Bún Bò Huế (Spicy Beef Noodle Soup)

pork bones 2.5-3kg
gravy beef (bò bắp) 2kg
giò heo 2 (pork hock)
mắm ruốc (227gram jar) (shrimp paste)
rau muống 3 bó (water spinach) 
rau thơm 1 bó all types (herbs 1 bunch of each type)
rau ngò 1 bó (coriander 1 bunch)
chả Huế 1 cây (1 pork loaf -spicy)
xả 8 cây (1 cây xay nhuyễn) 8 lemon grass stalks (1 need to be finely processed)
hột điều 2 teaspoons (red seeds)
dầu 2 tablespoon (2 tablespoons oil)
đường 2-3 teaspoon (2-3 tablespoons sugar)
ớt khô 2 teaspoons (more if want hotter) (2 teaspoons of dried chilli)
bún khô 4 bịch is plenty..2 meals..(rice vermicelli 4 bags =2meals)
brown onions 2 (hành củ) 
hành lá 1 bó (spring onion 1 bunch)
chanh 4 (4 limes)

*** 1 kg=2.205 lbs

*** pot =20 litres stock pot
1 litre=0.26 gallon 20 litres= 5.2 gallons...

chuck the bones, bò bắp (gravy beef) , giò heo (pork hock), xả (lemon grass), mắm ruốc (shrimp paste), hành củ (onion), đường (sugar) into the pot and boil...takes a few hours for the juices to come out..

after 30-45 minutes check to see if the bò bắp (gravy beef) and giò heo (pork hock) is ready ..take them out..

you need to soak the noodles or else it takes for ever to boil them:) buy the one that's not hollow inside..there's two types...:)

some oil in pan..very low heat the lowest you can..put the hột điều in...you need to stir them around..takes about 1 minute?? not long... if it smells that means you have burnt them ...start again ...

chuck the seeds out and use the oil for the xả ớt (lemon grass/chilli) mixture..

it's a big pot...fed my family...4 adults and 4 kids and still left overs for today..:)

you need to taste it again after it's ready...found it to need a bit more nuoc mam yesterday wasnt salty enough..:)

the bun bo flavour is from the bones, bò bắp (gravy beef), mắm ruốc(shrimp paste) and xả (lemon grass)...so the more you use of those the more the flavour come through....