Bún Bò Huế — Spicy Lemongrass Noodle Soup

Ingredients

• 2 lb beef shank
• 1 lb pork hock, cut crosswise
• 12 cups water
• 6 stalks lemongrass, bruised and knotted
• 1 onion, charred
• 3 tbsp fermented shrimp paste (mắm ruốc)
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp annatto oil
• 4 tbsp chili-garlic-lemongrass paste
• 1½ lb thick round rice noodles
• 4 cups Shredded Cabbage
• 1 cup Vietnamese herbs (perilla, mint, cilantro)
• 1 lime, in wedges
• 1 banana blossom, shredded (optional)

Method

1. Blanch the beef shank and pork hock in boiling water for 5 minutes, then rinse the meat and scrub the pot. This is what gets you a clear, clean-tasting broth.
2. Simmer the meat with the 12 cups water, lemongrass, and charred onion for 90 minutes, skimming every 20 minutes, until a skewer slides through the shank without resistance.
3. Whisk the shrimp paste with a cup of hot broth and let the grit settle, then pour the clear liquid back into the pot, leaving the sediment behind. Season with fish sauce and sugar.
4. Stir in the annatto oil and chili-lemongrass paste until the broth turns fiery orange. Taste — it should be salty, funky, and unmistakably lemongrass-forward.
5. Lift out the meat, cool slightly, and slice the shank thin against the grain. Pull the pork hock into big pieces.
6. Boil the noodles, divide into bowls, top with the meats, and ladle boiling broth over. Serve with the Shredded Cabbage, herbs, banana blossom, and lime for everyone to pile on.