Vietnamese Udon with Pork Hock / Bánh Canh Giò Heo

Directions

• Parboil pork hocks and pork butt, then rinse and clean pork under cold water to remove the porky odor
• To a clean stockpot, add six quarts of water and bring up to a boil; add cleaned pork, rehydrated dried shrimp, a whole yellow onion, and a small daikon
• Bring up to a boil, skim off any impurities, and let that simmer for one hour
• After an hour, remove the onion and daikon so that they don’t disintegrate into the broth and to help keep the broth clean. Then let that simmer for another hour, and remove pork hocks and pork butt. Wrap pork butt in plastic wrap and then put into the fridge to cool down
• Season broth with rock sugar, fish sauce, MSG, and salt to taste
• Thinly slice the pork butt once it’s cooled down, and prepare chả lụa (Vietnamese ham) by thinly slicing it into the same size as the pork butt
• Boil shrimp in water or broth
• For the garnishes, julienne white onions and submerge in cold water to get rid of the raw onion flavor. Then, cut green onions and cilantro
• In another pot, add broth and cook the bánh canh noodles directly in the broth; this will add a little bit of body and thickness to the broth. If you prefer to keep the broth light, cook the noodles in a separate pot in boiling water instead
• Assemble your bowl by adding noodles, proteins, broth, and garnishes