Hue Beef Noodles

By Giang Vu

There is no dish that speaks for the city of Hue as much as Bun Bo (Hue Style Beef Noodles). You can find
a beef noodle hawker in every street of Hue, a daily treat for everyone, from toddlers to grandparents.

Surprisingly, only in Hue, would people go to buy a portion of beef noodles to take home to consume
with a bowl of leftover rice. This tradition might be rooted from the recent history of poverty. For Hue
people, the combination of a rice bowl, or even a piece of banh mi (Vietnamese bread), with a beef
noodle bowl, elevates sweetness to a new level!

My 70-year-old mother-in-law is from Hue, she grew up with Bun Bo as part of her daily life. She does
not know when this delicacy of a meal first appeared. Writer Tran Kiem Doan, a fellow Hue citizen, wrote
in his book “Stories of Hue" about how once a beef noodle dish from Me Luu (Mother Luu) won a royal
cooking competition with a score of “10 perfect and 5 accessible" (10 points for perfectness and 5 points
for accessibility - easy to buy, eat and cook}

In its early years, beef noodles were served only with braised beef and pork leg chops, garnished with
spring onions and rau ram (Vietnamese mint). Just recently, people have started adding crab cake, meat
cake or coagulated blood cubes with some green salad for a side dish. Adding dried chilli sauce and fresh
chilli results in a burning hot sensation; then you have a bowl of traditional Hue beef noodles. These days
in Hue, people have beef noodles with a selection of veggies (lettuces, banana tree core cuts, green bean
sprouts, and some other herbs). This is not really “traditional" but hey, there is not a wrong or right way
in culinary. For example, Hanoians eat their Pho (another very famous different type of beef noodles)
without a green side dish and Saigonese will not eat their Pho without some greens and bean sprouts.

The special secret ingredient in Hue beef noodles is using lemongrass (the whole plant!) in the broth to
balance out the smell of beef and pork in a single pot. Another secret ingredient is some shrimp paste
(should be Hue style shrimp paste for the best taste) in order to create a special fragrance as well as to
sweeten the taste of beef and pork. This gives Hue beef noodles a unique aroma and taste, unlike any
other type of noodles out there.

Talking about the broth for Bun Bo, there are even two versions - one clear and one murky. When you
want clear, foam is removed continuously from the broth while braising beef and pork leg chops. Also,
shrimp paste is mixed with water and left to set the night before. Only the clear water is used to put into
the stock, not the remains of the shrimp paste. For the second type of recipe, shrimp paste is mixed
directly into the stock. This gives the noodle bowl a murky texture which is less elegant but has a very
rich taste.

Before, Hue people used pork leg chops from a tiny breed of pig, which weighs less than 30kg at full
maturity. Hence, the chops were very small and cute, like flower buds, complimenting the small size of
any Hue dish. Not only their looks, this unique breed of pig gave the best taste and spice for the noodle
broth. Today, regular-size pigs, (although still free-range), and organically fed pork is used, resulting in
much larger chops. Therefore, in a way, the noodle bowl has lost some of its beauty.
According to some Hue citizens, a top-notch beef noodle bowl has become extinct in Hue, due to so
many changes over the years. Yet Bun Bo Hue has grown beyond the land from which it was born,
becoming an ambassador for the delicacy and sophistication of the city’s culinary all over Vietnam.

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You can now enjoy a traditional Hue style beef noodle bowl at Ngon Villa Restaurant in Da Nang.