Dinner · 120 min · vietnamese

Bun Bo Hue

Beef shank does the heavy lifting here, with pork hocks rounding it out. A Vietnamese dinner that takes 120 minutes, start to finish.

✓ USDA-verified nutrition data

Ingredients

• 2 lb Beef shank
• 1.5 lb Pork hocks
• 6 stalks Lemongrass
• 2 tbsp Shrimp paste
• 3 tbsp Annatto oil
• 2 tbsp Chili flakes
• 1 Yellow onion
• 1 3-inch piece Fresh ginger
• 1/3 cup Fish sauce
• 2 tbsp Rock sugar
• 1 lb Thick round rice noodles
• 2 cups Napa cabbage
• 1 cup Banana blossom or extra cabbage
• 1 bunch Thai basil
• 1 Lime
• 4 Scallions

Steps

1. Smash the lemongrass stalks with the side of a knife until they split and fray. Bruising releases the citrus oils that whole stalks keep locked inside.
2. Parboil the beef shank and pork hocks for 10 minutes, drain, and rinse. Then cover with 5 quarts of fresh cold water and simmer with the lemongrass, onion, and ginger for 90 minutes, skimming as needed.
3. Fry the shrimp paste in the annatto oil with the chili flakes over medium heat until deeply fragrant and brick red, about 3 minutes. This sizzling red oil is the signature of the dish, bold where pho is polite.
4. Stir the shrimp-paste oil into the broth and season with fish sauce and rock sugar. The broth should taste assertive: spicy, funky, and rich all at once.
5. Lift out the meats, slice the shank thin and pull the hock meat from the bones.
6. Cook the thick noodles until tender with bite, divide among bowls with the meats, and ladle over plenty of broth.
7. Top with cabbage, herbs, and scallions, and pass lime at the table. This is a loud soup, so garnish generously.

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