Bún chả is a unique food which has a long tradition in Hanoi . Being n unsophisticated yet very appetizing dish, bún chả is a specialty of Hanoi that reminds all Hanoians and Vietnamese living or working away from home or overseas of their home country or city. Visitors who could try this dish for even once also find an unforgettable impression! There are many famous restaurants serving bún chả in Hanoi , such as those on Hang Manh street and Nguyen Khuyen street (formerly Sinh Tu street ).
Previously, bún chả used to be a dish sold by street vendors, rather than in restaurants Most of the vendors were young girls from suburban or outer areas of the city, carrying a bamboo frame on their shoulders for the 2 baskets of ingredients, and walking around the city crying for sale. Many of them had patrons, who stayed inside the house and waited for certain vendors to come, and therefore those girls could finish their daily sales quite quickly after only a few walks. These girls often wore black pants, Dong Lam brown tunic, a flap, waist bag, towel rolled on long shiny hair, and especially all of them walking on barefoot. The grilled meat gives a good smell whenever the vendor comes, helping her make a silent cry for sales that diners easily notice.
For one serving, the vendor would place the food on a small flat basket, or nep, and then brought the basket of food to the diner. Some people enjoyed the meal inside, while others sat on the sidewalk, next to the vendor to eat and had a nice chat with her. One nep of bún chả includes a bowl of dipping sauce to contain the grilled meat, rice noodle, and raw and herbal vegetables.
The dipping sauce, which is the heart of the meal, is wonderfully mixed into a picky brown, light yellow tasty liquid, while the grilled patties of minced pork or slices of belly meat, generally referred to as chả, are put into the sauce. Some chili and pepper are also added to make the food even more delicious.
The grilled pieces are usually made from belly meat, while the patties made from minced meat of shoulder or loin. They are both blended with spices before they were grilled over charcoal.
The rest of the nep was for bún (rice noodle) and vegetables. The freshly green lettuce is there along with coriander, peppermint, perilla and elsholtzia ciliate… In the low season of such herbal vegetables, water spinach from Son Tay is used instead – the stalks are selected and split into small strands. All the vegetables are thoroughly washed, but not crushed and crumpled.
People usually have bún chả for lunch, not for breakfast. By now, there are no more walking vendors of bún chả. Instead, the dish is served in restaurants and shops, both big and small, always crowded especially at noon. A bowl of bún chả is quite simple, convenient and quick, so we can enjoy it sometimes in place of rice. Diners can sit inside on proper tables and chairs, or outside on benches, sometimes even on the pavement using tiny wooden stools, or almost squatting. All are soaked in the fragrant smoke from the grilling, which is both polluted and mouth-watering!.
The chả in bún chả always come in 2 types: minced pork patties and fatty belly slices. The meat chosen to make chả should be both lean and fatty so that after the grilling, the meat is not dry or too fat. The patties are made from pork shoulder lean meat which is finely minced and shaped into small patties mixed with salt, pepper, good fish sauce, sugar, finely chopped onions, vegetable oil or grease. If the minced meat seems a bit dry, we can add some extra cooking oil to make it more sticky and easy to shape into balls having the size of 2 fingers and press them flat. If you want it more sophisticated, you can roll each patty with banana leaf and then grill it, so such patty will be more aromatic and not overburnt. Fatty belly slices are mixed with the same spices and grilled on charcoal, either separately or together with the patties on a steel clip over the burning charcoal. The charcoal stove must be small and mild so that the grilled pieces will be just done and smell good.
The bún (rice noodle) needed for the meal should be made in small strands which are soft and tasty. Phu Do village (Tu Liem district, Hanoi ) has long been famous for its excellent quality bún.
The most difficult part in making bún chả is to get the right mixture of sauce. It really is an art to make a good dipping sauce in bún chả, which is the secret of many restaurants and is also called the “soul” of the food. The sauce is a harmonious combination of diluted fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, garlic and chili, which should not be too salty, too sweet or too sour. It is a must to choose a quality brand of fish sauce and use proper amounts of water, sugar, vinegar and garlic, as well as chili and pepper for the blend. Big eaters sometimes even drink the sauce to satisfy their taste. Some may add some drops of lemon juice to make the sauce more fragrant, and some slices of prickled papaya. Chili sauce and shrimp paste are never used for bún chả, and dry chili will also make the sauce less tasty. The sauce must be sufficiently prepared for the entire meal, for in cases of sauce running out, a second blending might give a different and less enjoyable taste.
Obviously, bún chả will partly lose its special flavor and richness should there be no raw vegetables such as lettuce, cilantro, perrila, coriander and elsholtzia ciliate… The vegetables should be selected carefully and used in their high season, to add more flavor to the dish.
Many bún chả restaurants now also serve fried spring rolls. Those spring rolls are well fried and cut into small pieces, giving a charming smell of the different ingredients used for stuffing.
Enjoying food is also an art. When you taste bún chả, pick up a piece of grilled pork and chew slowly, you can feel the good smell of grilled meat, the sweet and sour sauce and the pungent chili…
Bún chả stalls usually prepare washed vegetables baskets and a barrel of sauce beforehand. Pork patties and slices of belly meat are also sliced and mixed previously, so the last job is to grill so that the smoke rises up to invite the guests.
As for the burning charcoal, some restaurants are still using bamboo fans, while the majority now utilizes electric fans for better efficiency and equal grilling quality.
For Hanoians who are said to be rather sophisticated in cooking and eating, it takes a lot of effort to have a proper meal of bún chả. Careful choices are made regarding the kind of meat to be used, how it is grilled, which vegetable to eat with, and how balanced the sauce is in terms of the taste mixture, to make sure that bún chả will be a real fit. The charcoal must be brought from Hang Chieu or Hang Be streets, while the rice noodle must be from Phu Do village. The meat must be selected from medium pigs and fresh. The vegetables must be washed thoroughly…
Bún chả is the second most popular food in Hanoi , following phở (noodle soup). This dish is cooked elsewhere also, but the quality is hardly the same. It is the type of food that is easy to eat and inexpensive to cook with readily available materials. Many visitors coming to Hanoi try to eat bún chả at least once so that they can experience Hanoi cuisine by themselves. Many families in Hanoi have habit to treat guests from others provinces with a meal of bún chả so that they can express their kindness and introduce Hanoi to their relatives and friends.
Source: vietnamnow.org
