Vietnamese spicy beef, pork and lemongrass soup served with thick rice vermicelli. This broth has rich and spicy tones with deep layers of flavour; a predominantly strong lemongrass flavour.
Feeds: 4-6 people Prep Time: 15-30 mins
Cook Time: 1-3 hrs (dependent on your meat choices)
Ingredients – Meats for the pot
4-6 medium ox tails
4-6 medium pork bones (optional: can be used in lieu of ox tails or in conjunction)
1 chicken cage/frame (optional)
500g-1kg (approx.) pork leg or pork shoulder – deboned and rolled into a log with cooking twine
500g-1kg (approx.) beef shin (whole not sliced/cubed)
500g-1kg (approx.) beef brisket (whole not sliced/cubed) (optional: can be used in lieu of beef shin or in conjunction)
200g beef tendons (optional)
water for boiling
Ingredients – Broth
3-6 fresh lemongrass sticks
remove leaves (green) and fold into approx. 10cm log and tie together with cooking twine (if your lemongrass does not come with leaves, it is fine without)
with the stalks (whites), slightly crush with flat of knife and bundle with cooking twine
if you do not have access to fresh lemongrass, use half to one cup of frozen lemongrass
1-2 medium onions – halved
1 garlic bulb – slightly cut off top so all bulbs are exposed
5 cm fresh ginger – sliced into rounds
4 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
10-15 dried hot chillies (adjust to suit your level of spice)
1 tsp cooking oil
water to cover – tap or boiled
Adjust below to taste:
5 tbs sugar
2 tbs salt
1 tbs fish sauce
Ingredients – Fried for Broth
1-2 fresh lemongrass sticks – finely chopped (or approx. ¼ cup thawed frozen lemongrass – dried out a bit)
1-3 fresh chillies – seeds removed, finely chopped
1 tbs annatto seeds
1 tbp cooking oil
Ingredients – For the bowl
1-2 packets bún bò huế dried noodles - thick rice vermicelli noodles (cook as per packet)
½ cabbage – finely sliced
1 bunch Thai basil
1 roll chả lụa (Vietnamese sausage) (optional)
1 box of pork blood (optional)
1 lemon – cut into wedges (optional)
1 bag bean sprouts (optional)
1 medium onion – finely sliced (optional)
Spring onions – finely sliced (optional)
1 banana flower/blossom – finely sliced and submerged in water as to not brown (optional)
shrimp paste to serve (optional)
Method – Broth and Meats
Make sure your meats are rolled and ready to be added to the stock before starting the broth.
Preparing beef tendon - optional:
Beef tendon has a strong smell and should be washed thoroughly before cooking. Rub tendon pieces with a generous amount of salt and soak in a mixture of white vinegar and water. Let this sit for at least 10 minutes before thoroughly rinsing off the salt and vinegar.
Preparing pork blood for serving – optional:
Asian butchers sell small containers of pork blood, the more vibrant the red the fresher the product. To cook this, slice the blood in the box into desired serving sizes. Gently tip the container into a pot and fill with cold water approx. 1cm above the cubes. Place on medium heat until it has come to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes before removing from heat, leave to cool. Once cooled, tip water out and gently wash with cold water, removing any excess foamy bits. Transfer to a container until ready to serve.
Broth:
In a large stock pot (min. 10L pot, larger is better depending on the amount of meat you choose to add) add 1-2 medium onions halved, 1 garlic bulb, 5cm ginger sliced, 4 star anise, 1 cinnamon stick, 10-15 dried hot chillies, bundled lemongrass stalks and leaves. Place pot on stove on medium heat, allowing the spices to dry roast as the pot comes up to temperature. This is fine to leave for a couple minutes after it has reached temperature.
Bones (pork bones and/or ox tail – not required for chicken cage/frame):
Meanwhile in a medium pot, bring water (enough to slightly cover the bones) to the boil. Once boiling, add the bones and bring back to the boil before turning off and draining the meat. Under cold water, rinse off any scum still attached to the bones before sitting aside.
Broth:
Once the onion has started to brown (a bit of char is also okay), add 1 tsp of cooking oil and give the spices a stir. Add the cleaned bones to the stock pot and add water to cover. Increase heat to high and wait for stock to come to a slight boil. Add the pork leg and/or shoulder, beef shin and/or brisket, beef tendon and add additional water to cover if required (note time of when meats are added). Bring back to the boil, once boiling scum from the newly added meats should float to the top. Scoop as much scum off as you can before reducing to a simmer, leaving pot uncovered.
Note – Broth:
Skimming scum off the surface of the broth will help keep the broth clear, scum that does no get removed will sink to the bottom creating a dark cloud. It is not tasty.
Keeping the broth on a simmer uncovered will also help maintain a clear non-clouded soup.
Note – Meat:
Each meat type will cook differently and will need to be taken out at different times as to not overcook them. Meat that is too soft will not hold its form when you cut it for serving; taken out too early will leave you with tough meat (if meat is too tough, it can be added back to the pot for further cooking).
Our personal preferences are as below for a rough guide.
Pork/beef bones can be left for the entirety of the cook, they will add flavour to the soup and will be tender for serving.
Pork leg/shoulder should maintain a bouncy skin with bite - cooking time approx. 45 mins to 1 hr
Beef shin/brisket cooking time approx. 1-1.5 hrs
Beef tendons for a bit of a crunch still, cooking time approx. 1-1.5hrs
Once meats are cooked to your preference remove from pot. Let them to cool before slicing to help them hold their shape. Again, thickness is as per your preference, roughly 3-5mm is a good thickness.
At this point your broth should have been simmering for about 1.5hrs -2hrs. Once all the meats are cooked and taken out (bar the bones) and the broth has reduced, we can move onto the extra flavours for the broth. Bring broth pot up to medium, slight boil.
Fried for Broth:
In a small pan on medium heat add 1tbs cooking oil. When the pan has come to heat, add 1tbs annatto seeds, 1-3 chillies finely minced and the 1-2 stalks of finely minced lemongrass (or ¼ cup thawed frozen lemongrass – make sure this dries out a bit before adding to the pan). Stirring for a couple minutes until fragrant and red. Pour this into the broth pot along with the 5 tbs sugar, 2 tbs salt and 1tbs fish sauce. At this point you can adjust the flavours accordingly to your own taste if desired.
Serve with your preferred toppings and cooked meats. Shrimp paste and lemon is used to add more flavour per bowl.
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