Grilling in the Garden

Y Thao Garden, site of our cooking class, is a lush place filled with fish-tail palms, tranquil pools floating with lily pads, and glowing red paper lanterns. It is apparently named after our cooking instructor, Co Cuc's daughter, Co Thao. While Chris was privy to the full attention of Co Cuc due to his French, Co Thao became the focus of our attention as our cooking teacher for the day. The day was long, a full four hours stuffed with a dish per hour. The first day we learned how to make some popular and famous Hue dishes, such as spring rolls (nem ran) and banh khoai, the Hue version of the Southern banh xeo. We donned our clean cloth aprons and got to work. The banh khoai pans were uniquely homemade, appearing to be cut from the bottom of large cans with a sheet of rolled aluminum for a handle. These beat-up relics worked surprisingly well, making delicious banh khoai crepes. Co Thao was a gracious host, smiling and joking along with us and answering all our questions about Hue cuisine and the dishes we were making. After the end of our first long cooking day, we were served a generous feast of dishes we've made and others that we didn't. These included lotus seed rice served wrapped and steamed in banana leaf, and a fig salad served with shrimp chips. Dessert, along with our appetizer, spring rolls served in a carrot and pineapple peacock centerpiece, stole our attention. When dessert arrived, we were all taken aback. It came in a decorated clay plot, sprouting out of shiny plastic leaves. In fact, it looked more like a pot of plastic flowers they had decided to decorate our table with. Soon enough we found that the flowers were actually cakes made from a type of green bean and dipped in a shiny colorful coat of agar. The flowers were so delicate and creatively designed: there were cakes that were mini dragonfruits, cashew apples, cherries, and peaches. We took turns shuttling the vases down the table so we could pose beside this creative edible arrangement. Co Cuc is not just an amazing cook, but a creative one at that :D
The second day of cooking class we learned how to make Hue's most famous signature dish: Bun Bo Hue (Hue-style beef noodle soup). The broth is made from boiling pork feet with lemon grass, scallions, and peppers. A bit of oil, garlic, and chili powder is then added for a bit of kick (which I sadly couldn't handle, since I get heartburn from spicy stuff). Aside from the Bun Bo, we also learned how to grill, Vietnamese style. We marinated pork in lemon grass, garlic, and sesame seed. Co Thao and Co Cuc's assistants heated up traditional clay-pot ovens and we used a type of cage like griddle which clamped over the pork. Grilling was certainly one of the highlights of the day ^__^ We also learned how to make a type of noodle dish with wood-ear mushrooms, wet rice flour spring rolls with the pork we grilled, and steamed fish. We could barely eat all the food afterward at the dinner they again generously provided. Co Cuc and her daughter-in-law came out to answer our questions about Hue traditional cuisine. We learned how the cuisine is spread from mother to daughter through generations, and how in general, men don't really cook. Hue is also the origin of many Vietnamese dishes because it was the capital of the Nguyen dynasty, and emperors always have a penchance for good eats. The pineapple-carrot nem ran peacock we had the first day was an example of presentation in royal dishes, and which continues to be an important aspect of formal food today.
I feel a little sad that our cooking adventures with Co Cuc and Co Thao are almost over. Tomorrow we will interview them, but there will be no more cooking with them :( However, their kindness and generosity will always live on in the new cooking skills we have acquired and will undoubtedly put to good use back at home. I can't wait to reveal the culinary genius of banh khoai, bun bo Hue, grilled pork, and nem ran to my family back in the states...