Bún Bò Huế (Central Vietnam's Lemongrass Beef Noodle Soup) 🍜

Name: Bún Bò Huế (Central Vietnam's Lemongrass Beef Noodle Soup)
Prep time: 72 min
Cook time: 108 min
Total time: 180 min
Yield: 2-4 servings
Cuisine: Vietnamese (Central)
Ingredients: 1 kg beef shank + 500 g pork hock or knuckle bones; 6–8 lemongrass stalks: 4 bruised whole, 2 pounded to a paste with a pinch of salt; 2 tbsp shrimp paste (mắm ruốc preferred, mắm tôm works), dissolved in water and settled; 2–3 tbsp annatto or chili oil with seeds, for the orange-red slick; Meatballs (bò viên style): 250 g minced beef pounded with 1 tsp shrimp paste powder; fish sauce; sugar; rolled into cubes and chilled; 500 g thick rice vermicelli (bún Huế) soaked per pack; Garnish plate: banana blossom or cabbage, herbs (mint, Vietnamese coriander, lettuce), lime, chili, pineapple wedge in the broth

If pho is Vietnam's gentle north, bun bo hue is the imperial center with the volume up: a broth built on beef shank, pork hock and cubes of con bo — shrimp-paste beef meatballs — seasoned with lemongrass pounded into the pot, fermented shrimp paste and chili oil the color of temple walls. Hue cooks defend the balance with their lives: it must be spicy, salty, sour from pineapple and banana blossom, and still smell like lemongrass first. The noodles are thick rice vermicelli, the garnish plate is a flower arrangement, and the whole bowl is the dish the Nguyen court's descendants served to the country — one spoon, and you understand why every Vietnamese city claims a bun bo shop.

Central Coast Vietnamese (Central) ⏱ 180 min Hard

Method

1

Blanch the bones and shank hard for 5 minutes; rinse. Cover with 4 L cold water, bring to a bare simmer, skim relentlessly for 20 minutes. Clear broth is non-negotiable.
2

Add bruised lemongrass and half an onion; simmer the shank 90 minutes until probe-tender. Salt lightly now.
3

While the broth cooks, marinate the beef-ball mix 20 minutes, form cubes, and poach a test one: it should taste punchy, salty-sweet.
4

Skim fat off the broth. Heat the chili/annatto oil and fry the pounded lemongrass paste 1 minute until loud, then stir the shrimp paste water (leave the grit behind) into the pot; add the fried oil slick.
5

Drop the beef cubes into the seasoned broth 5 minutes before done — they puff, float, and flavor the soup. Shred the shank; reserve some slices whole.
6

Assemble: rice noodles warmed in a strainer, shredded and sliced beef, cubes of con bò, a ladle of pineapple, and broth poured to order with the orange slick on top. Garnish plate beside: herbs, banana blossom, lime, chili.
7

The bowl must look lacquered — oil, herbs and purple flower on red broth. Eat at the first bubble of steam.

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Bún Bò Huế (Central Vietnam's Lemongrass Beef Noodle Soup) 🍜

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