Hey everyone hope you're having an amazing day! It's Mark Wiens I'm at the remote dongvan Market which only takes place one day per week on Sunday Oh got a duck under a tarp here but we are in Hajjang Province a very Northern Vietnam all the way in the North near the border of China and this is a market that brings together people from the surrounding incredibly gorgeous Mountainside all together at this Market which is one of the biggest local markets in all of Hajjang ingredients from the countryside from the mountains. There's an amazing livestock market and there's also an incredible food court where you can eat cooked prepared food and I'm going to share with you everything coming up right now and all of the food coming up right now for you in this video. Good Very early morning. It is extremely early.

it's 4 a.m and we got up so early. We're starting our day so early because before most of the Market opens at the back of the market is where they set up and they start preparing to serve the dish called tangko which is one of the main dishes that we're eating today. but it's It's very early and very cold this morning. Is it okay too? Do you remember? Okay, looks like we got here in perfect time.

I Think we're going to be able to see some of the preparation because the fire is going. There's some water and a giant walk back here smoking away. Uh, but looks like he's waiting to to boil the water. The process is about to start.

Uncle has come with a whole wagon full of the fresh beef parts which he said he butchered. He butchered the cow, slaughtered the cow himself earlier this morning. It's like some of the organs are kind of like pre-blanched already. Uh, But then there is some huge chunks of cow as well.

And one of the things Uncle was telling us yes was that they want mainly the organs and the internal parts of the cow for the tangle. whereas they sell most of the beef to other vendors in the market to make other dishes. but the the actual organs is what they're really after for this dish. We have a bit of waiting to do, but they haven't added anything else yet.

but this would be a quick time because there's quite a long process to tell you a little bit about the dish called tangko which is known throughout Hajjang as a dish. It is uh Oregon soup and traditionally it was made using horse horse organs especially. And that's because horses were the main method of transportation in this region. You'd have to get anywhere by horse and so there was plenty full.

There was an abundance of horses and so that's naturally. Uh, what? this dish was prepared from fast forward to nowadays present day when motorbikes have now taken over as the main means of transportation and horses are rarer and rarer and more and more expensive and they still are eaten and consumed uh sometimes. But cow beef is much cheaper, more affordable and more available. So here at the market where the food is very affordable, where people come to eat, they prepare it with cows.

So this version with of tonko is all going to be made with cow and this is going to be a very traditional version. The preparation Uncle mentioned that he's one of the few who still makes the very traditional version. Oh man, that took a totally unexpected turn I thought that was going to be the whole broth in the suit, but instead they fish out all of those. the tripe I believe that was and some other organs that are within there some fat.

they fish that out and then they toss all of that that milky broth. I Think to like, maybe get rid of some of the excess fat and now he's adding more water into the giant Wok But that totally unexpected turn Mojo bucket of intestines and stomach goes back into the water after being being boiled already to kind of clean them out so that goes into the fresh new water. Okay, pillow weight is finally over for the Tonko. We've been here since 4am seeing the process and it's actually an incredible simple dish.

but I think again. I Like what's common with so many dishes in this area, it's about the freshness and then you even add in your own salt. There's not even salt. added to the recipe.

This is like real deal, just traditional. like simple fresh. Animal Soup This is called Chalao. It's not made from soya bean and this is Penman made from corn flour.

Okay, so we eat it together with the Tango Okay, great. Wow. Two more dishes that are traditionally eaten with the tango. but we gotta try that tonko first.

Okay, first try. Oh oh man. that is extremely beefy. almost has a buttery taste to it.

You taste the freshness of those organs and amazingly how clean and clear that soup is. Yeah, it's clean. Yeah. and after a swallow Dao is I feel my body woman.

So this fit with the winter? Yes, so maybe we drink some. Yes. Okay, I'm gonna try this tofu. It's like a curdled tofu.

Is that some kind of herbs in there as well, but a curdled tofu? Oh that's just like really silken tofu and the water has separated from it. It's plain, it's not salty at all, but just like you taste the real flavor of like soy milky flavor to it. and then with some kind of like green onions and herbs in there. Well that's interesting.

