The Mekong Delta has many delicious specialties that captivate travelers. Cai Tac Pork Organs porridge dish is especially rustic and simple, but once you eat it, you will never forget it.
By Thomas Vietnam at vemekong.com | All Best Foods & Restaurants in Hau Giang
1. Better to Know as a Food Lover
Find them: Hau Giang city.
Best time: Dusk-Dawn
Don’t miss: Cai Tac’s Pork Organs Porridge
Local’s pick: Cai Tac’s Pork Organs Porridge restaurant
Tourist’s pick: Restaurant in Hau Giang
Blog: https://vemekong.com/cai-tac-pork-organ-porridge-hau-giang/
Facts: Nowadays, Cai Tac Pork Organs porridge is becoming more and more famous and there are many restaurants for locals and tourists to choose from. However, the price of this dish is also quite affordable, ranging from 15,000 – 20,000 VND per bowl. If you want to eat a special bowl with lots of Pork Organs, you can choose the type of 30,000 or 40,000 VND.
2. Better to Know Cai Tac’s Pork Organs Porridge
Porridge is a popular dish, familiar to many people and all parts of the country. In Saigon, Hanoi or big cities, porridge is sold everywhere. But few people know that this dish is also a famous specialty of Hau Giang.
This dish is called Cai Tac Pork Organs porridge because it is sold a lot in Cai Tac town, Chau Thanh A district, Hau Giang province. No one knows when exactly porridge appeared. However, about 30 years ago, there was a delicious porridge in this area.
People in the region recall, during the subsidy period, the first stalls selling Pork Organs porridge were concentrated in the market, the most famous ones being Mrs. Son and Mrs. Giang. Today, this famous porridge is not only available in Cai Tac, Hau Giang, but also spread to all neighboring provinces and cities, the nearest is Can Tho city.
People in Hau Giang and Can Tho shared that, about 20 years ago, if they wanted to eat a delicious bowl of porridge, they had to travel a long way to Cai Tac market. But today, just go to the center of Can Tho or go on a major route of Hau Giang, you can already enjoy delicious porridge.
3. Cai Tac’s Pork Organs Porridge in Hau Giang
After the porridge is cooked, it will be scooped out into a bowl. The top is full of all kinds of Pork Organs such as Pork Organs, liver, pho, tongue, lean meat, etc. Each bowl is full of pork intestines, beautifully decorated, just needed. Looking at it, you will get hungry. Porridge eaten hot will add a little raw sprouts, herbs, bitter vegetables or bananas. In addition, to increase the flavor of the dish, diners can squeeze a piece of fresh lemon, add a little chili to feel more fully the rich taste of Cai Tac Pork Organs porridge.
In particular, an important ingredient contributing to the distinctive flavor of this Hau Giang specialty is the dipping sauce. Most of the porridge shops in Cai Tac use fish sauce, add fresh chili and squeeze a little lemon juice to dip. There’s nothing better than sitting in a bowl of hot porridge on a cool morning, dipping a piece of soft and sweet Pork Organs into a bowl of sour, salty, and spicy fish sauce.
Besides enjoying normal porridge, you can also eat this Western standard dish by adding fresh vermicelli or crackers. Adding this little ingredient just makes the dish more special and fuller, ready for a long day of work or exploring the beautiful Mekong Delta.
4. How to Make Cai Tac’s Pork Organs Porridge
Ingredients for making Pork Organs porridge
500g pork bone
½ cup of rice
100g pork Pork Organs
pork tongue
100g of pig blood
Young intestine, stomach, liver depending on your family’s needs
Green onions, bean sprouts, chili, herbs of all kinds
Ginger, lemon, sliced purple onion
Salt, seasoning, pepper, fish sauce
How to cook delicious Pork Organs porridge
Step 1: Prepare ingredients
– Green onions, bean sprouts, herbs washed. Chopped green onions. Peel the ginger and cut it into pieces.
– Wash pork bones, cut into pieces, blanch briefly in boiling water to remove dirt, wash again.
– Put the bones and sliced shallots in a common cooking pot, regularly skim off the foam.
