lan hue: i feel so clumsy, it it s been a while! anthony: fold it over? lan hue: no, it s just anthony: oh, it just mmm! oh, this is great. lan hue: this is so nostalgic to me. when i was younger, every noon my mom asked me to take a noon nap. and say, if you take a noon nap then i will buy you some banh. and i would sit there in front of our house waiting for her. anthony: waiting! lan hue: yeah, waiting for her. with a dish, an empty dish waiting for her. she would come and then my mom would buy it for me. you do have the style. anthony: yeah. lan hue: at the end of the meal we see who eats the most. like anthony: oh, so you have a stack, that s hue style? good, i m glad i m fitting in here. lan hue: yeah. mmm-hmm. anthony: ooh, what are they eating in the banana leaf? are we having one of those too? lan hue: yep. we have everything. anthony: oh good, okay. i don t want to leave anything out here. oh yeah, there s banh bot loc, made of cassava or t
the menus of the 19th century imperial palaces boasted new dishes every night. small, flavorful, and beautifully presented. and that culinary tradition which gave hue its reputation as a food capital continues today. how much of that persists, those imperial roots, that uh, need for variety? nguyen qui duc: yes, the tradition has stayed and will stay forever here, to cook all these different things all the time. anthony: we start with bird s nest soup, a delicacy to which i am usually immune. this one is unusually flavorful. these are swallow s nests from high up on cliffs, near nha trang. they re soaked in water, cooked in chicken stock, and served with crabmeat. lotus seeds, a symbol of purity, nobility, and patience from a nearby lake. steam. crab roe is mixed with red onion, pepper, and seasoning and added to the soup.
hue s place in history, long regarded as the heart of the imperial dynasty, changed forever during the vietnam war. in 1968 hue became the site of some of the most bitter fighting of the war. during the lunar new year, the tet holidays, when usually there was a cessation of hostilities, over 100 cities all over south vietnam were attacked by the north vietnamese and vc. hue quickly fell. you have seen these images. it was footage like this that turned finally a great part of the american public against the war. the u.s. marines fought house to
unbelievable. it s very cold and wet. that s why we have chili to keep us warm. anthony: boi tran spoils all of us with a succession of dishes. but the past, as it often does in a place like this, intrudes. nguyen qui duc: hue, it s dealt with a lot of suffering. the people in hue are very withdrawn in some ways. jean-francoi hubert: smiling, but of course they remember everything. they have to remember the war in 1968. nguyen qui duc: i was visiting my grandfather s house, and i got goosebumps. because i knew during the war in 1968 lots of people were killed, and they were buried on all the sidewalks there. and i walk around there and i feel it. it s dark, it s somber. and the history is there.
out here, there are a lot of dishes like this. fill a chicken with lemongrass, wrap it in banana leaves, then cover it with the muddy clay from the nearby rice paddies. cook in the coals or a pile of burning straw, if you like. unwrap carefully, tableside. section with shears. lan hue: it smells so good. makes me hungry. anthony: serve with a little lime and salt, maybe some chili sauce. squash, bitter melon, and morning glory greens for veggies. mmm! that s good. some unexpected last words. ngu quoc thanh: on behalf of people in hue, thank you for your coming. anthony: thank you for having me. ngu quoc thanh: we wish you would have a blessed trip, safe and sound and success. anthony: thank you. ngu quoc thanh: i learned many things from american. i still remember some poems such as stopping by woods on a snowy