That's That's Unique as well. What a unique combination. Can almost be eaten like a soup. Very warming.

I'm going back in for some town called I Want to try that skin. Oh yeah, skin is amazing. Rubbery and gelatinous but then trying to choose nicely at the same time. but it's really dry and fluffy so you need that soup to chase it with before shoot powders before.

Um, all the seasonings were were added to dishes. This is really truly like the foundation of a soup. I'm gonna try that fresh blood next. Well the blood jelly just melts in your mouth.

silky soft. not irony or organy at all. Okay I'm gonna try this next next part. This is from the throat.

all the tables are full People coming here for a taste of a town called the traditional version. Great environment, locals, tourists. just it attracts so many people at the back of the market here. all that hot fresh organs the Bulls are just hyping piping away and they're scooping it up.

Nice to meet you. This is a very communal dish I mean eating, traditionally sharing and then also within the market they're sharing tables so right now we are packed now everyone digging in the big walls. It's a great environment. What a just incredible cultural dining experience.

Too much? What about them? Okay a little breakfast shot? Oh okay. oh okay. nice to meet you. Thank you nice to meet you thank you.

Okay okay come on oh man. a little a little beverage to end traditional corn wine and what an environment here that was an amazing I mean the food. but the really it was all about the cultural experience and just the the atmosphere, the community. We're going to continue on with this.

Market We have a lot more to see, we have a lot more to eat and I think we might stop for a bowl of noodles, a bowl of pho first before we do anything else. He just has a sprawling pan overflowing with Park Parts deep fried skin. He chops up some, puts it into a bowl of noodles into your bowl of uh with all of the herbs and then that broth to go on. Oh man.

okay thank you thank you All right here. next level for Action here. yeah they just have and what's is is is fun with pork. Is it common? Chicken and beef is the most? yeah but here hot for the local.

Ah Okay, so here specifically in yes is very common. It's crispy pork like pork belly. All right, everyone's slurping down hot bowls of noodles. Let me just taste that broth first.

Flavorful, so warming. and Hearty but we do need to season here we go. One of the coolest environments ever for eating. fly I think in the market with the action.

Oh wow. Oh yeah. A few things more soothing than a bowl of hot noodles in the morning. Foreign.

There's just happiness. Oh I Feel wonderful after that bowl of pho. So warming, so hearty, so tasty. I Think that might be my first bowl of pork.

Yeah, normally I have chicken or beef beef. It's very common. but pork fuzz. I mean actually not quite sure why, but I just I guess I've never really had a pork Pho before that was my first.

Bowl Oh man. so much food. Before exploring and walking more around the market, we've decided to eat one more thing. Uh, she has a lot of pork organs.

All of the organs which she slices up and there's heart. There's liver, there's blood sausage, there's gallbladder. I think there's almost everything you can imagine. all the internal organs she slices up and she serves it sometimes with noodles or just straight.

Okay. I'm gonna start with that bite right there. It looks like is this lung? maybe possibly long? Oh maybe that's part. Oh oh that's really good.

Oh man. Spongy with a dipping sauce that's like very fresh tasting. You can almost taste the the sweetness, the bloodiness. Wow.

I'll try that blood sausage next. I think the Vietnamese coriander in there, but it kind of crumbles with the dryness of the blood. There's cubes of fat in there giving it some like fatty hydration, but you can tell again how fresh how natural that is. A little bit chewy, a little bit rubbery, but tasty.

Oh okay. another. I think we can start with another good morning. Now it's like about 8 A.M But we've already had three breakfasts and it's kind of like we're emerging from the Smoky depths of the food court into the actual Market where it's like in full swing.

Now it's been like we've been hiding away in the back of that dark Market eating which has been amazing, but now it's time to really explore the market and it's at full action. Wow, what a difference from when I Arrived here early in the morning. Thank you I Have another snack Here she is! She has a whole stall of all deep fried things trying this one which is filled with green beans. Oh, it's kind of like Mochi kind of like gooey rice.

very crispy, quite oily. Oh, it's good. There's a little bit sweet, a little bit starchy, but mostly gooey. Oh, it's really tasty.