Step 2: Clean and boil pork intestines, Pork Organs, liver, and tongue
The Pork Organs, liver, pork tongue and young intestine are washed with salt and lemon several times to get rid of the bad smell.
Bring it to a boil, then take it out and put it in a bowl of ice, squeeze a little more lemon to make the white crispy.
Then remove the intestines to a plate and cut into bite-sized pieces. Cut pork belly into 2 equal parts.
Step 3: How to cook porridge
Soak the rice for 20 minutes and then wash or roast the fragrant rice.
When the broth is sweet enough, add the rice and cook until the porridge is soft, stirring constantly to avoid burning the bottom.
When the porridge is soft, add pig’s blood to cook together, it will have the characteristic brown color of Pork Organs porridge.
Finally, add half of the pre-cut pork belly and cooked ginger. Cook for another 15 minutes, then turn off the heat, sprinkle more green onions on top.
Finished product
Ladle the porridge into a bowl, add a few pieces of pork intestines, scallions, bean sprouts, herbs, pepper on top to make it attractive. Next to it is a plate of pre-cut pork intestines.
5. Pro tips:
Here are our tips for easing your mind (and stomach) around food-handling environments that you may not be used to.
Make sure the food is freshly cooked. If you’re eating hot street food, it’s always safest (not to mention more delicious) to eat food you can see being cooked to order.
Look for lines and busy stalls. Busy street food stalls are an indicator of popularity, and their high turnover rate means the food is never sitting out for hours and developing dreaded bacteria. Yes, long lines can be discouraging when you’re hungry after a full day of exploring, but it’s not worth the risk of grabbing precooked food from the empty spot next door.
Eat when the locals are eating. The last and most important element here is when to eat. You’re likely already on a weird eating schedule while you’re traveling, but it’s important to try and adjust to the eating times of where you are. A bowl of pho might be lunch for Americans, but it’s breakfast for the Vietnamese. This ensures that you’re eating freshly cooked food and that you can find the best and most popular places to eat.
If you can’t drink the water, then you can’t eat the salad. Most people get so hung up on not drinking the water or skipping ice in drinks that they don’t think about all of the other ways in which water is used in food service. Fruits and vegetables tend to be washed with tap water in most places, rather than the filtered water that locals drink—or sometimes it’s not washed at all. If you’re really craving some produce, try fruits you can peel or cooked veggies.
Trust your gut. If you’re unsure about the food or the way that it’s being prepared, then keep moving. Eating street food all over the world doesn’t make you an expert. Every stall and every country are different, and sometimes the rules can be harder to follow. When something doesn’t look, smell, or feel right, don’t eat it! Trust your judgment. Chances are that there’s another spot close by that’s making something more delicious.
Eat when the locals are eating. The last and most important element here is when to eat. You’re likely already on a weird eating schedule while you’re traveling, but it’s important to try and adjust to the eating times of where you are. A bowl of pho might be lunch for Americans, but it’s breakfast for the Vietnamese. This ensures that you’re eating freshly cooked food and that you can find the best and most popular places to eat.
If you can’t drink the water, then you can’t eat the salad. Most people get so hung up on not drinking the water or skipping ice in drinks that they don’t think about all of the other ways in which water is used in food service. Fruits and vegetables tend to be washed with tap water in most places, rather than the filtered water that locals drink—or sometimes it’s not washed at all. If you’re really craving some produce, try fruits you can peel or cooked veggies.
Trust your gut. If you’re unsure about the food or the way that it’s being prepared, then keep moving. Eating street food all over the world doesn’t make you an expert. Every stall and every country are different, and sometimes the rules can be harder to follow. When something doesn’t look, smell, or feel right, don’t eat it! Trust your judgment. Chances are that there’s another spot close by that’s making something more delicious.
