These days, people in Thach Kim commune (Loc Ha, Ha Tinh ) are always busy grilling fish to supply the Lunar New Year market in time.
Coming to the fish grilling area in Thach Kim industrial cluster at the end of the year, the smell of grilled fish mixed with the fragrant smell of charcoal smoke filled the nose. In the grills, dozens of women were turning around the glowing charcoal stoves; their hands deftly put the fish on the grill, turning each one over so that the fish cooked evenly, professionally.
Grilling fish is a long-standing profession of fishermen in Thach Kim commune. Previously, households mainly grilled fish at their own homes. Since 2018, Thach Kim Seafood Processing Industrial Park was built, and most households have moved here to operate.
There are many types of fish to grill such as mackerel, herring, rice, and tuna... To grill batches of fish evenly cooked with sweet and fragrant meat inside, the griller must be meticulous and skillful in each step.
From 3am, households went to Thach Kim port to buy fish. The purchased fish were pre-processed, the spoiled ones were removed, then washed. For large fish such as pomfret and mackerel, women used small bamboo sticks to pierce from head to belly so that the fish would not break during the grilling process.
Next, people put the fish out in the sun to dry, draining all the water. The drying time is from 2 to 3 hours depending on the type of fish.
After drying in the sun, the fish will be grilled.
The fish is placed on the grill, made from two iron bars, about 1 meter long, about 40cm from the evenly spread layer of coal below.
In addition to choosing fresh fish, the grilling, flipping, and turning steps are factors that determine the deliciousness and attractiveness of the fish. To do this requires the griller to have experience.
As someone with nearly 15 years of experience grilling fish, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong (born in 1976) shared: “The best time to grill fish is 10-15 minutes. You have to grill evenly, otherwise the fish will not cook evenly. The head of the fish is the hardest part to grill, you have to grill it thoroughly. Grilling fish with charcoal will bring out the delicious flavor.”
Grilled fish that meets standards will have a cockroach-wing color.
Thach Kim grilled fish is not only consumed in Ha Tinh but also bought as gifts to send to relatives from North to South. During Tet or New Year's Day, the number of customers buying is much higher than usual.
“Grilling fish is quite hard work, you have to wake up early and be busy all day, your whole body smells like fish but you have a stable income” - Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan (born in 1971), a person with nearly 20 years of experience grilling fish, shared.
Currently, the whole commune has about 40 households doing fish grilling, creating jobs for over 200 workers.
It is expected that in 2024, Thach Kim will prepare a dossier to request recognition of fish grilling as a traditional profession, and at the same time continue to propagate and mobilize 5-10 households living in residential areas to concentrate in Thach Kim seafood processing industrial cluster.
Mr. Pham Duy Khanh
Vice Chairman of People's Committee of Thach Kim commune
Binh An - Dan Phuc
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