Spicy Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup (Bún bò Huế)
Bún bò Huế is a spicy Vietnamese noodle soup that's not as popular as phở, but don't sleep on it. This spicy lemongrass flavored bone broth will rock your world.
- Prep time
- 1 hr 30 min
- Cook time
- 3 hr
- Yield
- 10 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 4 lbs pork feet
- 2 lbs beef shank
- 2 shallots (divided)
- 6 stalks lemongrass (divided)
- 5 tbsp oil (divided)
- 1 tbsp chile flakes
- 1 tbsp chile lemongrass sate
- 2 boxes bun bo hue bouillon cubes
- 11 cups water
- fish sauce, to taste
- salt, to taste
- 2 packages large vermicelli noodles
- 1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
- 1 bunch scallion, finely chopped
- 1 bunch Vietnamese coriander or rau răm, finely chopped
- 1 banana blossom, sliced thinly
- 2 limes, quartered
- chile lemongrass sate, to taste (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Add pork bones and beef shank to a large pot with enough water to completely cover the meat. Add a handful of salt and bring to a boil.
- 2
Once boiling, turn of heat, drain and rinse meat well.
- 3
Return all the meat to a clean pot with about 11 cups of water. Add a shallot and half of the lemongrass (just the tough, green stops of the stalks) and bring to a boil
- 4
As soon as the broth boils, turn the heat to low and continue to simmer for 2-3 hours
- 5
When the pork bones are soft but not falling off the bone (1-2 hours), remove them.
- 6
When the beef is tender, remove it and cool. (2-3 hours)
- 7
Return the pork bones to the broth and add all of the bun bo hue bouillon. Bring the broth back to a boil.
- 8
While broth is heating, chop the rest of the lemongrass and the other scalltion finely. You can use a food processor.
- 9
Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a small pan. When the oil is hot, add the lemongrass and fry until fragrant, about 3 minutes.
- 10
Add the scallion to the lemongrass oil and fry for an additional 2 minutes.
- 11
Pour the lemongrass and shallot oil into the broth.
- 12
Return the pan to the heat and add 2 tablespoons of oil. Heat 1 tablespoon of chile flakes until fragrant and red. Be careful not to burn the chile flakes, or they will be bitter.
- 13
Ladle a spoonful of broth into the hot chile oil. Pour the broth back into the pot slowly leaving the seeds from the peppers behind.
- 14
Taste the broth and season with extra fish sauce and salt if necessary
- 15
Boil and drain vermicelli noodles according to package instructions
- 16
Slice the cooled beef thinly
- 17
Wash the Vietnamese coriander and remove the leaves from the tough stems.
- 18
Chop half of the Vietnamese coriander finely. Leave the other halves of the leaves whole
- 19
Wash and chop the cilantro and scallions finely
- 20
Remove the rough outer leaves of the banana blossom.
- 21
Slice banana blossom thinly into a large bowl of water with 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lime juice
- 22
Cut a lime into quarters
- 23
Drain banana blossoms and add some to the bottom of a large bowl
- 24
Layer vermicelli noodles and sliced beef. Top with chopped herbs and scallions
- 25
Ladle boiling soup over noodles and top with a few pieces of pork feet
- 26
Serve with lime quarters, whole Vietnamese coriander leaves and extra banana blossom