Mr. Bui Ngoc Thai puts on his plastic gloves and carefully mixes the thin layers of lean pork meat, lard and skin with some salt, MSG and thinh, the golden roast rice grounded into a brownish powder.
Century of memories: Mr. Thai recalls the ups and downs of the nem and of his family and his country at large.
The pleasant fragrance of thinh started to fill the room.
His
family’s workshop in Dan Phuong District, 20km west of Hanoi, is less than 100
square meters. But it produces a special delicacy – nem Phung – that regularly
travels by air, train and bus to anywhere on earth where Vietnamese people are
living.
In
his high-ceilinged country home across the street from the workshop, Mr. Thai
recalled how his grandfather used to make his nem at a cart stop eatery serving
travelers and commuters who stopped by.
“My
grandfather was born in 1890, the same year as President Ho Chi Minh,” he said.
“He sold gio (steamed pork jambon)
and cha (fried pork cakes) and nem in
his eatery and became very successful.”
Thanks
to his grandfather’s martial arts skill, neither gangs nor robbers could steal
from him. Known around the area by the name Pho Hoi, because he bought a small
position in the local administration—something like a village sheriff – was
very successful in his days. “Over time, he built his fortune by selling food
and slowly purchased rice-cultivating land around the area. At one point he
accumulated up to 50 acres of land, equal to 18 ha of land today.”
Vast
political forces would soon alter the culinary family’s course. The Viet Minh
League led by President Ho Chi Minh declared to the world that Vietnam was an
independent country on September 2nd, 1945.
Family photo: "My grandfather planted this tree in front of his foodshop. Children, let’s take a photo with greatgrandpa!"
The
fragile independent status did not last long, as the French returned to wage
war with Ho Chi Minh’s government in winter 1946, pushing the young
independence fighters into hiding in the mountains and jungles. In 1947,
grandfather Pho Hoi was killed by artillery fire and his wife wounded.
His
wife kept the family alive by maintaining the food stall, where she continued
to make the nem Phung, named after the large region known as Phung in Son Tay
Province.
The
dish has become a delicacy in several provinces in the north of Vietnam. The
pork can range from the pork ears to pork belly meat, and the seasoning can be
quite mild, sometimes only salt and a small amount of MSG.
Served
as a snack, not as a staple food to be consumed with rice, nem Phung are often
made into small golf ball-sized rounds and sold for mostly men to take with
rice liquor. It’s a delicacy for a taste or a snack, not a meal to fill up on.
After
1954, when Hanoi was liberated from French rule, Mr Thai’s father, who had left
home to join the revolutionary forces up in the mountains, returned home to
tend the rice fields his father had left.
But
the joy of reunion did not last long.
In
1956, the land reform swept through the northern countryside. The fields that
were once the pride and wealth of the family under the grandfather became their
shame.
“My
father was branded a landlord and tied up with his elbows behind his back and
he was sentenced to 12 years in jail,” Mr Thai said. “I was nine years old and
I saw it.”
But
he did not serve a full sentence. “My father spent only six months in jail, and
then a correctional team came to our village to reopen the cases. My father
wrote a report saying he had worked with many people while in the army. The
team confirmed what my father wrote and he was later released.”
In the pan: Mr. Thai slow roasts rice for making golden rice powder.
Mr
Thai said he learned to make nem Phung from his father, who took charge of all
the family’s farming work.
Ten
years later in 1966, Mr Thai himself joined the army.
“In
1968, I was wounded in the battle of Quang Tri,” Mr Thai said. “I had an
operation, the shrapnel was taken out. Luckily it only took away some of my
intestine and I was assessed as a war invalid, level 4/1.”
In
1983, one of the country’s hardest economic times before doi moi or renovation
began in 1986, Mr Thai decided to become a civilian at age 34.
“I
demobbed with a degree of permanent disability, receiving 66 per cent of my
full salary, which was VND36,000 in 1983.”
His
third son, the youngest and the only one who now follows the family’s
tradition, was born the same year.
Mr
Thai recalled how he decided to revive the family’s delicacy that year. “The
first batch, I made 30 balls of nem and brought them to several neighbouring
food stalls. I sold them for VND1,000 each.”
Now
he’s making in a day almost what he used to make in a month.
Keeping family’s name
Today,
Mr Thai’s nem has registered under a commercial name, Nem Phung Thai Cam. Thai
is his name and Cam is his wife’s.
No preservatives: Banana leaves keep the food moist up to two days only.
“My
family’s nem used to be known as Pho Hoi, for my grandfather, and later as Trum
Hoc, for my father,” Mr Thai said. “But my predecessors have long passed away
and I would not want people to call their names everyday!”
Vietnamese
custom calls for using the ancestors’ names only with great respect, during
death ceremonies or in the family handbook.
“In
the past, the label and patent were not as important,” Bui Ngoc Ha, the son,
adds. “Our ancestors’ fame only existed in the memories of people in the area.
In
2014, Mr. Thai was named a Master of Folk Craft. Though the custom of making
nem has survived for four generations, the recipe is not easy for outsiders to
replicate.
“It’s
not something we can write down in a precise recipe,” Mr Ha said. “You need to
do it many, many times and get a feel for the dish and try always to make it
better. Some of my family’s employees were able to open their own shops. All
the families making nem Phung in this region are related.”
Tubular: Women wrap up the nem in banana leaves. The shop no longer makes golf ball-sized nems. — Photos My Ha
Nem
Phung are made everyday and must be eaten within two days. “It’s the only
drawback of our nem,” Mr. Thai said.
“We
tried to put it in airtight bags, but it lost is fluffiness,” his son added.
Mr.
Ha said the Ha Noi Food Safety office conducts hygiene checks twice a year and
the local office also checks them out twice a year.
“I
have heard from customers who brought our nem to many countries around the
world,” Mr. Thai said. “We only sell at home here, and send a few dozen packs
to the famous Quoc Huong shop in Hang Bong St. in Hanoi.”
Nem
Phung Thai Cam can be consumed wrapped in sung leaves, included in the pack, and
dipped in chili sauce or alongside julienned gio (pork jambon) and fried eggs
and vegetables to make summer rolls.
In charge: Mrs. Cam (standing right) looks over the process while her daughter-in-law weighs each pack.
As
we prepared to leave, a car with a Hanoi license plate stopped in front of the
shop and three women came in. “Please pack for us 16 buns! We take them to Ho
Chi Minh City as a gift.”
“It’s
all labour and hard work.” Mr. Thai said. “Over the past one hundred years, our
family’s nem has been with us during our country’s ups and downs. Today, my
children, my grandchildren grew up learning the work. They must love the dish
and love the process of making it so as to keep our family’s craft.”
By VNS