Bún Bò Huế - Spicy Vietnamese Beef & Pork Noodle Soup

Step 1

Clean the meat: Add all meat to a stock pot and enough water to submerge it, bring to a boil. Drain and rinse thoroughly under running water.

Step 2

Add the meat, broth, lemongrass and onions to the pot and fill with water almost to the brim. Bring to a boil then drop the heat to medium-high to maintain a low boil. Add the seasoning.

Step 3

Let it simmer and periodically check the meats for doneness and remove them as they finish cooking. The pork should be done after about an hour, the beef can vary between 2-3 hours.

Step 4

After all the meat has removed, let it cool, then slice it. Adjust seasoning and add water to the broth pot if necessary.

Step 5

Make the aromatics & coloring then add it to the pot.

Step 6

Boil noodles according to package instructions.

Step 7

Assemble your bowl, and serve with herbs and veg on a side platter.

Step 8

Sauté seeds in oil on medium heat until the seeds give up the bright red color, then remove the seeds.

Step 9

Add shallots and garlic, sauté until brown.

Step 10

Add all of this to the pot of broth for color.

Step 11

The easiest thing to do is just buy it already cooked and boil just to heat it up. If you use the raw type like we did for this recipe, cut into 1" cubes and boil for 30-45 minutes

Step 12

Prepare a bowl of about 2 cups of water, mixed with the juice of 1 lemon.

Step 13

Thinly slice the banana flower and add to the water mixture to sit for about 30 minutes.

Step 14

Avoid adding little fronds (that look like mini bananas), removing them as you encounter them. They taste bitter!

Step 15

Weigh out the dried Thai chiles, then soak in just enough warm water to cover the chiles for 20 minutes. Drain the water.

Step 16

Add all sate ingredients to a pan on medium heat and stir continuously to brown, cook, and slightly reduce the chile paste, about 30-40 minutes. If at any point it becomes too dry, you can add more oil, up to 50% of the amount we started with. Taste and reseason with sugar or salt as desired. See photo for how the final product should look.

Step 17

Let cool and transfer to a sealed jar stored in the fridge . You can add ~2 tbsp of the final product to the soup pot for a boost in flavor and color, or simply and let each person add to their bowl to make it as spicy as they'd like!