That is quite a techno soundtrack, but it is just in full. Buzz Right now the market and the Dongvan Market which is only happens on Sunday Uh, once per week. It attracts people from all over the surrounding Villages and Countryside all bringing their Traditions their Foods their local ingredients to sell, but not only food, there's clothes and so it's really a cultural exchange where people from northern Vietnam many different tribes and ethnicities gather together. It's really fascinating and I'm really excited.

I mean after eating a lot I'm very excited to walk around the market and explore. Welcome to the livestock area of the market! This is where the livestock trade happens. There's pigs, mostly pigs, chickens, There's black pigs. uh and then I think there's cows at the back.

Very fascinating. I'm gonna try to make my way to the back to see the cows. foreign. It's very crowded here.

um and I'm not totally sure what's going on, but if it's a like a trading system or if they're um if they are bidding on the cows but there's just a crowd surrounding huddled around. For many people that come to visit this Market this might be there once a week trip to the market for goods for supplies for clothes and so it really is a an important Market with so much significance. I mean clothes, shoes, slippers, all sorts of accessories. and then you have things like pots and pans.

You have things like motorcycle helmets, oh even cell phones. uh and then that's on top of. you know all of the food and all of the ingredients. all of the spices, all of the livestock that's available at this.

Market I'm gonna try this snack which is steamed I think glutinous rice with uh, green mung beans in the center of it. That's really nice, really takes on the flavor of that leaf which. I'm not totally sure what the leaf is, but it's really fragrant. kind of like a green flavor, starchy beans in the center and then the gooey rice I like it a lot.

yeah and only only a little bit sweet, not very sweet. The market is just fascinating and new things everywhere you look. If you go down an alley, there's something new. We've come to a little Courtyard here where there are a bunch of ladies making these huge kind of rice pack pancakes.

There's one made one from rice and then the darker colored one is made from buckwheat. These buckwheat pancakes which are grilling over low charcoal and they're spamming in the flame, just grilling them until they turn golden brown. We've got to try the buckwheat one. Well, it's really, really thick and puffy, more like a bread rather than a pancake actually.

bucket I have a hint of a sourness and a hint of a sweetness, but it's really fluffy. and Airy the dough is fermented slightly to give it a little bit of a sourness, but buckwheat is so nutritious to its value and vitamins. and that's really good. That's hearty though.

you can tell how filling it is. Even though it's like Airy and fluffy, it's still dense and filling at the same time. I Like it. Really, really good.

No, as we're walking around the market, we're gonna take a timeout and we're gonna go to a restaurant which is actually pretty much within it is in the market. It's this restaurant right here. The chef here. He's an amazing chef and he specializes in local dishes.

He's going to show us it's gonna be a recipe for tonko, which is what we already ate earlier this morning. Uh, but this is going to be their version. It's going to be a totally different recipe. so we're gonna have a chance to see the recipe and try their version at the restaurant as we're exploring the market.

Okay So we've got all the fresh organs which he's just cleaning with salt. That's a good mixture of organs from the liver, to the lungs, to the intestines, to the varieties of stomach. and Tripes after he really washes, like really rinses off all the organs. uh, he just slices them up like very coarsely.

just the liver mostly and the lungs and then those goes directly into boiling water. They're gonna boil away, but something that he adds is a bunch of spice. So this is his version with some of the cardamom, some of the Chinese star anise which he just smashes with. that cardamom just unleashes an incredible fragrance and that goes directly into the boiling pot with some lemongrass which is going to take away the liquor as well, which has got to take away the organy aroma.

and then in another walk, he just has some fresh blood jelly as well, but she just slices up and that's boiling as well. But man that smells so good with those spices. His version of Tonko is totally different. a bunch of ginger, garlic, lemongrass, shallots, and some of the same spices, the star anise and the cardamom.

and he smashes those. Then he stir fries them to bring out their fragrance in oil before adding all the chopped organs back in and simmers that down, sautes it in. it's so aromatic. Uh, then water goes in, then a little bit of turmeric for the color and now he's getting ready to add in the blood cubes.

the the blood jelly. But what a recipe and man that's in my mouth water again. all of those herbs and the seasonings. it has to boil.

simmer for one or two hours. So we're gonna go back to the market. we're gonna walk around, we're gonna explore and then we'll be coming back to eat this for our final meal. There are a couple of stalls where they're smoking Buffalo as well as pork.

