Bún bò Huế - Vietnamese Spicy Beef Noodle Soup

Bún bò Huế or Vietnamese spicy beef noodle soup seriously underrated. This Vietnamese comforting soup is filled with thick rice noodles, slow-cooked beef shank, pork hocks, and topped with half a dozen herbs and veggies. The broth is packed with spicy, aromatic, and umami flavors.

Course Lunch & Dinner Recipes

Cuisine Vietnamese

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 4

Total Time 4 30

Servings Servings

Calories 1912kcal

Author Takes Two Eggs

Ingredients

Meats

8 lbs pork hocks cut into 1 inch thick slices, and washed with warm water
5 ½ lbs beef hind shank washed with warm water

Soup Broth

1 large daikon sliced into 2 inch pieces
2 tablespoon shrimp paste
9 palm sugar cubes
5 oz Bun Bo Hue Soup Base
1 large yellow onion wedged
12 lemongrass stalks cut into 3- inch pieces and smashed
3 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons chicken bouillon powder
1-2 tablespoon fish sauce

Sate Chili Ingredients

7 tablespoons neutral oil
1 tablespoon annatto seeds
2 tablespoon lemongrass finely minced
2 garlic cloves finely minced
3 shallots finely minced

To Serve

thick rice noodles
Vietnamese coriander rau ram
purple cabbage
bean sprouts
cha lua pork slices

Instructions

Make the Pork Broth.

Cook the pork hock. In a 7 qt pot, fill the water to 2/3 of the pot and place on high heat until boil. Add 5 palm sugars, 1/2 Bun Bo Hue soup base, 1/2 of a wedged-cut onion, 1 1/2 tsp of salt, 2-inch pieces of daikon, and 3 stalks of smashed lemongrass.
Take 2 tbsp of shrimp paste and fill with 3 cups of water and mix and set aside. When the shrimp paste has separated, slowly pour 2 1/2 cups of the clearer diluted shrimp paste water into the pot. Discard the darker muddier shrimp paste that sank to the bottom.
On high heat, bring the pot to a boil. Then add the pork hocks and simmer on medium heat for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Periodically, skim off the scum and dirty layer off the top. Taste to see if the meat is soft before removing it from the pot. Set aside. (While this is cooking make the beef shank broth below)

Make the Beef Broth

In a separate 5 qt pot, fill water to 2/3 of the pot and place on high heat until boil. Add 4 palm sugars, 1/2 Bun Bo Hue soup base, 1/2 of a wedged cut onion, 1 1/2 tsp of salt, and 3 stalks of smashed lemongrass.
Bring the pot to a boil over high heat. Add beef shanks and simmer on medium-high heat for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Periodically, skim off the scum and dirty layer off the top.

Combine the Pork and Beef Broth

Transfer the beef into the larger pork broth. Remove the daikon and lemongrass and discard from 5 qt pot. Add the beef broth to the larger pork pot until filled. Place the remaining 6 stalks of fresh lemongrass into, 3 tablespoon of chicken boulloin powder the larger pork pot and simmer for 2 more hours.
After 2 hours, taste one piece of the beef to see if it is soft and tender. If the meat is still chewy, continue cooking for an additional 10 minutes or until tender. Then take the beef, daikon, and lemongrass out of the larger pork broth pot. Add the remaining soup from the smaller beef broth pot into the large pot.
Lastly, taste and add 1-2 tbsp fish sauce as needed.

Chili Oil

In a saucepan on medium heat, add the oil and the annatto seeds and stir it for 3-5 minutes until the oil turns a bright red color. Discard the annatto seeds.
Add in the chili flakes, lemongrass, garlic, and shallots, and toast it in the oil for 10 minutes. Be careful not to burn it! Turn off the heat and let the oil cool
Once the oil has cooled, add the chili paste to the broth to taste.

Prepare the Noodles, Meats, and Garnishes

Prepare the noodles. Boil and drain the rice noodles according to the instructions on the package. Then place the noodles in a soup bowl.
Prepare the meats. Slice the meats and place them in the bowl with the noodles.
Prepare the banana bud. Remove the outer layer then thinly slice the banana bud and remove the seeds. Soak in cold salt water for at least 10 minutes, and then wash thoroughly with clean water. Lay out to dry. This prevents the banana bud from turning brown.
Prepare the Vietnamese Coriander. Wash the Vietnamese coriander and remove the leaves from the tough stems.
Thinly slice the purple cabbage.
Serve. In a large soup bowl, add the noodles, sliced cha lua, banana bud, Vietnamese coriander and purple cabbage in the garnishes then top with the broth and enjoy!

Notes

This recipe uses a lot of meat for that richer broth flavor. But you can easily half the meat if you don't want to eat that much meat.

You will need a 5 qt and a 7qt pot to cook the meat separately. Alternatively, you can use one really large 12 qt pot if you have one. Simply add all the ingredients into one pot instead of two and take the meat out at the right cooking times.
Taste the meat before taking it out of the pot! You don't want to have too chewy hard to eat meat for this soup. It is VERY important that you heat and cook the beef long enough until tender.
Storage and Re-Heating Instructions: You can store the broth and the meat separate from the noodles in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Alternatively, you can freeze the broth for up to 1 month. To re-heat pour the broth into a pot and heat over medium-high heat until boil.

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