Why did the ancients say ‘pigs don’t buy neck meat, fish don’t buy crucian carp’?

The ancients had a wealth of experience in choosing food when going to the market to choose delicious, fresh, and safe ingredients for family meals. “Don’t buy neck meat for pork, don’t buy crucian carp for fish” is one of the pieces of advice passed down among the people.

Why did the ancients say ‘Don’t buy pork neck meat, don’t buy crucian carp for fish’?

Regarding “don’t buy pork neck meat”, the experience of the ancients is quite consistent with modern scientific viewpoints. This is the meat located at the back of the pig’s neck, with many lymph nodes, which contain many bacteria, viruses and toxins.

In addition, pork neck meat also has high fat content. If eaten in large quantities, it will cause increased blood fat, leading to cardiovascular diseases and increased risk of stroke, which is very dangerous for health. Therefore, housewives should limit buying pork neck meat for processing even though this part is much cheaper than other parts.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Duy Thinh (former lecturer at the Department of Food Technology, Hanoi University of Science and Technology) also affirmed that pig neck is one of the parts that should not be eaten. When pigs are killed, the neck area is where a lot of blood accumulates. This is also the area where pigs are often injected with drugs. The neck is also home to a large number of lymph nodes and metabolic glands, which contain toxins as well as dead bacteria and viruses. This cut of meat is therefore less healthy.

And why “buy fish and not crucian carp”? The crucian carp is a freshwater fish with soft, sweet-smelling, benign meat that is beneficial to health, but has many bones and very little meat, so the ancients did not appreciate it.

Economic conditions in the past were very difficult, families often could not afford to buy much meat and fish. Therefore, when buying fish, people often do not prioritize crucian carp but prefer to buy lean varieties so that with the same amount of fish, family members can remove more meat to “give to rice”. Buying crucian carp to eat is considered a waste.

On the other hand, because protein-rich foods are rare, meat, fish or other delicious foods are often reserved for the elderly and children. Meanwhile, crucian carp has little meat and many bones, not suitable for the elderly or young children because if the bones are choked, it will be very dangerous. 

Nowadays, when people have better living conditions, when it comes to food, the most important factors are nutrition and flavor, so crucian carp is very popular. According to Oriental medicine, crucian carp has a sweet taste, neutral properties, has the effect of strengthening the spleen, nourishing the stomach, regulating gas, eliminating rheumatism, helping to increase appetite, preventing colds in the stomach, diuretic, draining emphysema, stopping bleeding… Type of fish This is used to prepare medicinal dishes for women with bleeding, pregnant women who are tired due to weak spleen…

The crucian carp has a delicious flavor and can be processed into many delicious dishes such as fried, braised, cooked in soup… Therefore, the saying “Do not buy pork neck meat, fish do not buy crucian carp” that the ancients conveyed. only half correct.

How to choose good pork 

To buy delicious pork, press your finger into the meat and observe, if there are no dents or sticky hands, it is fresh meat. If you buy meat in the supermarket, you should choose dry pieces that have not leaked onto the tray or package. Meat should not be too soft when stored in the refrigerator.

Based on the color of the meat, you can also choose the tastiest piece. If the outer meat membrane is dry and bright red or dark red, it is a fresh piece of meat. Rotten meat will be brown, gray, dark red or light green.

The clearer the fat lines on the surface of the meat, the tastier it is. However, you should not choose a piece of pork with large fat lines because the meat can easily become tough. Young beef or chicken will have white veins, while old ones will have yellow fat veins.

How to choose and buy delicious crucian fish

Currently, in addition to natural crucian fish, on the market there are also hybrid crucian fish with a growth rate 3 times faster than regular crucian fish. Although unable to reproduce on its own, this type of crucian carp has strong disease resistance and can withstand lack of oxygen and low temperatures.

In particular, the size of hybrid crucian carp can be very large, many of them are three times larger than regular crucian carp. Therefore, if you want to buy pure natural crucian carp (not yet bred), you should not be greedy to buy fish that are too big. Natural crucian carp has a much more fragrant and sweet taste.

Natural crucian carp is expensive, while hybrid crucian carp is much cheaper.