Vietnamese Rice Noodles in Savory Tomato Broth with Snails and Ground Pork (Bun Oc)

~I have a tendency to favor odd ingredients; snails, jellyfish, jumbo squid, bamboo pith- if it’s something out of the ordinary, I am drawn to it. About 15 years ago, I spied a menu item I hadn’t seen before; noodle soup in tomato broth and topped with snails (?!). Few restaurants ever venture beyond the “regular” meats. I had to order it. 

It was fantastic. Mind-blowing. Life-changing. Not only because of the fact there were snails (for the weird factor), but the combined elements of a savory tomatoey broth paired with multiple Vietnamese herbs- some with no flavor, but perfect crunch, others with little texture but extraordinary complexity. Everything in that bowl worked; in ways I hadn’t ever imagined or thought possible.

Cook’s note: if you’re lucky enough to live in an area largely populated by Vietnamese, several of the garnishes listed below can be found prepared for sale; as in washed and curled.

Special Equipment:

2- 8qt stock pots

large colander that fits over pot

cheese cloth

Ingredients:

Broth:

1 ½ lbs pork neck bones

3” piece of ginger- peeled and smashed

3 vine ripe tomatoes

28oz can peeled tomatoes

1 oz tomato paste

1 lemongrass stalk- trimmed, ends cut, and lightly pounded

4 tbsp shrimp paste in soybean oil

2 pieces rock sugar

½ cup fish sauce

6 garlic cloves- minced

2 medium shallots- minced

vegetable oil

2/3 lb ground pork

salt

sugar

1 tsp tapioca starch

tofu puffs

1 pkg frozen snails

1lb prawns- peeled and deveined (optional)

mai fun rice noodles- cooked according to package directions and drained

Garnish:

tia to

basil

cilantro

rau muong or ong choy

banana blossom

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, add 1 tbsp shrimp paste, 1 tsp tapioca starch, ½ tsp sugar, and ½ tsp salt into ground pork. Mix thoroughly. Cover and set aside in refrigerator.
2. Rinse all meat in cold water briefly to clean off any bone chips.
3. Fill second pot ¾ way with cold water and add meat/bones. Set on high heat and let boil for about 15min. Lower heat to medium and let simmer for 1hr.
4. Line the colander with cheese cloth and place over second empty stock pot. Set on a lower surface such as sink.
5. Carefully carry boiling stock pot and slowly pour contents through cheese clothed colander into empty stock pot. Wash out first stock pot and set aside for later.
6. Set colander aside with meat and bones. Rinse each piece of meat and bone carefully under cold water; be sure to rinse off all the “scum” thoroughly.
7. Skim the now “clean” broth for any excess oil. Return cleaned meat, bone pieces, and ginger to the broth and set on low heat.
8. Simmer for 45min – 1hr. Remove ginger and pork pieces until only broth remains.
9. Set the other empty stock pot on medium heat. Lightly cover surface with oil.
10. Saute garlic and shallots until translucent. Mix in tomato paste and fresh tomatoes. Cook tomatoes for about 5min or somewhat softened.
11. Add in canned tomatoes with juices. Add pork broth and lemongrass. Cover and bring to boil.
12. Add rock sugar, fish sauce, and shrimp paste. Reduce heat to low and let broth simmer for 15min. Taste and add more fish sauce or shrimp paste if necessary.
13. Bring broth to a rolling boil. Lightly drop ground meat into broth. Stir to break up meat pieces.
14. Reduce heat to simmer until the ground pork floats to surface.
15. Add tofu puffs and snails. Cover and let simmer for another 10-15min. Neither tofu nor snails has any flavor on its own so you want to give them time to soak up the flavors of the broth.
16. Add prawns to broth. Once prawns are cooked, turn off heat immediately.
17. For each individual soup bowl, fill less than halfway with noodles. First top evenly with pieces of ground pork, tofu puffs, prawns, and snails. Ladle soup into each bowl. Then top with some of each garnish listed above. Serve immediately with fish sauce on the side.