Bizarre food - Salad with duck's raw blood (tiết canh vịt)

I don't like bizarre food, I remember my experience with fried scorpion in Singapore, real coconut worm here ...It was bad! But I love to watch people eating that! That's why I love Andrew Zimmern on TV program "Bizarre foods". I love the way he shares what he eats, how he reacts to some really bizarre delicacies! Wonder Andrew already tried our bizarre salad, or exactly duck's raw blood salad!

Tiết canh vịt (duck's raw blood salad)

I'm talking about "tiết canh vịt", favorite dish for drinkers! Last Saturday, four of us, we went to Binh Duong, a city very close to Saigon, about 30-40' by car! We have been recommended to try famous duck dishes at "Quán Vịt Cu Chì".
They don't have menu because they serve only ducks!  Cooked duck (vịt luộc), grilled duck (vit nướng), roasted duck (vịt quay), duck porridge (cháo vịt), grilled duck's hearts, tongues (tim và lưỡi vịt nướng) and glorious, for drinkers, speciality - salad with duck's raw blood (tiết canh vịt)!

Tim, luỡi vịt nướng (grilled duck's heart & tongues)  

We arrived to "Quán Vịt  Cu Chì" around 2:00 PM. Huge, open space, in the shade of many big trees. Nice place. We ordered porridge, duck - both grilled and cooked, grilled heart & tongues and of course "tiết canh vịt"!

Grilled tongue and heart are delicious, esp. tongue is just a tiny piece, but well marinated, flavorful. I quite like it. Heart is thicker, more chewy! Cooked duck meat is always served with ginger fish sauce! Very tasty!

Dĩa vịt luộc (a plate of cooked duck meat) 

Duck porridge is very popular, together with duck we have chicken porridge, pork's blood porridge (cháo huyết), intestines porridge (cháo lòng)... They are everywhere in the city, esp. chicken porridge!


Pork's blood porridge is extremely popular street food, it was my favorite childhood's afternoon light meal. Few  shreds of ginger, some Chinese char-kway (giò cháo quẩy) and a little little of chopped pickled chili (ớt bằm ngâm dấm) on top! Love it! The duck porridge at Cu Chì is nice, but I probably prefer if they add green bean, to me duck porridge will taste better with green bean! 

Cháo vịt (duck's porridge) 

Tiết canh vịt! Salad with duck's raw blood!  

Bloody salad, from the look, I would say "it's not for me!" but I convinced myself: "Some thing doesn't look good, tastes often good!" 

I decided to try! 

Oooooops! Oh dear! What I'm eating? I'm wrong! Doesn't taste good TO ME! 

Tiết canh vịt is a mix of some cooked duck's kidney, liver...with peanuts, chopped Vietnamese mint (rau răm), black pepper, fresh chili... and soaked in cold, semi-hard jelly...blood! Whatever smell - peanut, mint, lemon juice, pepper... I still feel cold bloody smell, I couldn't swallow.

Where is my Kleenex? 

I heard to prevent coagulation, the blood should be mixed right away with fish sauce! I didn't have enough time to smell fish sauce flavor in this bloody dish!  I don't think I will try it again, bloody salad! But the rest is amazing!  

Quán vịt Cu Chì 

Where to try? Quán vịt Cu Chì, 66 Hồ Văn Cống, thị xã Thủ Dầu Một, Bình Dương, 
Tel: 0650 3825701