My dad is a major hoarder! Everyday he would come home with bags and bags of goodies or junk. Most of the time it's just whatever cheap he can find from Big Lots or K-mart. One day he drag home five frozen ducks from Aldi, yes I'm talking about the discount supermarket chain. Apparently they were only $6 for a whole duck! That weekend I came home for a visit and sure enough my mom put out the duck to thaw. She boil the duck in water to make a broth for Bun Mang Vit while I used the meat to make Goi Vit. Yes we were all skeptical but it turn out fantastic. The meat was tender and juicy, so much better and cheaper than what we would find at Meijer or even the Asian store. My dad was very happy that we all enjoyed the duck, in fact early the next morning he went back to Aldi to buy whatever was left. Since my mom had enough duck to last the whole winter I couldn't help snatching a few to take back with me.
Bun Mang Vit is one of my mom's favorite soup, my mom is a soup person so she has a lot of favorites. I consider it to be an easier soup to make because there is less ingredients to work with and less preparation. The hardest part about making this soup is probably working with the duck. Whole duck have a lot of fat, it's best that you trim most of it out or the soup will be very heavy to eat. I don't have much experience butchering a duck either as you will see in my pictures. The broth is made by simmering a whole duck with smashed ginger root and sliced bamboo. I prefer using dried bamboo from Vietnam over fresh bamboo from the States. I compare dried bamboo to pasta because you can achieve a chewy "al dente" texture. The smell of fresh bamboo can be really strong and I don't want it to overwhelm the broth. The broth to this soup is very simple, similar to a chicken broth with hints of ginger and bamboo. I always make a bowl of gingered fish sauce for Bun Mang Vit, it's great to dip the meat in and a teaspoon in every bowl enhances the soup.Ingredients: (Makes about 4-5 bowls)
1/2 duck
1 lb of dried bamboo (don't use too much because it will expand)
1 large ginger
water
salt
mushroom seasoning
rock sugar (the size of your thumb)
fish sauce
vermicelli rice noodle
green onions
cilantro
bean sprout
1. Cut the bamboo into strips. Soak the dried bamboo in warm water, repeat this step 5-6 times.2. Wash the duck and cut out as much fast as you can. Place duck in a pot and the fill with water.
3. Add some salt and let it come to a boil. Remove as much scum as you can.
4. Peel the ginger and cut into smaller sections, save one section for later use. Smash the ginger sections in a mortar and pestle, this will bring out a lot of the juice. Add the smashed ginger to the pot and let the duck cook fully.
5. Once the duck is fully cook, remove and let it cool down.
6. Add rock sugar, salt, and mushroom seasoning to the broth.
7. Boil the bamboo in water, this will help soften the bamboo some more. The bamboo should be soft enough to bite into but still have a little bit of chewy. Some parts of the bamboo will still be extremely chewy even after you boil, just cut that part out. You will cook the bamboo some more in the broth so make sure you don't over boil it.
8. Cut the duck into smaller section. You can throw meat back into the broth but I like to have separate so I can eat it with the ginger fish sauce. I usually throw the bonier piece back into the pot.
9. Add the bamboo to the broth and 1 tablespoon of fish sauce.10. Mince the green onions and cilantro.
11. Wash the bean sprouts.
12. Prepare gingered fish sauce.
Ginger Fish Sauce:
1/2 lime
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
1/4 tablespoon of sugar
chili
1 section of ginger
1. I like to smash the ginger and chili together with a mortar and pestle.
2. Add the sugar, fish, sauce, and lime juice and mix.
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