Going to explore and experience the land of Ca Mau and to enjoy, there is great food for visitors not to miss. Because there are dishes that money cannot necessarily buy. Typically, the specialty of rock (stone) crab is roasted with salt, for example.

By Thomas Vietnam at vemekong.com | All Best Foods & Restaurants in Ca Mau

1. Better to Know as a Food Lover

Find them: Ca Mau city.

Best time: Dusk-Dawn

Don’t miss: Stone Crab Roast with Salt

Local’s pick: Seafood restaurant

Tourist’s pick: Restaurant in Ca Mau

Blog: https://vemekong.com/stone-crab-roast-with-salt-ca-mau/

Facts: The reason why the salted rock crab is worthy of the specialty is because the processing method minimizes the impact of heat on the internal parts, so it keeps the fresh, sweet and fatty taste of crab meat.

2. Better to Know Stone Crab Roast With Salt

The crab family has many types, but stone crabs are strangely attractive. It slowly takes people through each level of emotion, sometimes curious, sometimes excited and satisfied. Therefore, anyone who comes to Ca Mau must definitely find food for roasted salted rock crabs.

Looking at the stone crab, no one thought it was a precious specialty of Ca Mau. Because the shape is both small and ugly, the biggest one is only as big as a fist, dark purple in color. The difference is that the two giant claws are as hard as a rock. If you want to get the meat, you have to use a pestle or clamp to get it. Therefore, they are called stone crabs. This species only lives in salt water, in ponds and lagoons, it is submerged in mud, in island environments, it makes caves on rocky beaches, cliffs or grows near estuaries leading to the sea.

Ca Mau rock crab is a natural species that cannot be raised. To enjoy this specialty, people have to catch it manually. Tools only need a basket and a flashlight. In the evening, they carry their lamps along the canals, shine the lights on the bushes to find, if there are crabs, they will grab them by hand. Catching crabs is as simple as going out because the crabs are eaten by lights (the crab’s eyes are sensitive to strong light, and when encountering a flashlight, it gradually loses its self-control feature, just standing in one place, wagging its claws. Spend an hour or two every night. The harvest is quite good, at this time, in addition to eating, people also sell to restaurants and pubs to earn more income.

3. Stone Crab Roast With Salt in Ca Mau

The finished salt-roasted rock crab is red, fragrant, and the salt sticks to all parts of the crab. After using pliers to separate the apricots, removing the shell will reveal the white flesh. Taste the sweetness, the meat is firm and naturally fragrant. The flavor of the dish is more delicious if there is a combination of salt, pepper and lemon.

Admittedly, Ca Mau is blessed with many unique products by nature. Dried shrimp is available everywhere but the best is still Ca Mau, the crab in any sea does not have it, but the first class is still Ca Mau crab, the only one is still Ca Mau rock crab. That said, the culinary attraction is one of the factors attracting tourists. Come to Ca Mau and eat salted rock crab right away.

4. How to Make Stone Crab Roast With Salt

Just prepare the ingredients:

+ 1.5kg of rock crab

+ 2 horny chili

+ 2 cloves of lemongrass, a few cloves of garlic

+ A few scallions and laksa leaves

+ Spices include: cooking oil, sugar, salt, monosodium glutamate…

Processing

Step 1: Prepare and clean the prepared ingredients. Including:

+ Stone crab: Wash with plenty of water, remove the shell and cover of the crab, keeping only the meat on the crab body. Wash a few more times until the crab is completely clean, then take out the basket to drain. Then put the crabs in the oil pan, fight until cooked, then take them out.

+ Horny chili, lemongrass and garlic: clean the skin and mince it.

+ Lettuce and scallions: Wash and cut into small pieces.

 Step 2: Make salt and pepper. Put the chopped chili in a bowl, add 1 tablespoon salt, 1 tablespoon sugar and mix well.

Step 3: Make a simple salt-roasted rock crab

+ Fry minced lemongrass and garlic, then put the fried crab meat in the pan, stir for about 1-2 minutes.

+ Slowly spread the salt and pepper sugar made in step 2 into the pan. Use chopsticks to mix well to absorb the seasoning and crab meat. Stir-fry for a while until the irresistible aroma spreads throughout the kitchen, stimulating the taste buds.

+ You taste the seasoning. Then add chopped laksa leaves and scallions, mix 1-2 more times, you can turn off the stove and enjoy the delicious salted roasted crab right away.

Salt-roasted rock crab after being done will have a characteristic orange-yellow color covered with salt, very attractive. Roasted crab with salt but by no means too salty. Enjoying the crab meat inside, everyone is sure to fall in love with the sweet taste, the spice permeates every fiber of the meat.

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