Vietnam has an estimated 3,000 dishes. Of these, some 1,700 originate from Hue, the culinary capital of Vietnam. It is no accident that Hue cuisine has such an immerse influence in the country - for 143 years Hue was the imperial capital of Vietnam, the seat of the Nguyen dynasty, the home of 13 emperors of Vietnam (till the last, Emperor Bao Dai abdicated the throne in 1945).
The Nguyen emperors were gourmands with pretty picky palates. According to legend, Emperor Tu Duc (1847-1883) had his morning tea made from the morning dew collected drop by drop daily at dawn from lotus pads floating on the lake in the Citadel.
Despite their opulence, the Nguyen Emperors were open to food from their realm beyond the Citadel walls. So, Hue cuisine consists of both ẩm thực cung đình "imperial dishes" which were created within the Citadel and ẩm thực hoàng gia "royal dishes" which were peasant dishes from beyond the palace walls but enjoyed by the Emperor and his court.
The three requisites of Hue imperial cuisine - dishes fit for the emperor must be delicious, health fortifying, and pleasing to his eyes.
The thing about Hue imperial cuisine is the ingredients are fresh and easily available from land and sea around the Perfume River and East Vietnam Sea where the imperial city is located i.e. the Nguyen emperors had no fetish for imported exotica. In fact, they detest foreign presence, so for example, we do not see a strong French influence in Hue imperial or royal cuisine. Non, banh mi merci beaucoup.
Each of the emperor's meals consists of 35 to 50 dishes prepared by 50 chefs (all handpicked from the best in the realm). The royal kitchen is led by the Thượng Thiện Đội - a sort of
Each imperial dish must embody the principles of Fengshui and is well balanced in Ying and Yang elements. Every meal which consists of many dishes must feature “bát trân” which means eight treasures or eight auspicious dishes. These were peacock spring rolls, phoenix meat pie, rhino skin, bear paw, deer tendon, orangutan lips, elephant feet, and swallow’s nest. The eight dishes were served together in a box of gold, with each dish in its own bowl or plate.
Hue imperial cuisine preparation and presentation are extremely tedious and labour intensive. The stunning beauty of dishes is one of its hallmarks. It is edible art with great effort in vegetable and fruit carving. Hue imperial cuisine were designed to please the Emperor's eyes. Let his eyes feast on it, before the food reaches his tongue.
It's great that we can still enjoy both imperial and royal Hue cuisine today. Hue is, of course, the best place in
Prawn Balls (Chả Tôm Trên Cành Quất). Just live shrimps, de-shelled, de-veined, mashed, soaked in coconut water, mixed with pork lard, seasoning, hand rolled into tangerine size balls. Cooked by steaming. The cooked prawn balls are skewered with a skinny stick, egg washed and grilled so that they look like orange colour tangerines.
But, you can't serve food to the Emperor without it looking special. So, the prawn balls are served on a tangerine tree, planted on twigs. To eat it, just pluck it off the tree - yeah, like tangerine off a tree. The tender slightly springy prawn balls tasted just mildly savoury sweet but the tangerine tree presentation made it unforgettable.
Pork Leg Soup (Giò Lợn Ninh). A large pork leg is deboned and its meat and skin separated, leaving a long sheath of skin like a stocking. The bone is used to boil soup with spices including black pepper. Nguyen royals seemed to like a bit of mild peppery heat in their dishes.
The meat from the leg is chopped up, mixed with lotus seeds, glass noodles, egg fungus, dried fig, seasoning like black pepper etc. One of the hallmarks of Hue imperial cuisine is intimate knowledge of the Emperor's tastebuds. The ingredients were finely tuned to his palate using seasoning during preparation. The chef will not be able to rescue a dish with salt, pepper, sauces etc once it was served!
All these are stuffed into the "stocking", stitched, tied with straw, wrapped in muslin cloth, and cooked by steaming. When cooked, the stuffed pork leg is served in a large bowl together with the pork bone soup (prepared separately). For the Emperor, it is served with lotus flowers made of carved onions.
I love the natural tasting savoury sweetness of the pork leg which has a subtle complementary pepperiness.
Cuttlefish in a Pineapple (Mực Hấp Hình Thơm). A large cuttlefish, gutted, its tentacles and head chopped up, wrapped in banana leaf, and cooked by steaming. The cuttlefish body is flipped inside out and deeply scored with a sharp knife.
The cooked tentacles is then stuffed into the body. The stuffed cuttlefish is stitched up and cooked by steaming. During the steaming, the body is egg washed several times to give it the golden yellow colour of pineapple.
Presented as a pineapple, the stuffed cuttlefish is served in slices. Nice chewy mildly savoury sweet flavours again with a mild pepperiness.
After observing the preparation and tasting these 3 imperial dishes, I am in awe and my appetite is whetted for more Hue cuisine. The elaborate vegetable / fruit carvings might be a little over the top and even garish for contemporary tastes but it lets me experience the emperor's world through his view of what is considered beautiful during his time.
The flavours were on the mild side, even bland to modern palates exposed to flavours from around the world. The Nguyen emperors have gentle palates and preferred the natural flavours of fresh ingredients. Actually, that's how I like my food to taste too.
Naturally, imperial dishes are rarely served in Hue today. Imperial cuisine is not commercially viable in today's context as they are not scalable (never intended to be anyway). Imperial cuisine are made today only for demonstration purposes or for special banquets, though some restaurants do serve watered down versions.
One place where we can still get authentic Hue imperial dishes is at Tinh Gia Vien restaurant. Owner chef Tôn Nữ Thị Hà and daughter chef Phan Tôn Gia Hiền are committed to the preservation and promotion of Hue imperial cuisine. Thanks to them, all of us have a chance to taste Hue authentic imperial cuisine today.
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 (imperial dishes required prior arrangement)
Our visit to Tinh Gia Vien restaurant was arranged by Nguyen Ngoc An of Connect Travel.
References:
Viet Nam News
Date: 3 Mar 2020
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