Lap Xuong sausage – Must Food at Tet in Vietnam
Lap Xuong sausage (Chinese sausage, Lap Cheong) is a must food at Tet – the biggest festival in Vietnam, especially South Vietnam. In the past, Lap Xuong sausage is only made at Tet. In the recent, this food has become popular and produced all around the year in many regions of the country. It is also a favorite food and ingredient to cook many delicious Vietnamese dishes. The best places where the best Lap Xuong sausages are made are Soc Trang Province (especially Vung Thom village), Can Giuoc District in Long An Province, Chau Doc Province.
Traditional Lap Xuong sausage is made from pork small intestine, pork fat and lean pork, Mai Que Lo wine, spices including sugar, salt, dry black pepper. To make the sausage, cut lean pork and pork fat into small cubes, mix them with spices, stuff pork small intestines with the mixture, tight the stuffed intestines at two ends and in the middle to make chunks of sausages, finally dry the stuffed intestines, under the sun for 1-5 days depending on the recipe and weather. After drying, the sausages become dull-brick red, shining, medium hard, sweet-tasty, the fat turns translucent and less greasy. In Chau Doc Province, they make Lap Xuong sausage from beef – a specialty of this province. Besides pork and beef, Vietnamese people also make Lap Xuong sausage from shrimp and chicken. In Dong Thap, they make Snake sausage from snakeskin and snake meat. In the recent, they created fresh Lap Xuong sausage which is not dried but cooked right after stuffing. Instead of drying the stuffed intestines under the sun, they dry the sausages in drying machines. Depending on the drying time and packaging method, Lap Xuong sausages can be stored from a couple of days to few months.
There are many methods to cook Lap Xuong sausage: grilling, frying, steaming. The most favorite method of cooking Lap Xuong is cooking the sausages in a little of water (water just covers the sausages) until the water dried up, the sausages become well-done, more tender in comparison to the uncooked ones, less greasy, and extremely fragrant. Sometimes they use coconut water instead of water to fry the sausage. Steaming Lap Xuong in rice cooker is also a great method to cook this amazing food. The cooked sausages are cut into chunks or slices, served with steamed rice or steamed sticky rice and pickles.
Lap Xuong sausage is the main ingredient to make some delicious Vietnamese dishes such as:
- Savory steamed sticky rice with mixed toppings
- Yang Chow Fried Rice
- Savory Bo Pia Roll
- Pia Cake – A Soc Trang Specialty
- Vietnamese Mooncakes
If you have a chance to visit Vietnam, do not miss tasting delicious Lap Xuong sausage and buying some to bring home as a gift for your family and friends. The price of Lap Xuong sausage is 150,000-200,000 VND. This food is easily found at many local markets and supermarkets in Vietnam.
Ingredients for Lap Xuong sausage
Stuffed pork small intestine
The sausages turn dull-brick red and shining when drying under the sun
The cooked Lap Xuong sausages are really mouth-watering, they are usually sliced and served with sweet and sour, crunchy pickled leek
Beef sausages are often grilled on charcoal
Frying snake sausage
Pia Cake
Savory steamed sticky rice with mixed toppings
Yang Chow Fried Rice
Bo Bia or Bo Pia Roll
