Among Vietnamese noodle soups, bun bo Hue is second only to pho in popularity. But while pho is delicate and nuanced, bun bo is earthy and spicy, characteristic of central Viet cooking and of the elegant yet rustic table of Hue, the former imperial capital. And although its name suggests an all-beef affair, the soup actually combines beef and pork. To make great bun bo Hue, I heed the advice of our family friend Mrs. Nha, a Hue native who insists that the broth be made with beef bones, not the pork bones widely used today. From my mom, I learned to sauté the onion and boneless meat for a deeply flavored broth. On my own, I discovered that simmering the annatto in the broth yields a nice rich color. (Most cooks fry the seeds in oil to release their color and then add the oil to the finished broth.) Shop for the various meats you need at a Viet or Chinese market, where you will find beef shank (shin) in long pieces, boneless pork leg with a layer of fat and skin, and slices of pork hock, often prepackaged in Styrofoam trays.
For information on banana blossoms, see page 52. Simply remove some of the bracts, stack them, and then slice them. Soak for 10 minutes in 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar and water to cover. Then massage and drain them.
