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(VTC News) - Rat meat stew, rat meat soup, grilled rat skewers, rat wrapped in betel leaves, charcoal-grilled rat... are favorite dishes of drinkers in many rice-growing villages, but they are not found everywhere. The biggest and most luxurious feast in some villages in Thai Binh province must include rat meat. A feast without a bowl of rat meat stew or grilled field rat is not considered luxurious, especially during holidays, Tet (Lunar New Year), ancestral worship ceremonies, weddings, etc.
Rats are the most dangerous pests, gnawing and devouring food, posing a significant threat to humankind. They are the most destructive to rice, crops, corn, potatoes, and cassava. That's why, in the past, district and provincial officials often ordered villagers to organize rat extermination campaigns.
The book "Thai Binh Phong Vat Chi" by Pham Van Thu, Governor of Thai Binh during the Nguyen Dynasty, wrote: "At the beginning of the reign of Tu Duc (1848 - 1883), in Thanh Quan district (now part of Dong Hung and Thai Thuy districts), there was a plague of field rats. Large and small rats swarmed together, destroying all the rice crops in the fields. The people tried many ways to drive them away, but without success."
The rat infestation lasted for two or three years, forcing the fields to be left fallow and overgrown with weeds. The rat population grew increasingly larger. When buffaloes and oxen came down to plow the fields, the rats swarmed, biting their legs and gnawing at their thighs, causing more pain than a horsefly bite.
At that time, the district magistrate (of Thanh Quan district), Tong Xuan, ordered the people to reward anyone who caught and handed over 10 rat tails with 3 coins. The people caught so many that they had to pour them into baskets to count them. From then on, the rat plague gradually subsided. For several years in a row, there was a great famine, and the people considered the rat plague to be a symptom of a crop failure.
Some documents also suggest that, from this involuntary rat extermination campaign, farmers have developed and created many dishes whose main ingredient is plump field rats weighing from 0,2 to 1 kg.
During harvest season, strolling through some rural villages in the rice-growing region, we will witness the "technology" of processing rat meat reaching its peak, unmatched anywhere else. However, each rural area has its own way of preparing rat meat.
Timing is crucial when catching rats. Nowadays, there are many ways to catch these little creatures, but the most common methods are setting traps, smoking them out, or pouring water into their burrows to suffocate them and force them out. Once the rats run out, it's the perfect time for the dogs to show off their acrobatic skills and chase them down.
During harvest season, harvesters often scout areas with many rats, then harvest in a circular pattern on the field, herding the rats into the center. When the rice hasn't been completely harvested, leaving only a few mats of rice paddies, they stretch nets to encircle the area or scare the rats by banging the nets around them, causing them to panic and fall into the nets or be caught by people using sticks, sickles, or carrying poles.
In Dong Tien commune (Quynh Phu district, Thai Binh province), due to its low-lying terrain, rice is grown in the higher fields, while sedge is cultivated in the lower fields along the river. When the rice ripens, rats from the sedge fields come out to feast on the rice and other crops.
When the rice in the fields is harvested, the rats return to their burrows in the sedge fields. Therefore, during the harvest season or when harvesting sedge, people often bring iron rods, along with spices and leaves such as betel leaves, banana leaves, and ginger leaves... to enjoy eating rats.
When cutting reeds, villagers also set up circular nets, similar to how they catch rats when harvesting rice. According to experienced hunters, rats are fattest at the end of the harvest season. At that time, as winter approaches, rats eat a lot to accumulate fat and gain strength to withstand the cold. Therefore, rat meat at this stage is both fatty and flavorful.
Strange rat dishes
After catching the rat, they clean off the fur, gut it, chop off its legs, and decapitate it. The plump rat is then roasted over a straw fire (like roasting a dog), the fat sizzling as it cooks.
The pork body is chopped into small pieces, seasoned with fish sauce, salt, black pepper, galangal, ginger, and lemongrass. Add enough water to cover the meat, then cook until very tender. Afterwards, scoop it into a bowl and let it cool (similar to cooking pork jelly).
Jellied rat meat is a delicious dish. During holidays, Tet (Lunar New Year), or ancestral commemorations in many families in Dong Phuong commune (Dong Hung district), jellied rat meat is the most popular dish.
There's a very unusual rat meat dish in Thai Binh: rat soup. In previous years, some villages were very popular with rat meat cooked with spinach.
After catching the rats, the villagers cleaned them thoroughly and boiled them in a pot. Then they took the rats out and let them cool.
The next step is to remove the meat from the rat's skin, sauté onions, garlic, ginger, and fish sauce until fragrant, then add the rat meat and stir well so that the meat absorbs the seasoning. The stir-fried rat meat is then cooked with spinach. This rat soup is refreshing, fragrant, and very nutritious; everyone loves it.
