Lai Vung spring rolls - Dong Thap specialties with all kinds of sour, spicy, salty, sweet flavors

This dish was in the top 10 famous spring roll specialties in Vietnam (2012), voted in the top 50 Vietnamese gift specialties for the first time (2013) and the top 100 Vietnamese specialties (2020-2021) announced by the Vietnam Records Organization. In November 2023, "Lai Vung Spring Roll Making Profession" was also recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage of Vietnam. Photo: Nem Chi Tam Unlike the common spring rolls in many other provinces and regions across the country, Lai Vung spring rolls stand out with bright red and pink meat, lined with bamboo leaves and added black pepper and white garlic as highlights. In particular, each spring roll has a blend of 4 salty, sweet, sour, and spicy flavors, attracting diners in both sight, smell and taste. The ingredients for this spring roll include pork, pork skin, leaves, garlic, chili, and pepper. Although made from familiar and easy-to-find local ingredients, Lai Vung spring rolls require a meticulous and feat processing process from the preparation of raw materials, auxiliary materials, preliminary processing to mixing, annealing spring rolls, then packaging and preserving the finished spring rolls. Photo: @nekotaro_saigon To make quality Lai Vung spring rolls, the preparation of input materials is very important. The meat for spring rolls must be fresh meat from the oven that is still warm and flexible, taken from the tenderloin of the back thigh or lean buttocks because it is soft and has few tendons. After choosing delicious meat, people put the meat in a stone mortar and pound it finely, while the pork rind is boiled, sliced into strips and mixed together. The meat and skin will be mixed according to the recipe of 8 parts of meat, 2 parts of skin, seasoned with salt, sugar, pepper, MSG,... with appropriate proportions. Depending on the secret of each house and each person, there are different ways to mix spices, but you still have to ensure that the spring rolls have a blend of 4 flavors: sour, spicy, salty, and sweet. Photo: Lam Afternoon Smoke Compared to some other types of spring rolls lined with guava leaves, Lai Vung spring rolls are wrapped directly with bamboo leaves or gooseberries. These are 2 types of leaves that help the meat ferment quickly and create a delicious taste when enjoyed. Outside, people wrap spring rolls with Siamese banana leaves because of their toughness, softness and beautiful color. After placing the spring rolls on the surface of the leaves, pepper and chili peppers are pressed in the middle and then a slice of garlic is added to the top. Spring rolls are wrapped in leaves so that they are clever, not leaving the meat exposed to the outside to ensure aesthetics and help spring rolls ferment naturally. Photo: Nem Hoang Khanh Lai Vung spring rolls are wrapped in square-shaped balls, as small as 3 fingertips pinched together. After wrapping, spring rolls are tied into bunches of 10 pieces, the price is about 30,000 VND/bunch. Diners who have enjoyed Lai Vung spring rolls commented that this specialty can be eaten directly or combined with vermicelli, bread, and rice paper. The meat is bright pink thanks to the natural fermentation process, the taste is sour, slightly sweet, mixed with a little spicy from garlic and pepper, enough to attract even fastidious guests. According to Zing