Grilled stream fish Pu Luong - Specialty "eat is pleasure"
Pu Luong Nature Reserve, Thanh Hoa province is a place not too strange for those who love to explore. This place is not only evaluated as a nature reserve with scientific, socio-economic and eco-tourism values, but also known for the culinary culture of the  Thai community living here.
  Pu Luong in Thai is the highest mountain, belonging to two districts of Ba Thuoc and Quan Hoa, Thanh Hoa with an area of more than 17,600 hectares with rich flora and fauna. Pu Luong impresses visitors with the unspoiled beauty of primeval tropical forests, terraced fields and the peaceful life of mountainous ethnic minorities.
   
Pu Luong is like a vivid and colorful watercolor painting, making visitors immerse in the captivating beauty of terraced fields, forests and mountains with rich green or dreamy in the afternoon sun spreading sweet honey. Besides the beauty of that nature, Pu Luong also makes visitors forget the way home because of unforgettable dishes with bold flavors of the Northwest mountains.
Thai people are famous for their ingenuity and sophistication, especially in cooking.  They create many unique and special dishes from very simple products of the mountains. One of the quintessence of the cuisine here is pa pinh top (grilled fish) - a traditional dish considered the most luxurious in Thai cuisine.
Eating pa pin makes people drunk. With a little sticky rice dotted with occipital diagonal, add a little spicy corn wine, pangolin, this dish makes people "fall in love" from the first bite. Therefore, the attractive grilled fish dish invites all the senses of diners and pleases everyone, even the most demanding.
   
Pa in Thai means "stream fish"; Pa Pinh Top means grilled folding fish, usually made from stream fish, carp, drifting fish, carp ... living in stream areas. The reason it is called grilled fish is based on the shape of the fish when it is grilled, the Thai people peep it, drain it, marinate it, and then fold the fish in half to bake, so the ethnic people named it like that.
Fish after being caught from the stream are cleaned of scales and then pecked. Unlike the usual way of dissecting fish under the belly, the Thai people cut along the spine, so that the fish can easily fold over, and then cut parallel lines on the fish. The fish scalpel must be very sharp, the incisions must be neat to keep the meat fibers intact.
 
The choice of fish, to the way to mix the seasoning to marinate the fish is also very important. After being marinated, the fish will be clamped with thick and fresh bamboo sticks, grilled on charcoal fire from forest wood. The coal fire must be even and small, slowly grilled so that the fat of the fish comes out iridescent, the outside of the fish is golden yellow, cooked to the inside, the fish is white, sweet and fragrant, and the smell of smoke and forest fire. When the fish is cooked, you can't rush to eat it right away, but you have to wait for a while for the fish to hunt again, the skin is peeled off the bamboo stick before unloading the fish.
 

The grilled fish in Pa Pinh Top is fragrant when it is still on the charcoal fire, each drop  of spice is smoked by the embers and the fish meat gradually turns yellow, the taste is  fragrant and fragrant, the water in the fish meat is melted into the sizzling basket. down embers a fish dish full of Northwest aftertaste.
Pa ping top when on the plate has a characteristic folded triangle shape. Sometimes in order to cook quickly, people cut open the fish and then bake it bare or whole, maybe  the seasoning can be marinated in the right Northwest style, but because of the different  shape, calling the name of the dish Pa Pinh Top suddenly feels lost. something in the soul of the dish.
    There is a Thai proverb that says: ''Cay man mok ma ha, Bao to Pa Pinh Top ma su'', which means: ''Chicken brought by the frequency, not as good as Pa Pinh Top's giving''.
Anyone who enjoys this special dish must be surprised. The grilled fish is dry and firm, the fish meat is fragrant, and the flavors are mixed with the sour, bitter, salty and sweet flavors of spices, highlighting the fatty sweetness of the fish. The strange and delicious taste is obtained thanks to the delicate blend of spices, has enough spicy, sour, bitter, sweet taste, does not lose the taste of fish, even "celebrates" the fibers of the fish meat sweet luscious.
Sticky rice and pa pin to be eaten by hand are delicious enough. Grab a piece of sticky rice, tear a piece of meat, remember to remove the bones, then immediately dip the fragrant spices in the fish's belly. Eating at a restaurant is already delicious, but sitting right by the stream, or in a house on stilts with a flickering fire, there is no more magical experience in the world than that.
For Thai people, "white rice, silver fish" is a symbol of fullness and happiness. They treat distinguished guests with paping top, or as gifts when visiting relatives, even on the occasion of the groom's family's wedding, they must have enough new pairs of  chickens and fish to match the bride's family.
Pa ping top is eaten with white rice, upland sticky rice, and highland wine that is both spicy and intoxicating. If anyone goes to Pu Luong and forgets to make an appointment to return, they can only blame why the people of Pu Luong are so beautiful, the poetic scenes of Pu Luong and the specialties of Pu Luong are so captivating!