Bun Cha

Ingredients

Cha mieng (belly slices)

• 400 gpork belly, skin off, sliced 5 mm thick

Cha vien (patties)

• 400 gcoarsely minced pork shoulder, about 20 per cent fat

Marinade for both

• 4shallots, very finely chopped
• 4garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 tbspfish sauce
• 2 tbspcaster sugar
• 1 tbspnuoc hang (Vietnamese caramel sauce) or dark honey
• 1 tspcoarsely ground black pepper
• 1 tbspvegetable oil

Nuoc cham bowl

• 150 mlfish sauce
• 150 gcaster sugar
• 200 mlrice vinegar
• 800 mlwarm water
• 6garlic cloves, sliced into thin coins
• 4bird’s eye chillies, sliced
• 150 ggreen papaya or kohlrabi, sliced into 2 mm coins
• 1carrot, sliced into thin coins

To serve

• 500 gdried rice vermicelli (bun)
• 1large bunch perilla (tia to), mint, coriander and Vietnamese balm
• 1 headsoft lettuce, torn

Directions

1. Mix the marinade and divide it between the belly slices and the minced pork; work the mince for a minute so it turns slightly sticky and will hold as a patty. Marinate both at least 1 hour, ideally 3, in the fridge.
2. Salt the papaya and carrot coins for 10 minutes, rinse and squeeze; then steep them in the vinegar with a spoon of the sugar so they go translucent at the rim and stay crisp in the middle.
3. Make the dipping broth by dissolving the sugar in the warm water, then adding fish sauce and vinegar. Taste: it should be mild, sweet-sour and only lightly salty, drinkable by the spoonful. Add the garlic and chilli last so they float.
4. Soak the vermicelli in warm water for 20 minutes, then boil for 2 minutes until just tender, rinse under cold water until the strands stop clinging, and drain into loose nests.
5. Shape the mince into flat patties about 6 cm across and 1 cm thick, dimpling the centre so they cook evenly.
6. Burn a chimney of charcoal down to grey ash and grill the belly slices 3 to 4 minutes a side, until the fat renders, the edges char black in patches and the meat smells of caramel and smoke.
7. Grill the patties 4 minutes a side, until deeply browned and springy; they should stay juicy, not dry.
8. Drop the hot grilled meat straight into warm bowls of the dipping broth with the pickled papaya, so the smoke and rendered fat bleed into the liquid.
9. Serve each person a bowl of meat and broth, a plate of vermicelli and a mountain of herbs; you dip noodles and herbs into the meat bowl, chopstick by chopstick.

Technique

• The broth is served warm, not hot and not cold, and it is deliberately dilute. Hanoi bun cha is about the smell of charcoal fat hitting that thin sweet-sour liquid, which is why street kitchens fan the grill onto the pavement.
• Charcoal matters more than the marinade. A gas grill or a pan gives you cooked pork; only live fire gives the scorched-fat aroma the dish is named for.
• Use two textures of meat. Belly slices give fat and chew, patties give juice; a bowl with only one of them is not bun cha.

Substitutions

• Indoors, grill on a ridged cast-iron pan on high heat with the extractor running, then finish the meat 2 minutes under a fierce grill to blacken the edges. Kohlrabi stands in for green papaya without complaint.

Variations

• Bun cha Hanoi is often eaten with nem cua be, square crab spring rolls, dunked in the same bowl.
• Bun thit nuong, the southern cousin, puts the grilled pork over the noodles with the sauce poured on rather than served alongside.

History

Hanoi lunch of grilled pork patties in sweet-sour fish sauce broth with noodles and herbs; Barack Obama and Anthony Bourdain ate it there in 2016.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bun Cha?

Bun Cha is a main from Vietnam: hanoi grilled pork patties in fish-sauce broth with vermicelli and herbs. Hanoi lunch of grilled pork patties in sweet-sour fish sauce broth with noodles and herbs; Barack Obama and Anthony Bourdain ate it there in 2016.

How long does Bun Cha take to make?

Bun Cha takes 40 min plus 1 hr marinating of preparation and 25 min over charcoal of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Bun Cha?

Yes, within limits. Indoors, grill on a ridged cast-iron pan on high heat with the extractor running, then finish the meat 2 minutes under a fierce grill to blacken the edges. Kohlrabi stands in for green papaya without complaint.

What is the most important thing to get right in Bun Cha?

The broth is served warm, not hot and not cold, and it is deliberately dilute. Hanoi bun cha is about the smell of charcoal fat hitting that thin sweet-sour liquid, which is why street kitchens fan the grill onto the pavement.