Hue
Cuisine
Hue
cuisine is distinctive: Vietnamese people regard it as the
best in the country. There are two forms – Hue traditional
food, which is explained on this page, and ‘Royal’
cuisine, the food of the Imperial Court.
Hue
culinary traditions demand that meals must presented aesthetically,
harmonising food elements, decorations and colours to create
a gastronomic work of art. For example, the rice container
must near a dish of salad vegetables, fermented bean sprouts,
slices of red and green of chillies, slices of star fruit,
round slices of bitter bananas, and a dish of sliced boiled
pork arranged in a flower pattern. The array would include
a dish of white or red flowers purely for decorative purposes
to create a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach.
Most
dishes are accompanied with sauces
specific to the dish.
A
typical example of basic Hue food is clam
rice. A more complicated everyday meal is likely to include
rice and three common dishes: ‘bong the’ (fish boiled with
fish sauce and aromatic vegetables), boiled spinach with a
prawn sauce and a bowl of soup containing small prawns and
tamarind.
Daytime
meals are usually eaten away from home and mostly consist
of single basic dishes
Formal
meals for special occasions or for welcoming guests are more
elaborate, usually comprising five or more dishes. A typical
‘menu’ might include:
- Fermented
pork rolls (washed down with rice wine)
- ‘Banh
la’ (sweet sticky rice wrapped in leaves),
- ‘Cha
tom’ (a sort of shrimp pancake)
- Boiled
pork with a sour prawn sauce or fermented fish, vegetables,
slices of star fruit and bitter bananas
- Dried
cuttlefish mixed with ‘thanh tra’ fruit
- Fish
steamed with mushrooms
- Fatty
meat
- Soy
sauce and ‘envelopes’ of mandarin fruit
- Rice
cooked with pineapple leaves
Dessert
would normally be a bowl of sweet lotus seed soup or local
fruit.
Hue
delicacies
Flour
based dishes
Banh Khoai: a crepe with a savoury filling accompanied by
salad and a peanut-based sauce
Banh La Cha Tom: soft pastry wrapped in leaves with meat,
shrimp and eggs
Banh Hot Thit Quay: roast pork in pastry
Banh Bot Loc Boc Tom Thit: rice pastry containing shrimp and
meat
Bun Tuan: noodles with stir-fried beef or boiled pork with
fermented ‘nem’ fish sauce
Bun Bo Gio Heo: noodles with beef and pork
Dessert
dishes - all variations of ‘che’ (sweet soup)
Che Dau Van: sweet French bean soup
Che Dau Ngu: sweet bean soup
Che Hot Sen Boc Nhan: sweet lotus seeds and longan soup
Che Bot Loc Boc Thit Quay: sweet rice and roast pork soup
Vegetarian
food
Hue is a major Buddhist centre so its vegetarian food is well-known.
Unlike vegetarian food in Western countries, Hue chefs aim
to replicate the taste of dishes such as roast pork cooked
with fish sauce, chicken salad, beefsteak, grilled meat roll,
pork bolognese, chicken and so on. It’s a fascinating concept,
but far away from the attitudes of foreign vegetarians who
are mostly motivated by health or ethical concerns.
If
you're particularly interested in Hue cuisine, let us know,
and we’ll arrange a local expert to provide you with more
detailed information, and teach you how to cook it, if you
wish.
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