We're gonna taste the Buffalo I think that some of the Buffalo that hangs over the fires like for months at a time just drying and smoking and just accumulating so much flavor. Okay I'm gonna try this special. this is another snack this is they have a rack of very slowly it looks like dried but then smoked Buffalo and there's also some pork there and some sausages. I'm gonna try this next and she said that sauce is also very special.

Oh wow oh that is so tasty. Oh man oh that sauce. You can taste the Sichuan pepper in it immediately, a little bit tingly and that citrusiness salty like meaty Smoky Oh men, that Buffalo is incredible. Okay and then finally we're moving to the front of the market where the market just starts to sprawl onto the streets into the outdoor sections.

These are some of the best parts of the market because people just come with whatever they have to sell. whatever fresh, what's ever available. Herbs, spices, vegetables, uh, so many cool things, foreign. and then yeah, when you get to the outskirts of the market, it's so fascinating too.

There's so many different things going on. I mean there's almost every service you could want from uh, getting your keys made to a fresh cut haircut? uh buying sugar cane bird trading Hobbies Food Lifestyle: It's a flea market with so much to offer. and again, it's not only a market with food, but it's a market where people trade where people gather together where I'm sure people meet up with friends here from different Villages and congregate here at the Central Market in Dongvan and that's something that makes it extra special. We're back at the restaurant for our final meal.

The Tonko is ready and this is a totally different version. I mean we saw the whole recipe, all the different spices and herbs that go into it. Uh, it's so aromatic and now they're serving it until even the serving preparation is totally different. More hot pot style.

and then with a mountain tin of herbs and vegetables with a dipping sauce, this is going to be the full spread. Hot Pot Okay, foreign. Oh yeah, that goes up your nostrils a little bit. I Think that's corn made from corn, right? Yes, that one is made from corn corn wine.

Yeah, Oh, this is a totally different version of Hong Kong Okay, the skin. let's go. Oh man, um man, that skin is so good and so chewy and gelatinous but then crunchy at the same time. and this is a totally different version.

I mean the version we had for breakfast. It was quite on the plain side, but they're just the basic version, but this has taken it to a new level. Hmm, no you can eat it. The Gourmet Edition all of the ginger and garlic, the flavor of the herbs in there, the satu, coriander sprinkled on top.

Man, this is so good. and again, so many different organs. And I love this eating style too. All communal on the Hot Pot digging into the same Community bowl of punko and all the organs.

the skin. This is a totally different sauce too. Oh nice. Oh I Love the flavor of that.

Chinese cardamom in there and then that sauce is kind of like sharp. kind of like fermented soybean. possibly just sharp and salty. Oh provides so much flavor I think that's a long time and so spongy and then absorbs all that flavor.

But really? I Love how you can taste all the spices. the ginger in there is so nice and that sauce is also great. Oh the blood is amazing. It's so melt in your mouth.

Blood is really good. it's okay, yeah very good. The blood. Just who knows how to cook organs.

sorry this is brought here before I'm loving that tripe, the texture, the flavor and then all those vegetables and herbs in there. Just a mountain of herbs. but they go down so easily and they just I love the Vietnamese way because it just balances the heaviness of the organs with the fresh green herbs and vegetables and all the different flavors that was delicious. One of the food highlights of today.

just with all those spices, just that really makes a difference in all of the organs. Make sure you check out the rest of these videos in this: Northern Vietnam Series In Hajjang are traveling around eating some of the local unseen food which has been absolutely incredible experience. Make sure you check out the rest of the videos in this Vietnam series. Thanks again for watching goodbye from the remote town of Dongvan in Northern Vietnam and I will see you on the next video work.