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Can Tho: Co Ut’s Cong cake, Ut Dzach Fine Rice Vermicelli, Thanh Van Grilled Pork Sausage, Crab Noodle Soup At Floating Market, Scorched Rice with Caramelized Fish Sauce, 7-Toi’s Duck Meat Pancake, Banh Mi Thuy, Banana Blossom Salad, Fried Spring Rolls, Fresh Spring Rolls, Fetal duck egg (balut), Honeycomb Cake, Mini Sticky Rice Cake, Cassava Silkworm Cake, Grilled Banana Wrapped in Sticky Rice, Khmer-style Bun Goi Da Soup, Egg Coffee, Con Son Grilled Snakehead Fish, Bun Mam – Fermented Fish Noodle Soup, Lau Mam – Fermented Fish Hotpot, Grilled Snails with Pepper, Magenta Sticky Rice Cake, Duck cooked with Fermented Tofu, Rice Noodle Pizza, Vegetarian Noodle Soup, Snails Stuffed With Pork…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Chau Doc: Chau Doc Fish Noodle Soup, Sugar Palm Fruit, Basa Fish Hot Pot, Mam (Fermented fish), Phu Huong Beef Noodle Soup, Broken Rice with Pork Chop, Long Xuyen Broken Rice, Nui Cam Pancake, O Thum’s Chicken Grilled with Lime Leaves, Stir-fried Shrimp with Sesbania Flower, Sweet & Sour Soup with Siamese Mud Carp Soup & Sesbania Flower, Caramelized & Braised Catfish, Grilled Rice-field Rat with Salt and Chili…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Soc Trang: Pia Cake, Cong Cake (Banh Cong), Bun Nuoc Leo Soc Trang’s Noodle Soup, Soc Trang’s Bun Goi Da Soup, Duck Noodle Soup with black Pepper, Curry Noodle Soup, Grilled Beef on Tile, Khmer-style Tube Cake, Khmer-style Mung Bean Cake (Banh In), Dried Radish (Xa Bau), Stir-Fried Noodles with Seafood (Mi Sua), Soc Trang’s Green Rice Flakes…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ben Tre: Phu Le Rice Wine, Ben Tre’s Coconut Candy, Flat Banana, Coconut Rice, Snail Pancake, Sea Snail with Coconut Milk, Coconut Worm, Young Coconut Salad with Shrimp & Pork, Son Doc Puff Rice Paper…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Cai Be: Puffed Rice Cake…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Vinh Long: Elephant Ear Fish (fried giant gourami)…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in My Tho: Fried Sticky Rice, Snakehead Fish Rice Porridge, Hu Tieu My Tho (Noodle Soup), Coconut Banana Cake…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Tra Vinh: Macapuno Coconut, Bun Nuoc Leo Tra Vinh’s Noodle Soup, Tra Cuon’s Sticky Rice Cake…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Sadec: Sa Dec Noodle Soup, Sadec Crab Hotpot, Lai Vung Spring Rolls, Sa Giang Shrimp Puff Pastry, Lai Vung Tangerine…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Bac Lieu: Spicy Beef Noodle Soup, Bac Lieu’s Three-striped Crab, White Radish Pies, Bac Lieu Thick Noodles & Creamy Coconut Milk, Bon Bon Pickles…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ca Mau: Banh tam ga cay (Silkworm rice cake with curried chicken), Grilled Vop clams with salt and pepper, Grilled Mudskipper Fish, Stone Crab Roast With Salt, Young Bee Salad, Nam Can’s Crab, U Minh Forest’s Honey, U Minh’s Fermented Fish Hotpot…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Hau Giang: Cau Duc Pineapple, Cai Tac’s Pork Organs Porridge, Hau Giang’s Bronze Featherback Fish Cake…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Ha Tien: Herring Fish Salad, Spider crab cake soup, Ken Noodle soup, Xoi Xiem (Siamese sticky rice), Steamed Noodle soup, Ha Tien Oyster porridge…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Rach Gia: Stir Noodle Soup, Kien Giang Fish Noodle Soup…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Con Dao: Bang nut jam, Vu Nang Snail, Roasted Pork Bread (Banh Mi), Coconut Ice Cream…
Must-Eat Foods & Restaurants in Phu Quoc: Phu Quoc Sim Wine, Phu Quoc Pepper, Phu Quoc fish sauce…
Hopefully, the above tips will help you to come up with a great plan for your adventure in Mekong River Delta, Vietnam. Have a safe trip!
“Sleep less, travel more, respect more” – Thomas Vietnam – Local travel expert.
Thank you
