Destination
Hue
The story
Bún chả is Hanoi's most-loved lunch dish and one of the definitive plates of northern Vietnamese cooking. Chargrilled pork appears in two forms in the same meal: small round patties of seasoned minced pork (chả viên), and thin slices of marinated pork belly (chả miếng). Both are grilled over glowing charcoal until dark caramelised at the edges, then dropped into a warm sweet-sour fish sauce broth flavoured with garlic, chili, lime and pickled green papaya. Diners get a big plate of cold rice vermicelli (bún) and a tray of fresh herbs and lettuce leaves. To eat: dip some rice noodles into the warm broth, pick up a piece of pork with chopsticks, wrap the pork and noodles in a lettuce leaf with a sprig of Thai basil and mint, and dunk the whole parcel back in the broth for a bite.
Method
Combine minced pork with shallot, garlic, fish sauce, sugar, pepper and salt. Mix by hand for 2 minutes until sticky. Form into 16 small flat patties (about 4cm across). Rest 30 minutes.
Combine pork belly slices with shallot, garlic, fish sauce, sugar, oil, caramel sauce and pepper. Toss to coat. Rest 30 minutes.
In a bowl, whisk rice vinegar, sugar and salt until dissolved. Add papaya and carrot. Rest 20 minutes at room temperature.
In a small pot, warm the water gently. Add fish sauce and sugar; stir until sugar dissolves. Off the heat, add lime juice, minced garlic and chili. Taste and adjust; should be salty, sweet, sour and mildly spicy. Keep warm.
Heat a charcoal grill to hot, or use a heavy cast-iron ridged pan on the highest heat.
Grill pork patties 3 minutes per side until dark charred at the edges. Grill pork belly slices 2 minutes per side until caramelised. Both should be dark and slightly crispy on the outside.
Ladle warm broth into 4 shallow bowls, filling about halfway. Drop 4 pork patties and 4 to 5 pork belly slices into each. Add a spoon of the drained papaya and carrot pickle.
Set the noodles, herbs and lettuce on a large platter in the middle of the table. Diners take a small handful of noodles, dip in the broth, wrap with pork and herbs in a lettuce leaf, and eat with chopsticks. Add more herbs and lime as you go.
Tips
- Two cuts of pork. This is the classical Hanoi format. Doing just patties or just belly gives you a lesser bún chả.
- Warm broth, not hot. The broth should be warm enough to soften the herbs briefly but not so hot it wilts them completely.
- Char the pork properly. Bún chả is defined by the dark caramelised char on the outside of the pork. Under-cooked pork does not deliver the classical flavour.
- Green papaya pickle. Not fully ripe. If you cannot find green papaya, use daikon and carrot as substitute.
- Assemble at the table. Do not pre-mix noodles into the broth; the eater builds each bite.
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