meat flavor in the red liquid
Fish sauce (nước mắm) 1 tbsp Salt and the fermented backbone
Gelling powder (bột rau câu) 1 oz (30 g), or agar powder at its package amount for 2½ cups (600 ml) Sets the red liquid
Black pepper a little Filling and garnish
Roasted peanuts 1½ oz (40 g) Coarse crunch on top
Mint (húng), culantro (mùi tàu), cilantro as needed Fresh herbs served on the side
Lime 1, cut into wedges Sourness squeezed in at the table

Steps

  1. 1Blanch the filling until cooked through

    Bring a pot of water to a boil with ½ tsp salt and one shallot, which takes the edge off the smell of the offal. Add the pork, cartilage and liver and simmer until everything is cooked through to the center. Cut into the liver to check: no blood color should remain in the middle. Lift the meat out and save the broth for the red liquid; it should smell clean and meaty.

    Cartilage takes longer

    Give the cartilage a head start, or boil it in its own pot. Pulling the shoulder and liver out as soon as they are cooked keeps the filling juicy while the cartilage softens to a pleasant crunch.

  2. 2Dice and season the filling

    Roast the second shallot until browned and soft, then chop it. Cut a few thin slices from the liver and set them aside for the top. Dice the rest of the meat, cartilage and liver into cubes just under ½ inch (1 cm). Mix in the roasted shallot and a little black pepper; the pieces should stay distinct, each with its own edge.

    Keep the dice coarse

    Chopping the filling too fine kills the crunch, and the crunch under the cold set is the whole point of a spoonful.

  3. 3Prepare the herbs and peanuts

    Wash the mint, culantro and cilantro and drain them well in separate colanders. If the peanuts are raw, roast them first. Crush them in a mortar to coarse pieces, stopping before any turns to powder. The herbs are ready when the leaves look perky and no water drips from them.

  4. 4Blend and strain the beets

    Cut the peeled beets into chunks and put them in the blender with a pinch of salt and a little of the saved broth. Blend to a smooth purée. Press it through a fine-mesh sieve with the back of a spoon to collect the juice, and discard the pulp.

  5. 5Make the red liquid

    Pour the beet juice into a measuring cup and add saved broth until you have 2½ cups (600 ml) in total. Tip it into a saucepan, stir in 1 tbsp fish sauce, and warm it. Taste it: it should be pleasantly salty, since the cold set will mute it. The liquid is ready when it is hot.

  6. 6Dissolve the gelling powder

    Stir the gelling powder into about 2 tbsp of cooled broth until no dry lumps remain. Pour it into the hot beet liquid while stirring, and keep heating and stirring until it has fully dissolved. With agar, bring it to a boil and let it boil for about 2 minutes before turning off the heat. It is ready when the liquid runs smooth off the spoon with no grains left on it.

    Dissolve fully, then judge

    Most bowls that refuse to set had powder that never fully dissolved. The 2-minute boil is what gets agar there.

  7. 7Pour and chill

    Divide the filling evenly among the four bowls. Ladle in the hot red liquid until the filling is just covered, then leave the bowls exactly where they are; moving them as they set breaks the gel. Once they have cooled, cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours. They are set when the surface stays still as you tilt a bowl slightly, shines, and holds the mark of a light fingertip.

  8. 8Garnish and serve cold

    Take the bowls straight from the refrigerator. Scatter black pepper and crushed peanuts over each surface and lay the reserved liver slices on top. Set a lime wedge beside each bowl and the herbs on a shared plate. Spoon down through the set into the filling; the red should break in clean, trembling cubes.