Hue Imperial Pork Leg Stew Giò Lợn Ninh @ Tinh Gia Vien Restaurant

We were at Tinh Gia Vien restaurant to see master chef Tôn Nữ Thị Hà who is known as Vietnam's "Heiress of Hue Imperial Cuisine" prepare three imperial dishes including this imperial pork leg stew.



Besides the pork leg stew, the other 2 dishes chef Tôn Nữ Thị Hà prepared for us were mực hấp hình thơm (steamed squid in pineapple shape) and chả tôm trên cành quất (shrimp balls on tangerine tree).



The ingredients for this royal dish were relatively simple, the centrepiece was a large fresh pork leg.





First step was to remove the shank bone from the leg. The pork leg was tied with a cloth and hung from a coat hanger. The bone and flesh were carefully separated with a sharp paring knife.



Next, carefully separate the meat from the skin of the pig leg.



Step one done. The pork leg skin like a big, long stocking.



The meat and fat were cut into small pieces.



The skin was blanched in boiling water.



Fill in the diced pork flesh together with lotus seeds, finely chopped mushroom, glass noodles, wood ear fungus etc into the "sock".



The diced pork and lotus seeds seasoned with a little black pepper packed into the pork leg skin was stitched up tightly.



Chef Ha stabbed the stuff pork leg with a fork to poke holes in the skin. She then bonded it with white muslin cloth.



The stuff pork leg wrapped in white muslin cloth was cooked by steaming.



The cooked pork leg, unwrapped. Poke it to check its doneness 😄



Strings untied.



The cooked pork leg fitted snugly in a large soup bowl.



Pour in the soup made with the pork bone and meat.



Finally, a pork leg soup fit for the Emperor (the Vietnamese call it a stew).



To serve, the pork leg was cut into thick slices like a meat loaf.



My serving of the Emperor's pork leg soup 😋

I love it 😋 It was tender, soft and moist with a bit of crunch here and there from the wood ear fungus. Flavour was mostly savoury sweet from the pork and lotus seeds. There's a bit of pepperiness in the soup reminding me of the peasant's peppery pork soup but much milder. The Nguyen court seemed to have rather mild palates that prefer gentler flavours and top quality ingredients.

Of all the 3 dishes we had today including mực hấp hình thơm (steamed squid in pineapple shape) and chả tôm trên cành quất (shrimp balls on tangerine tree), my peasant palate like this pork leg soup the most.

 

Madame Ha's Tinh Gia Vien restaurant serves regular Vietnamese dishes. Imperial dishes need prior arrangements due to the time required to make them (as you saw). You can make your arrangements through Nguyen Ngoc An of Connect Travel.

When you come to Tinh Gia Vien restaurant for Hue's imperial cuisine, you will taste and learn about Hue's rich culture and history. More importantly, you will also be helping to preserve this intangible world heritage.



Restaurant name: Tinh Gia Vien
Address: 7 Kiet 28 Lê Thánh Tôn, Phú Hậu, Thành phố Huế, Thừa Thiên Huế, Vietnam
Tel: +84 234 3522 243
Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm



Date visited: 3 Mar 2020