What are you cooking for the holidays? I’m frankly unsure because it’s just the two of us this weekend. We are flexible about our menu.
My family is delaying gathering until next week when we’ll convene for my dad’s giỗ — a remembrance celebration. You can describe giỗ (“zoh” or “yoh”, in northern and southern Vietnamese tone) as a death anniversary but it is a time for considering the person’s life, passing, and afterlife. The first annual celebration is most important because you invite close family and friends who helped you out through the process. Beyond the first one, a person’s giỗ can move around datewise. For example, in 2023, we’ll celebrate dad earlier, when it’s more convenient for everyone’s travel schedule.
Meantime, as I’m pondering our weekend food options, I’ve been making small snacks for us to enjoy around 5pm, as we’re preparing dinner and feeling snacky. A warm fragrant bowl of curry popcorn is among my default snacks because it’s light, fun and after decades, I can practically wing it. Well sort of. Sometimes I’m off on the seasoning. When that happens, my husband reminds me to follow the curry popcorn recipe.
Yesterday, I went to a local fishmonger for smelts. Fish fillets were neatly arranged at H&H Seafood but the silvery, slender smelts laid in a raucous pile, filling their bowl in the display case. They had the slippery look of freshly caught seafood. The smelts previously resided in the Monterey Bay and were caught with nets (the smallest one was narrower than my pinkie so I can’t imagine catching the smelts with a line and hook). Smelts aren’t available all the time and I asked for a handful, about one third pound, enough to serve four as a snack (or two nights of snacking for two people).
Small super fresh fish should be treated gently. I coated them simply, seasoning the fish with a touch of curry powder, then I fried them. They were absolutely delicious. The smelts tasted like the Pacific ocean. Seriously. The little fish were transportive.
I served the casual snack with a casual bubbly — a cava that wasn’t overly complex but smooth, not overly dry and not sweet. It costs roughly $13 a bottle at Costco.
My husband said the snack reminded him of a trip to Spain from long ago. True, but it also reminded me of shopping at outdoor markets in Vietnam and seeing piles of small fish for sale, wanting to fry up a handful but not having a kitchen to do it. This time was obviously different. And I was so happy about the crispy smelt snack that I made the bonus frying tips video at the top of this newsletter for subscribers and wrote up the Crispy Fried Smelt recipe on Viet World Kitchen.
My dad loved smelts and other similar, humble pleasures. He loved Christmas music — something he missed when he lost most of his hearing toward the end of his life. When I made rich-tasting foods for special meals, he’d pull out some ancient looking wine bottles kept in a jam-packed wet-bar area by his desk. He would have categorized my fish snack as món nhậu — a nosh with drinks. We would have sat at the table to nibble and drink for a spell before dinner was ready.
Last night, my husband and I snacked and clinked cava, toasting my dad wherever he may be. We had an early giỗ for Bố Già (“Old Daddy”).
Big Carrots for the Win
Long ago, a skilled farmer told me that older carrots are better tasting carrots. He grew cute baby carrots but he pointed to his gnarly big ones and said, “Buy those for flavor.” I tested his theory over the years and agree that the baby ones, despite their charm, lack bright sweetness. Carrots are like people. We get better with age. I’ve sought big carrots ever since.
Other people obviously agree with me. Two hours into yesterday’s farmer’s market, the heaping pile of very slender baby carrots looked untouched while there were only about half a dozen remaining bunches of big carrots. I bought two bunches of biggies. At another farmer’s table, I spied a foursome of Bugs Bunny-worthy carrots and bought that bunch too. How much did I buy? Turns out — six pounds. I still had two pounds from last week.
Root vegetables keep for a long time but I plan on using a number of them for roasted carrots with creamy nuoc cham, one of my favorite new recipes from 2022. Some people call these big boys “horse” carrots but you don’t need to be a horse to appreciate their savor.
Bean Sprouts Sub in Pho
Unless you regularly shop at an East or Southeast Asian market, the bean sprout selection can be incredibly sad or nonexistent. One supermarket produce guy at a Ralphs told me that after an e-coli scare, they stopped selling bean sprouts. Not enough people buy them at mainstream markets so I’m often hitting up our hippie natural foods market, Staff of Life, if I’m staying local. Even so, they can be slimy, wilted, or sad.
This past week, wanting bean sprouts’ refreshing crunch in my bowl of pho but not having good sprouts on hand, I thinly sliced some cabbage. Cabbage and crisp lettuce are used for eating with other Viet noodle soup so why not use it for pho? The cabbage was fine, not the same as bean sprouts but I got to add veggies to the bowl and textural crunch. Try it out in a pinch.
Your Opinion Counts!
I’ve heard from a few readers that they found it distracting to read through an entire recipe in the middle of a newsletter. They said they preferred it when the recipe was at my website and I just linked to it from Pass the Fish Sauce.
What do you think?
I’m taking a break next week and will return after January 1.
Crispy Smelts and Cava