Grilled rat is also a popular dish. When rats are caught in rice paddies or reed fields, connoisseurs of drinking and eating them on the spot.
After seasoning the meat, wrap it in betel leaves or banana leaves. Use iron skewers to roast the rat, stick the skewers upright on a wide bank or riverbank, cover with straw, and light a fire to roast the rat.
In some places, after wrapping the rat in fragrant leaves, people cover it with earth, then pile straw on top and set it ablaze. When the earthen wrapping cracks open, the rat meat is cooked.
In the countryside, with the gentle breeze blowing and the rice stalks rustling, clinking glasses of wine with a plate of fragrant, crispy, and fatty grilled rat meat is simply unparalleled. Indeed, a delicious meal perfectly suited to the setting and atmosphere is something no one can easily forget in their lifetime.
Besides grilled rat meat cooked over straw, connoisseurs also grill marinated rats over charcoal. They eat each piece as it cooks, piping hot.
The dish of pressed rat wrapped in betel leaves varies from place to place, but regardless of the method, it is considered a specialty of the people in some rice-growing rural areas.
In Thai Thuy, rats are boiled, wrapped in betel leaves, and then pressed down with a stone mortar to harden them. In Dong Hung, the preparation is more elaborate. After boiling, the rats are placed in a basket to dry. Then they are grilled over charcoal.
Once the rat is cooked, spread out a banana leaf. Spread a layer of betel leaves on top of the banana leaf along with spices such as ginger, galangal, lime leaves, and lemongrass, crushed or finely chopped. Place the rat in the middle of the spice mixture, then cover it with another layer of spices. Wrap the rat in the banana leaf and tie it into a round bundle like a ham roll.
Next, the "rat meat" is pressed tightly between two sturdy bamboo sticks. This type of pressed rat meat wrapped in betel leaves has a very special flavor; it's both fragrant and crispy, making it a favorite among many. According to elders, in the old days, only wealthy families or high-class individuals would prepare this dish of pressed rat meat wrapped in betel leaves to entertain distinguished guests.
People in many rice-growing regions are fond of eating rat meat, preparing all sorts of rat meat specialties to enjoy. Therefore, rats are not a major problem for many rural areas where people love rat meat as a delicacy.
History of rat dishes
Thai Binh, a rice-growing region surrounded by rivers and waterways, boasts fertile fields ideal for cultivating rice and other crops. However, it is also a breeding ground for rats, which multiply in countless numbers.
Currently, hundreds of small tiger restaurants have opened in Thai Binh province, which is unfortunate for the feline family, but a joy for generations of rats.
Rats wreak havoc on rice fields, nesting on riverbanks, field edges, elevated areas, and in orchards... During the harvest season, when the fields are dry, the rats freely nibble on plump rice grains, their antennae twitching as they savor the delicious taste of the full, ripe rice. They squeak and call for mates in the rice paddies.
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| Mouse |
Rats are the most dangerous pests, gnawing and devouring food, posing a significant threat to humankind. They are the most destructive to rice, crops, corn, potatoes, and cassava. That's why, in the past, district and provincial officials often ordered villagers to organize rat extermination campaigns.
The book "Thai Binh Phong Vat Chi" by Pham Van Thu, Governor of Thai Binh during the Nguyen Dynasty, wrote: "At the beginning of the reign of Tu Duc (1848 - 1883), in Thanh Quan district (now part of Dong Hung and Thai Thuy districts), there was a plague of field rats. Large and small rats swarmed together, destroying all the rice crops in the fields. The people tried many ways to drive them away, but without success."
The rat infestation lasted for two or three years, forcing the fields to be left fallow and overgrown with weeds. The rat population grew increasingly larger. When buffaloes and oxen came down to plow the fields, the rats swarmed, biting their legs and gnawing at their thighs, causing more pain than a horsefly bite.
At that time, the district magistrate (of Thanh Quan district), Tong Xuan, ordered the people to reward anyone who caught and handed over 10 rat tails with 3 coins. The people caught so many that they had to pour them into baskets to count them. From then on, the rat plague gradually subsided. For several years in a row, there was a great famine, and the people considered the rat plague to be a symptom of a crop failure.
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| Roast the mouse. |
Some documents also suggest that, from this involuntary rat extermination campaign, farmers have developed and created many dishes whose main ingredient is plump field rats weighing from 0,2 to 1 kg.
During harvest season, strolling through some rural villages in the rice-growing region, we will witness the "technology" of processing rat meat reaching its peak, unmatched anywhere else. However, each rural area has its own way of preparing rat meat.
Timing is crucial when catching rats. Nowadays, there are many ways to catch these little creatures, but the most common methods are setting traps, smoking them out, or pouring water into their burrows to suffocate them and force them out. Once the rats run out, it's the perfect time for the dogs to show off their acrobatic skills and chase them down.
