It wasn't salami! Vietnam's sweet sausage — an exotic sausage, memories of a palate cleanser

When you see this figure and form, most people probably think this, right?

It's salami, right?! — or so you'd think. Spicy and hot, the perfect companion to wine or beer — that flavor. A dry European sausage that spreads saltiness and aroma the moment you bite into it. But when you take a bite of this in Vietnam, you're in for a bit of a surprise. ……It's sweet. It's meat, yet it's sweet. And the fat is incredibly rich. It wears the face of salami, but the flavor comes at you from a completely different direction. Ohhhh, so that's how it is, it's sweet… my brain just glitches out. This is a sausage called Lạp xưởng (lap xuong) in Vietnam, and it seems to be something commonly eaten during the Tet (Lunar New Year) season. Lạp xưởng is a sweet sausage influenced by Chinese preserved-food culture, made by adding sugar and spices to pork. It is said to appear on family tables as a year-end and New Year feast, and is also handed out as a gift. Yes, this is the taste of Tet. [Reference: Vietnam Times] https://vietnamtimes.thoidai.com.vn/lap-xuong-sausage-a-delicious-treat-from-vietnams-northern-highland-35731.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com Now then, how shall I eat this? Faced with an ingredient I've never tried before, as I ponder it... strangely enough, the surprise on my tongue brings memories along with it. What came to mind was the karasumi (dried mullet roe) that my father loved so much. For my sake-loving father, the roe of the karasumi was something special, and whenever he received it from my grandfather returning from Taiwan, my father would happily stand in the kitchen himself. As if to teach my mother how it was done. He would slice the daikon radish thin, so thin you could almost see through it, tuck the karasumi in between, and make it into a little snack. The rich, intense flavor cushioned by the mild, delicate vegetable. He used to eat it so happily as a nibble with his drinks. I got just a little bit, but to my childhood palate it didn't impress me all that much. Apparently the right way is to heat it rather than eat it raw, so When you slice it thinly and sear it... the fat just keeps oozing out~

⚫️ I didn't grease the pan, but they come out just fine~ Looking at a greasy, sweet sausage, that feeling suddenly came back to me, and I thought, alright, let me sandwich it with daikon radish—but when I opened the fridge, the daikon had all been used up at breakfast. What came out instead were a cucumber and a beet. Kind of a fun combo, don't you think?

⚫️ The stir-fried bean sprouts, too, get a little dab of mustard and black pepper~ Slice the lạp xưởng thin, grill it, and toss it together with the vegetables. So as to balance out the sweetness. I try adding some spiciness with the mustard and pepper. Yeah, this is good. Sweet Vietnamese sausage, transformed into the perfect snack to go with beer.

When it comes to how Vietnamese people eat this láp xưởng, they put it in fried rice or mix it into sticky rice. It seems they eat it in between rich, fatty dishes, changing up the flavor with pickles and herbs. Even sweet meat isn't eaten on its own—it secures its own place within the meal. Emigrant Life Ranking