Recipe facts
- Yield
- 6 large bowls
- Prep
- 40 minutes
- Cook
- 3 hours
- Total
- 220 minutes
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Spice
- Hot
Allergens Contains beef, pork, shellfish (fermented shrimp paste) and fish (fish sauce). Gluten-free if sauces are gluten-free.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
Ingredients
The broth
- 2 lb (900 g) beef shank, in one or two pieces
- 1.5 lb (680 g) pork hock or pork leg bones
- 5 qt (4.7 L) water, plus more for parboiling
- 8 stalks lemongrass, bruised and cut into 4 in (10 cm) lengths
- 1 large yellow onion, halved
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) fermented shrimp paste (mắm ruốc), stirred into 1/2 cup (120 ml) water and settled
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) fish sauce, plus more to taste
- 1 tbsp (12 g) granulated sugar, or a small piece of rock sugar
- 2 tsp (12 g) fine sea salt, plus more to taste
Chilli and annatto oil
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) neutral oil
- 1 tbsp (9 g) annatto seeds
- 3 shallots, minced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp (14 g) Vietnamese chilli flakes or coarse chilli powder
- 1 stalk lemongrass, very finely minced
The bowls
- 2 lb (900 g) fresh thick round rice noodles (bún bò), or 14 oz (400 g) dried
- 8 oz (225 g) Vietnamese pork sausage (chả Huế or chả lụa), sliced
- 1 small red onion, sliced paper-thin
- 4 scallions, sliced
- 1 large handful cilantro and Vietnamese coriander (rau răm), chopped
At the table
- Shredded banana blossom or thinly shredded cabbage
- Bean sprouts, lime wedges and sliced red chilli
Equipment
- Large stockpot, 8 qt (7.5 L)
- Fine-mesh strainer
- Small skillet for the chilli oil
- Tongs
Method
- Parboil the beef shank and pork bones in water for 10 minutes, then drain, rinse thoroughly and scrub the pot.
- Return the meat and bones to the clean pot with the 5 qt (4.7 L) water, the bruised lemongrass and the halved onion. Bring to a bare simmer.
- Simmer gently, skimming for the first 30 minutes, for 2 hours, until the shank is tender.
- Lift out the beef shank, cool it, and refrigerate. Continue simmering the bones a further 45 minutes.
- Make the chilli oil: warm the oil with the annatto seeds over low heat until the oil turns deep orange-red, 2–3 minutes; strain out and discard the seeds. Return the oil to the pan, add the shallots, garlic and minced lemongrass and cook until fragrant, then stir in the chilli flakes and remove from the heat.
- Strain the broth into a clean pot. Discard the bones and spent lemongrass.
- Let the shrimp paste mixture settle, then pour the liquid into the broth, leaving the grit behind. Add the fish sauce, sugar and salt. Simmer 10 minutes and taste — it should be salty, faintly funky and strongly lemongrass-scented.
- Stir about half the chilli oil into the broth; reserve the rest for the table.
- Cook the noodles according to type — fresh need 1–2 minutes, dried 8–10 — then drain and divide between six deep bowls.
- Slice the cooled beef shank thinly across the grain. Lay it over the noodles with the sliced sausage.
- Ladle over the boiling broth. Top with red onion, scallion and chopped herbs.
- Serve with the banana blossom, bean sprouts, lime and chilli on a shared platter, and the remaining chilli oil in a small bowl.
Uses from this chapter
- Nước Chấm (Dipping Sauce) (Recipe #26) — Not used in the bowl; sometimes offered for the sausage
The Complete Edition
Bún Bò Huế sits in the Vietnam chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Vietnam chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
In review with Amazon KDP
Both editions have been submitted to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and are currently in review. Submitted prices are $9.99 for the kindle edition and $49.99 for the paperback. Neither is on sale yet, and prices are as submitted rather than final.