Tiet Canh
Chao Long, or innards rice porridge, is a Saigon street stalwart. One I've ingested, and blogged before here and here. Tiet Canh, blood soup, is less common. It's normally made with duck's blood (tiet canh vit) or sometimes with pig's blood (tiet canh heo). In a previous life, I had a version with goat's blood in Hanoi (tiet canh de??). The mindbend for many is that we're talking fresh blood, stuck in the fridge to gently conjeal. It's a Vietnamese dish designed for drinking booze and it's one that makes very little effort appeal to the taste buds of the non-Vietnamese diner. You will find a few chopped peanuts scattered a top your blood, maybe some rau ram, but that's as far as it goes for fanciness. Blood soup has the oddest texture and tastes strangely metallic. Spotting this stall on a stroll yesterday reminded me of the dish. I'll never ever blog it in anger, as I'll never ever eat it again. I believe the popularity of the duck version has taken a bit of a dive since the onset of bird flu. Here's a restaurant review that covers the duck blood version. And here's a cracking photo of a table awash with Tiet Canh.
i always think blood SMELLS metallic, so I can only imagine the taste would be the same.
Posted by: Cin | February 20, 2006 at 01:09 PM
That restaurant is right up from house. Not sure if they're open yet or not. I'll go find out...I'm in need of blood.
Posted by: Peter Vazquez | February 20, 2006 at 10:56 PM
You mean reopened Peter? I assume they got destroyed by Katrina too?
Posted by: pieman | February 21, 2006 at 03:35 AM
I meant re-opened. My favotite place has yet to re-open...a little place called Pho Tau Bay. My routine has been destroyed....my Monday paper reading with a xoi ga lap suong, bun bo hue, cafe sua da and sua dau nanh. My life has become tragically boring without the uncertainty of routine.
Posted by: PeterVazquez | February 22, 2006 at 12:13 AM
thanks for linking my tiết canh photos! :)
Posted by: loupiote | March 02, 2006 at 04:03 AM
hello,i am xitrum. i'm a Vietnamese student.
by a chance, i visit your blog when i tried to find "tiet canh", "thit cho".
they are our traditional foods, not only nutrition, very, very good for health and also our culture...
And i know that you've been in VN. If you still in the "S geometry" country, we can talk or anything else, i am a good,free tour guide.
Please reply to me, lipsitutrach@yahoo.com.
Bye and have a nice time in VietNam
Posted by: xitrum | May 04, 2007 at 07:59 PM