Giò lụa is a traditional Vietnamese dish made from ground pork and cooked by tightly wrapping and boiling. Giò lụa has a delicious aroma and a natural sweet taste of the meat, making it a favorite dish for many people.
When buying giò lụa, should you choose the smooth or porous type? This is a question that many people ask because they notice that some giò lụa have a smooth and dense surface, while others have pores with small holes on the surface.
When buying giò lụa, should you choose the smooth, dense, or porous type?
According to the sharing of Dr. Nguyen Duy Thinh – former staff of the Institute for Biotechnology and Food Technology – Hanoi University of Technology on Tri thức & Cuộc sống, good giò lụa is the one that has a certain dampness, when cut, it has a smooth and slightly porous surface. These pores appear due to the air layers formed during the process of making giò lụa. When boiled, these air layers come out, forming small holes on the surface.
The dampness of giò lụa indicates that the product is made from fresh and delicious meat and is newly made. Such giò lụa also shows that it is made from pure meat, without any filler or other chemicals.
Therefore, consumers should choose giò lụa that is still damp, soft, and has some small pores, which will taste better than those that are completely dense and smooth.
When buying giò lụa, should you choose the smooth, dense, or porous type? (Illustration photo: Pinterest)
How to differentiate between good giò lụa and giò lụa with fillers
Many giò lụa manufacturers add fillers and other chemicals to make it chewy, crispy, and long-lasting. You can apply some tips to differentiate between good giò lụa and giò lụa with fillers when going to the market:
Good giò lụa: It has a creamy white color or a light pink hue; the surface has some pores. When cut, you will feel that the giò lụa is smooth, slightly damp, and has a subtle aroma of meat. Good giò lụa will be slightly crispy and tender with a natural sweet taste when eaten.
Giò lụa with fillers will have an unusually smooth surface, less aroma; when heated, it shows signs of being bloated or has a small amount of powder, and does not taste good.
According to Dr. Nguyen Duy Thinh, fillers are odorless and tasteless, they help enhance the network structure of starch and protein, reducing bloating and increasing the chewiness and crispiness of processed foods. However, consuming foods with excessive fillers can be harmful to your health.
Some studies have shown that a large amount of fillers can cause acute poisoning with symptoms such as nausea, diarrhea, drowsiness, kidney failure, or signs of brain membrane irritation…
Fillers are chemicals classified as moderately toxic, if accumulated in the body for a long time, they will affect digestion, absorption, as well as weaken other organs in the body, manifested by symptoms such as: loss of appetite, abnormal weight loss, mild diarrhea, kidney failure…
According to VTC news
