When visiting Vietnam to explore its culture and cuisine, travelers can't miss out on traditional Pho dishes like chicken or beef noodle soup, celebrated by CNN as one of the world's top 20 dishes in 2024. While there are many varieties of Pho in Vietnam, the charred liver Pho in Bac Ninh province, 30 km north of Hanoi, stands out with its unique flavor and appearance unlike any other Pho. As a dish that diners often refer to as "special", charred liver Pho is unique in both appearance and taste. This Pho stands out with its distinctive ingredients: pork offal like liver, heart, kidneys, bone broth, and tender pork loin. The special preparation method highlights its uniqueness. The liver is charred to perfection—not burnt but just enough to give the thick slices a crispy crust while keeping the inside tender and flavorful.

Many foodies love this type of Pho:

"Unlike other Pho with a light, delicate flavor, this dish is rich and bold. Although its black color made me hesitant at first, the charred liver has a surprisingly nutty and creamy taste."

"After tasting it, I have to admit it has a fresh flavor that truly satisfies the palate. I must say, it truly deserves to be called a specialty of Bac Ninh."

Bui Thi Lan, the owner of the most famous charred liver Pho restaurant in Bac Ninh which has been open for 40 years and always bustling with long lines of customers, elaborated on the recipe:

"The meat selected must be the most tender loin. The offal is cleaned and prepared meticulously, then sautéed with tomatoes and garlic to enhance the flavor, and taken off the heat once it reaches a perfect golden brown. This dish demands a special technique, where the liver needs to be thickly sliced and fried in hot oil over high heat for about 20 minutes. Many have tried to replicate this recipe but often end up overcooking the liver,” said Lan.

"The dish is unique. The fat liver, and other offal are incredibly rich, aromatic, and so unique that it's hard to describe." The broth is what making pho special, and a good pho depends first and foremost on the quality of the broth. It’s the difference between a bad homemade pho and a good pho, a normal pho restaurant and really good one. So, if one knows how to make a good broth, then everything else is just a matter of getting the pho ingredients from the markets.

Unlike traditional Pho, where the broth is ladled directly from the marrow bones, the broth here undergoes an extra step. It is carefully stirred through a pan used to stir-fry tomatoes, hearts, and kidneys to achieve the perfect flavor.

As its name mentions, charred liver Pho, the liver—the star of the dish—is always the most challenging ingredient to prepare. Ms Lan says ingredients must be selected very carefully, especially the liver.

"When it comes to liver Pho, I believe it's an extremely challenging dish to prepare. To create tender, fluffy liver, the chef carefully chooses top-quality ingredients and tests the frying process multiple times until achieving the desired texture. While ingredients like heart, kidneys, and pork loin are readily available in markets, liver demands higher standards. Quality liver is seldom found in regular markets; it often requires special sourcing and rigorous inspection to ensure its quality,” said Lan.

The flavor is what keeps customers coming back, as it is both "indescribable" and "unforgettable." This unique taste appeals to a wide range of palates.

“I discovered this dish through food reviewers on TikTok, and it was also my first time experiencing it. I was extremely impressed by the liver in the dish—it was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The charred liver was exceptionally flavorful," said Minh Thuan, a customer at Lan's restaurant.

When you arrive at the restaurant, you'll see a long line of people waiting, most of whom are local customers. The rest are those intrigued and eager to try this unique dish when they get the chance to visit Bac Ninh.

Lan says: “Many visitors from other parts of the country, like Hanoi and even Ho Chi Minh City, make it a point to enjoy charred liver Pho whenever they visit Bac Ninh to satisfy their cravings. Sometimes, the restaurant even hosts groups of nearly 20 motorcyclists who travel to Bac Ninh just to savor this dish. Most feedback about the dish is very positive, with most people finding it incredibly delicious."

This dish will give you a fresh perspective on Vietnamese food, going beyond the usual flavors and touching the hearts of adventurous souls. Don't let the unfamiliar color of charred liver Pho deter you. Come to Bac Ninh and taste this blend of flavors for yourself. It will surely be an unforgettable food experience.

(Photo: dantri.com.vn)

The origin of pasta, like a tale as old as time, is still debated. According to National Geographic TV network, this food was widely mentioned in 13th century documents, and has since become a beloved dish around the globe. With more than 350 types of pasta in all shapes and sizes, each paired with a distinct cooking technique, it can be quite confusing for beginners to grasp the basics of this dish. Today, we are going to learn the recipe for a pasta dish that is simple, yet always hits the spot. Let’s check out how to make a classic tomato spaghetti with chef Nico Ceccomoro, owner of two Italian restaurants in Hanoi: Cugini and Sanzio Deli. Nico Ceccomoro champions true Italian cuisine, and his concept is that fresh, high-quality ingredients should always be the backbone of the dish. And perhaps nothing elevates the natural flavors of the ingredients like a classic tomato spaghetti. For Nico, choosing the right kind of spaghetti is the most important step.

“The best way is to have good quality spaghetti. When the pasta has a very good quality, even if you never tried it before, it must not look shiny. If the pasta is shiny and transparent, it’s one of the first things telling you this pasta is not good quality. Pasta must be very rough. And it's supposed to be indicated on the packaging that the pasta has a slow dehydration point, which means they removed the water from the pasta slowly at a low temperature. That will help the grain and the pasta to give all the flavor to whatever you're planning to cook,” Nico told VOV.

Once you have chosen a slow-dried, matte-colored type of spaghetti, it’s time for the sauce, made with just four ingredients that can easily be found in your cupboard!