During harvest season, harvesters often scout areas with many rats, then harvest in a circular pattern on the field, herding the rats into the center. When the rice hasn't been completely harvested, leaving only a few mats of rice paddies, they stretch nets to encircle the area or scare the rats by banging the nets around them, causing them to panic and fall into the nets or be caught by people using sticks, sickles, or carrying poles.
 |
| Rats are prepared into countless strange and delicious dishes. |
In Dong Tien commune (Quynh Phu district, Thai Binh province), due to its low-lying terrain, rice is grown in the higher fields, while sedge is cultivated in the lower fields along the river. When the rice ripens, rats from the sedge fields come out to feast on the rice and other crops.
When the rice in the fields is harvested, the rats return to their burrows in the sedge fields. Therefore, during the harvest season or when harvesting sedge, people often bring iron rods, along with spices and leaves such as betel leaves, banana leaves, and ginger leaves... to enjoy eating rats.
When cutting reeds, villagers also set up circular nets, similar to how they catch rats when harvesting rice. According to experienced hunters, rats are fattest at the end of the harvest season. At that time, as winter approaches, rats eat a lot to accumulate fat and gain strength to withstand the cold. Therefore, rat meat at this stage is both fatty and flavorful.
Strange rat dishes
After catching the rat, they clean off the fur, gut it, chop off its legs, and decapitate it. The plump rat is then roasted over a straw fire (like roasting a dog), the fat sizzling as it cooks.
The pork body is chopped into small pieces, seasoned with fish sauce, salt, black pepper, galangal, ginger, and lemongrass. Add enough water to cover the meat, then cook until very tender. Afterwards, scoop it into a bowl and let it cool (similar to cooking pork jelly).
Jellied rat meat is a delicious dish. During holidays, Tet (Lunar New Year), or ancestral commemorations in many families in Dong Phuong commune (Dong Hung district), jellied rat meat is the most popular dish.
There's a very unusual rat meat dish in Thai Binh: rat soup. In previous years, some villages were very popular with rat meat cooked with spinach.
After catching the rats, the villagers cleaned them thoroughly and boiled them in a pot. Then they took the rats out and let them cool.
The next step is to remove the meat from the rat's skin, sauté onions, garlic, ginger, and fish sauce until fragrant, then add the rat meat and stir well so that the meat absorbs the seasoning. The stir-fried rat meat is then cooked with spinach. This rat soup is refreshing, fragrant, and very nutritious; everyone loves it.
 |
| Mice are sold at the market. |
Grilled rat is also a popular dish. When rats are caught in rice paddies or reed fields, connoisseurs of drinking and eating them on the spot.
After seasoning the meat, wrap it in betel leaves or banana leaves. Use iron skewers to roast the rat, stick the skewers upright on a wide bank or riverbank, cover with straw, and light a fire to roast the rat.
In some places, after wrapping the rat in fragrant leaves, people cover it with earth, then pile straw on top and set it ablaze. When the earthen wrapping cracks open, the rat meat is cooked.
In the countryside, with the gentle breeze blowing and the rice stalks rustling, clinking glasses of wine with a plate of fragrant, crispy, and fatty grilled rat meat is simply unparalleled. Indeed, a delicious meal perfectly suited to the setting and atmosphere is something no one can easily forget in their lifetime.
Besides grilled rat meat cooked over straw, connoisseurs also grill marinated rats over charcoal. They eat each piece as it cooks, piping hot.
The dish of pressed rat wrapped in betel leaves varies from place to place, but regardless of the method, it is considered a specialty of the people in some rice-growing rural areas.
In Thai Thuy, rats are boiled, wrapped in betel leaves, and then pressed down with a stone mortar to harden them. In Dong Hung, the preparation is more elaborate. After boiling, the rats are placed in a basket to dry. Then they are grilled over charcoal.
Once the rat is cooked, spread out a banana leaf. Spread a layer of betel leaves on top of the banana leaf along with spices such as ginger, galangal, lime leaves, and lemongrass, crushed or finely chopped. Place the rat in the middle of the spice mixture, then cover it with another layer of spices. Wrap the rat in the banana leaf and tie it into a round bundle like a ham roll.
Next, the "rat meat" is pressed tightly between two sturdy bamboo sticks. This type of pressed rat meat wrapped in betel leaves has a very special flavor; it's both fragrant and crispy, making it a favorite among many. According to elders, in the old days, only wealthy families or high-class individuals would prepare this dish of pressed rat meat wrapped in betel leaves to entertain distinguished guests.
People in many rice-growing regions are fond of eating rat meat, preparing all sorts of rat meat specialties to enjoy. Therefore, rats are not a major problem for many rural areas where people love rat meat as a delicacy.
Historian Dang Hung
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