Phở is a spicy ginger and beef soup and was invented in North Vietnam in the 1880’s. It is a cross between French and Chinese cooking. The rice noodles and spices are from China but it was the French that taught the Vietnamese to eat red meat. The name is believed to be a corruption of the French soup called “pot au feu.”
The dish moved south in the 1950’s when the country was divided into two following the defeat of the French and as it traveled it picked up more and different ingredients along the way. Following the fall of Saigon many Vietnamese, including the family of my nephew’s wife, fled to the US bringing the dish with them.
Ben & Thuy
Today it seems as though there are Phở restaurants on just about every street corner in California. There are three really good ones within a quarter mile of my house.
Cooking Phở is an art and eating it is a wonderful ritual.
For the broth you will need:
2 medium yellow onions (about 1 pound total)
4-inch piece ginger (about 4 ounces)
5-6 pounds beef soup bones (marrow and knuckle bones)
5 star anise (40 star points total)
6 whole cloves
3-inch cinnamon stick
1 pound piece of beef chuck, rump, brisket or cross rib roast, cut into 2-by-4-inch pieces (weight after trimming)
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 ounce (1-inch chunk) yellow rock sugar
(duong phen).
Star Anise
Start with the onions and ginger. Use an open flame on a grill or gas stove. Place the onions and ginger on the cooking grate and let the skin burn. (If using a stove, turn on the exhaust fan and open a window.) After about 15 minutes, they will soften and become sweetly fragrant. Use tongs to occasionally rotate them and to grab and discard any flyaway onion skin. You do not have to blacken entire surface, just enough to slightly cook onion and ginger.
Let cool. Under warm water, remove the charred onion skin; trim and discard blackened parts of root or stem ends. If ginger skin is puckered and blistered, smash ginger with the flat side of knife to loosen flesh from skin. Otherwise, use sharp paring knife to remove the skin, running ginger under warm water to wash off blackened bits. Set aside.
Be sure to use good quality beef bones, knuckle or leg bones that contain marrow for a preference. Ask your butcher to cut them into two or three inch sections. Avoid neck bones.
Vietnamese cooks take great pride in producing a clear broth and a cloudy one is considered a great embarrassment. To avoid this shame parboil your bones first as this greatly reduces the amount of residue in the broth. Place the bones in a large stockpot (12-quart minimum) and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a boil over high heat and boil vigorously for 2 to 3 minutes. Dump bones, water and all into the sink and rinse the bones with warm water. Be sure to quickly scrub the pot to remove any residue. Return the bones to the pot. Don’t worry about discarding the water from this initial boiling, the flavor is still in the bones.
Add 6 quarts of water to pot, bring to boil over high heat and then lower the heat and simmer. Skim any scum from the surface of the broth with a ladle and then add the remaining ingredients and cook for 1 ½ hours until the meat is slightly chewy but not tough. When the meat is cooked remove it and place it in a bowl of cold water for 10 minutes to prevent it from drying up and turning dark as it cools. Drain the meat, cool and refrigerate. Continue cooking the broth, simmering gently for a total of three hours. Refrigerate the broth over night and then skim the fat from the top.
Next day reheat the broth and taste adjusting flavor with additional salt, fish sauce and yellow rock sugar. The broth should taste slightly too strong because the noodles and other ingredients are not salted. Dilute with additional water if you have gone too far.
Now comes the serving ritual and everything needs to be properly assembled before hand to ensure that all goes smoothly. Although Phở can be served in any soup bowl the best results are had by using large and deep ones.
Have ready for the bowls:
Rick stick noodles.
1 1/2-2 pounds small (1/8-inch wide) dried or fresh
banh pho noodles ("rice sticks'' or Thai
chantaboon)
1/2 pound raw eye of round, sirloin, London broil or tri-tip steak, very thinly sliced across the grain (1/16 inch thick; freeze for 15 minutes to make it easier to slice)
1 medium yellow onion, sliced paper-thin, left to soak for 30 minutes in a bowl of cold water
3 or 4 scallions, green part only, cut into thin rings
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
(ngo)
Ground black pepper
Exotic variations:
If you have a good Asian butcher shop near by (and who doesn’t) you can buy white cords of beef tendon
(gan). It should be served raw (don’t worry it will be cooked later).
Another not to be missed variation is book tripe
(sach) which should be washed and gently squeezed dry. Slice it thinly to make fringe-like pieces which can be added to the bowl during assembly.
Optional garnishes arranged on a plate and placed at the table:
Sprigs of spearmint
(hung lui) and Asian/Thai basil
(hung que)
Leaves of thorny cilantro
(ngo gai)
Bean sprouts (about 1/2 pound)
Red hot chilies (such as Thai bird or dragon), thinly sliced
Lime wedges
There are two schools when it comes to the meat. Some Americans prefer for the meat to be cooked in advance but for the best, and most authentic, results it should be brought to the table raw and cooked by the diners themselves, each in their own bowl. Either way it should be emphasized that the meat should be sliced paper thin.
If you are using dried noodles they should be blanched in a large (3 to 4 quart) sauce pan of boiling water very briefly (10-20 seconds) until they have lost their stiffness. Use a long-handle strainer to blanch a portion of the noodles at a time pulling the strainer from the water as soon as they are ready and placing them in the empty serving bowls, filling each about ¼ to 1/3 full.
Bean sprouts can be blanched the same way as the noodles if you desire. Cook for no more than 30 seconds so that they retain their crunch. Some people prefer to let the final broth do the cooking and serve the sprouts raw.
Now, place slices of meat (cooked or raw) and tendon (if you are using it) on top of the noodles and garnish with onion, scallion, chopped cilantro and black pepper to taste. A word here on the tendon. If you haven’t tried this you should, it is great! It is best if it is slightly crunchy.
The broth is now brought to a rolling boil and then ladled into each bowl being careful to distribute the hot liquid evenly so as to cook the raw beef and warm the other ingredients. This is why it is so important to have the meat very thin since it cooks almost instantly in the hot liquid.
Do not dive in just yet. For one thing you will burn your mouth and for another you will miss the wonderful fragrance of the fully assembled soup. Relax and savor the experience. When the broth has cooled to a comfortable level pass the garnish plate and enjoy.
The recipe makes 8 satisfying (American-sized) bowls