“It's made of extra virgin oil, very good garlic, basil-fresh basil, not the dry one - and some chilies. Then, you may add some cheese. Some Italians don't do that. But I do love my spaghetti tomato with parmigiana, which is the king of cheese," Nico explained.

"I’m going to stir fry my garlic with a bit of chili and then I'm going to add some of the tomato sauce and just let it go for 10 minutes. I really like to cook it for very little time, not too much because I want to keep the aroma of the tomatoes. The more you look to cook it, the heavier the sauce will be. Then I set the sauce to the side.”

The next step is boiling the spaghetti. This is when the art of “Al dente” pasta comes into play. Al dente is Italian for "to the tooth", meaning there should be a slight bite to your pasta. By doing this, the spaghetti retains its texture, avoids being too soft and mixes well with the sauce. But how to master “Al dente”? Nico said you just need to boil the pasta about 2 or 3 minutes less than the packaging indicates.

He said, “If the box says 10 minutes, for example, I will cook it for eight. And then I will add the water of the pasta and the spaghetti into the tomato sauce. I will keep cooking that in the pan for another two minutes more so we get all the flavor inside the spaghetti too. After that, just turn off your fire. You can add a little fresh extra virgin olive oil to give this very beautiful aroma, then add cheese at the end. You should never put cheese on the fire, especially aged cheese like parmigiano because it tends to coagulate and makes a very gluey pasta, which is not good. So, the cheese goes in when the heat goes down.”

And that’s how you get an authentic, flavorful tomato spaghetti in just under 20 minutes! The tomato spaghetti pairs well with kale salad and some garlic bread. With Nico’s recipe, who says you can’t bring Italy delicacy to your kitchen?

Tomato spaghetti is a simple dish that always hits the spot! (Photo: Benreis/Wikimedia Commons)

Hanoi’s cuisine has long been a factor that has attracted lots of travelers. The most significant characteristics of Hanoi cuisine are its sophistication and deliciousness. Thang Long, or Hanoi-style grilled fish is a good example of the sophistication of Hanoi’s cuisine, using a variety of spices and herbs in one dish. This is VOV24/7’s Food Delight. I’m talking about Thang Long grilled fish, a specialty of Hanoi. Hanoi’s cuisine has long been a factor that has attracted lots of travelers. The most significant characteristics of Hanoi cuisine are its sophistication and deliciousness.

Thang Long, or Cha Ca, or Hanoi-style grilled fish is a good example of the sophistication of Hanoi’s cuisine, using a variety of spices and herbs in one dish.

On today’s show we have Ms. Nguyen Thanh Van, who is in charge of the Vietnamese restaurant at Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi Hotel. Along with Bun Cha - grilled pork with vermicelli - Thang Long grilled fish is the most popular dish with the restaurant’s foreign guests.

Ms. Van: Cha ca is a very typical dish of Hanoi. To make Cha ca, we use many different spices. You have to choose good fish.

Chi: Hemibagrus catfish (Ca lang) and sheat-fish (Ca anh vu) are two popular kinds of fish that are used to make Cha Ca. What kind of fish do you use?

Ms. Van: Originally, Cha Ca was made with Ca lang from the Red River. But in recent years, Ca lang has become very rare, so people use one of the many other kinds of cat fish. And now people are raising Ca lang on farms.

Chi: Catfish has a very strong smell. How can we get rid of it?

Ms. Van: Catfish doesn’t have a nice smell. So, after we kill the fish, we cut a fillet, remove the smell, bones, then clean it with coarse salt. We use salt to clean the surface of the fish skin. Then we wash it a second time using vinegar to eliminate the smell of the fish. We wash it a third time with clean water.

Chi: The grilled fish has a savory flavor complemented by a sophisticated combination of spices and herbs. Van, how do you marinate the fish?

Ms. Van: The spices we use to make Cha ca are: galangal, turmeric, fermented rice, shrimp sauce, fish sauce, and a little bit of sugar. We serve it with dill, green onion, peanuts, and shallots.

To marinate, we mince the galangal and turmeric very fine. We wet the mixture with water, we squeeze it to have juice. We have yellow color juice with flavorful galangal and turmeric. Then we mix with an amount of fermented rice and shrimp sauce. That one as well we have to take the juice. Then we mix together two kinds of juice. We season with fish sauce and pepper, a little sugar. We marinate the fish for at least 2 hours, even we can cover the fish and keep it in the fridge over night.

Chi: Now wonder the fish has unique flavor. It is marinated with various kinds of strong spices like galangal, turmeric, shrimp sauce. And its flavor is also enhanced with different herbs.

Ms. Van: After that, you prepare the hot oil in the flat pan, you fry the dill and green onion to have flavorful oil, you take out the dill and onion, and you fry the already half-cooked grilled fish. You finish the fish in the hot oil. Then you serve with the peanuts, shallot. The dipping sauce can be lightened nuoc mam or fish sauce or shrimp sauce.

Chi: How you serve the grilled fish?

Ms. Van: Cha ca, normally we don’t eat with rice, we serve with fresh bun or vermicelli, or some kinds of crackers and a few kinds of herbs like basil, coriander, and the white part of the green onion, we cut it julienne with lime juice and fish sauce.

Chi: Thank you Van for being with us on today’s show.

Now, Thang Long grilled fish or Cha ca La Vong are offered in many restaurants not only in Hanoi but also in other areas like Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City. But Hanoi grilled fish still has its own unique flavor.

Find out more recipes and cuisine on VOV24/7 Food Delight. For now, good bye.

(Photo: kenh14.vn)