Pho

Ingredients

Broth

• 2 kgbeef leg and knuckle bones, split
• 500 goxtail
• 800 gbeef brisket in one piece
• 2large onions, unpeeled and halved
• 1 pieceginger, 100 g, unpeeled and halved lengthways
• 5 litrescold water
• 2 tbspfish sauce
• 40 gyellow rock sugar
• 2 tbspfine sea salt

Spice sachet

• 5star anise
• 1cassia bark stick, 8 cm
• 1black cardamom pod, cracked
• 5cloves
• 1 tbspcoriander seed
• 1 tspfennel seed

Bowls

• 600 gfresh flat rice noodles (banh pho), or 350 g dried
• 300 gbeef eye round, frozen 30 min then sliced paper thin
• 4spring onions, sliced into thin rings
• 1small onion, sliced wafer thin and soaked 10 min in cold water
• 1 handfulcoriander, chopped
• freshly ground black pepper

Table (southern style)

• bean sprouts, Thai basil, sawtooth herb, lime wedges, sliced chilli

Directions

1. Cover the bones and oxtail with cold water, bring to a rolling boil for 10 minutes, then dump the water and scrub every bone under the tap. This parboil is what makes the finished broth clear.
2. Char the onion and ginger directly on a gas flame or under a hot grill for 8 to 10 minutes, turning, until blackened in patches and sweet-smelling; scrape off the loose ash.
3. Return the clean bones to the pot with 5 litres of cold water, bring slowly to a bare simmer and skim the grey foam obsessively for the first 30 minutes.
4. Add the charred aromatics, the salt and the brisket. Hold the pot at the barest tremble, never a boil, for 6 hours; a boiling pot emulsifies fat and turns the broth cloudy and muddy.
5. Toast the spices in a dry pan for 2 minutes until they smell of aniseed and warm bark, tie them in muslin and drop the sachet in for the last 90 minutes only, so the star anise perfumes without turning medicinal.
6. Lift the brisket out after about 2 hours, when a skewer meets slight resistance, cool it in cold water and refrigerate; slice thinly across the grain when cold.
7. Strain the broth through muslin, skim the fat, then season with fish sauce and rock sugar until it tastes rounded and savoury on its own, slightly saltier than you want, since the noodles are unsalted.
8. Soften the noodles in boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds, shake bone dry and drop into hot bowls; the noodles must be hot or they will chill the broth.
9. Lay the raw eye round slices over the noodles with the cooked brisket, scatter spring onion, soaked onion and coriander, and grind over black pepper.
10. Bring the broth back to a hard boil and ladle it over from a height, so it flushes the bowl and cooks the raw beef to pink in seconds. Serve at once.

Technique

• Hanoi pho bac is spare, salty and clear, garnished with nothing but spring onion; Saigon pho nam is sweeter and comes with a plate of sprouts and basil. Neither is a compromise, they are two dishes with one name.
• Rock sugar is not there to sweeten but to round the edges of the salt. Add it a lump at a time and taste.
• Never boil the finished broth with the spice sachet in it. Star anise held at a boil for hours goes bitter and takes over everything.
• Pho ga, the chicken version, uses the same charred aromatics but a lighter spice hand and a two-hour simmer.

Substitutions

• No rock sugar: use half the weight in palm sugar. If you cannot get fresh banh pho, dried flat rice sticks work, but soak them in cold water for an hour first and cook only 10 seconds.

Variations

• Pho tai nam: rare eye round plus flank, the standard order.
• Pho sot vang: Hanoi’s red-wine beef stew version, eaten in winter.
• Pho cuon: the same broth ingredients rolled cold in fresh rice sheets, a Truc Bach speciality.

History

Emerged around Nam Dinh and Hanoi in the early twentieth century, joining French demand for beef with Chinese noodle soup; it spread south after 1954.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pho?

Pho is a soup & stew from Vietnam: beef or chicken rice-noodle soup in star-anise scented broth. Emerged around Nam Dinh and Hanoi in the early twentieth century, joining French demand for beef with Chinese noodle soup; it spread south after 1954.

How long does Pho take to make?

Pho takes 40 min of preparation and 6 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 4 large bowls. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Pho?

Yes, within limits. No rock sugar: use half the weight in palm sugar. If you cannot get fresh banh pho, dried flat rice sticks work, but soak them in cold water for an hour first and cook only 10 seconds.

What is the most important thing to get right in Pho?

Add the charred aromatics, the salt and the brisket. Hold the pot at the barest tremble, never a boil, for 6 hours; a boiling pot emulsifies fat and turns the broth cloudy and muddy.