Name: Bún Bò Huế (Lemongrass Beef Noodle Soup with Shrimp Paste)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 3 h
Total time: 3 h 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Ingredients: 1 kg beef bones; 600 g beef shank; 800 g pork knuckle (trotter); 6 stalks lemongrass; 3.5 L water; 2 tbsp mắm ruốc (fermented shrimp paste); 3 tbsp fish sauce; 1 tbsp sugar; salt; 5 tbsp neutral oil; 1 tbsp annatto seeds; 2 tbsp lemongrass; 2 shallots; 3 cloves garlic; 2 tbsp coarse chilli flakes; 400 g thick round rice noodles (bún bò); 150 g chả lụa (Vietnamese pork roll); 200 g pork blood curd; 0.5 onion; 3 spring onions; 1 handful coriander and mint; 150 g bean sprouts; 1 lime

Ingredients

4servings

Broth
beef bones1 kg
beef shank · in one piece600 g
pork knuckle (trotter) · sawn into 2-3cm slices800 g
lemongrass · bruised with the back of a knife and tied6 stalks
water3.5 L
mắm ruốc (fermented shrimp paste) · another shrimp paste will do; use less2 tbsp
fish sauce3 tbsp
sugar · rock sugar if you have it1 tbsp
salt · to taste
Chilli oil
neutral oil5 tbsp
annatto seeds · or 1 tsp paprika1 tbsp
lemongrass · minced very fine2 tbsp
shallots · minced2
garlic · minced3 cloves
coarse chilli flakes2 tbsp
Noodles and toppings
thick round rice noodles (bún bò) · dried400 g
chả lụa (Vietnamese pork roll) · optional, thickly sliced150 g
pork blood curd · optional200 g
onion · sliced paper-thin0.5
spring onions3
coriander and mint1 handful
bean sprouts150 g
lime · in wedges1

Steps

Blanch the bones and knuckle in boiling water for 5 minutes, then drain and rinse clean under cold water.
⏲ 5 min
Put 3.5L water, the bones, knuckle, shank and bruised lemongrass in a big pot. Bring to the boil, then turn to low. Skim and simmer gently.
⏲ 10 min
After 1 hour 30 minutes lift out the shank and cool it in cold water. Simmer the knuckle about an hour more, until a chopstick slides in.
⏲ 90 min
Stir the shrimp paste into 250ml water and leave 15 minutes to settle. Pour only the clear liquid into the pot and throw away the sediment. Simmer 20 minutes more.
⏲ 20 min
Chilli oil: warm the annatto seeds in the oil over low heat until the oil turns red, then strain them out. Fry the minced lemongrass, shallot and garlic until golden.
⏲ 4 min
Take it off the heat and stir in the chilli flakes. They cook in the heat left in the oil.
Lift out the lemongrass bundle and season with fish sauce, sugar and salt. Stir half the chilli oil into the broth.
⏲ 2 min
Boil the noodles in plenty of water as the packet says (usually 8-10 minutes) and rinse in cold water.
⏲ 9 min
Slice the shank thin. Put noodles in each bowl, top with shank, knuckle, chả lụa and blood curd, and ladle on boiling broth. Add onion, spring onion and coriander; serve sprouts, mint, lime and the rest of the chilli oil alongside.

Variations

Bún bò Huế with chả cua. The Huế version with crab-and-pork cakes.
Saigon style. Plenty of chả lụa in place of the blood curd and crab cakes.
Milder. Keep the chilli oil out of the broth and serve it on the side.
Other noodles. Thin rice vermicelli works if you cannot find the thick round kind, but it holds less broth.

Tips

Use only the clear liquid from the shrimp paste. The sediment clouds the broth and settles in the bowl.
Lemongrass goes in twice. Whole stalks simmered for the background, minced and fried in the oil for the top note.
Add the chilli flakes off the heat. In oil that is still cooking they burn in seconds.
Do not aim for a clear broth. A red, oil-topped broth is what this soup is.

More detail and the reasons why (1)

Another way to handle fermented shrimp paste. Laksa wraps its belacan in foil and toasts it first to drive off the harsh smell, and bún đậu mắm tôm puts its mắm tôm on the table uncooked. This soup sits between them. The paste is stirred into water, left to settle, and only the clear liquid goes into several litres of broth to simmer for twenty minutes or more. The long simmer does the job the toasting does in laksa, and there is so much broth for so little paste that it ends up as depth rather than smell. That is how the same ingredient pulls this broth so far from the clear one in pho (stocks and broth).

The basics behind this dish

Cooking basics →

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