how to make pho: recipe howcookingworks.com

Recipe available at http://www.howcookingworks.com/pho

Ingredients
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon coriander
1 cardamom pod
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp cloves
1 onion
4" ginger
5 lbs beef bones
1/3 cup fish sauce
1 block rock sugar
rice noodle (bun)

Tools
large stock pot

Directions
1. Turn the oven on to broil
2. Chop the onion in half
3. Skin the ginger and cut in half
4. Broil onion and ginger for 15 minutes
5. Briefly toast all of the spices for a minute
6. Fill the stock pot full of water
7. Bring to a boil
8. Add the bones into the hot water for 10 minutes (parboil)
9. Drain the water
10. Fill astock pot with cold water with the bones
11. Put the fennel seeds, cardamom, coriander, and star anise in a tea container.
12. Add the tea container to the pot
13. Add fish sauce
14. Add rock sugar
15. Add the cinnamon stick
16. Skim the fat
17. Simmer for 3 hours

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• pho
• recipe
• beef
• broth
• how
• to
• cook
• vietnamese
• tai
• noodle

[kimjack1000]

hi, thanks a lot for the video... i more or less followed your recipe to the tee with probably some very important exceptions.

I don't have a broiler, so i put my oven on broil and charred the spices for 10 minutes, and instead of your 3 hours, i simmered it for double that, 6 hours, in the hopes of more flavor.

Honestly, the pho came out great (not my first time, probably more like my 15th time)... my pho usually ends up looking VERY brown...

Is this cause I char everything too much?

[howcookingworks]

@kimjack1000 So when you describe not great, what do you feel is it lacking (no enough salt, no enough fish sauce, not gelatanious enough?) People sometimes add too much water, so to correct that is to boil the stock down, to reduce it and concentrate the flavor, or add more salt and fish sauce to bring up the flavor profile. Most of the time is added more fish sauce to solve problems.

[angelinejn]

Thanks for the recipe! Can I add msg to this? If so how much would u recommend? Thanks :)

[howcookingworks]

@angelinejn you could add msg, although personally i prefer to add just salt. If you do, just a tad.  You don't want to overwhelm the flavors.

[epineg1]

I tried your recipe with pork ribs instead of beef bones because beef bones, knuckle or shank bones were unavailable. When I ate it the pho tasted flavorless even though when I tasted the soup it was salty. What can I use as a substitute for beef bones would like t-bone steaks work?

[howcookingworks]

@epineg1 When making a beef stock, you pretty much have to use beef bones. What happens is as the bones cook, the gelatin comes out of the bones and goes into the stock. With a piece of meat for example, that doesn't really happen (so a t-bone would not work).

[cryogenikz]

wow the ginger is invisible

[cnnguyen2784]

@kimjack1000

Too much heat when simmering will make the the broth looking brown.

We owned a Pho Soup Kitchen in Saigon in 1955-58 (After moving from Ha Noi in 1955). I remember the broth was simmered with bone over night at very low heat (close to boiling).

We had two pots . Each pot is about 10 to 20 gallons (about 40 to 80 liters).

Now in USA, I use 8 quart slow cooker to set @ Low for overnight. Broth comes out fairly good.

[xoxSexyLaoxox]

Deng. This way is authentic and healthier. Exactly how they make it in the restaurant n in my mamas kitchen!! Thanks bunches for sharing!!!

[ironchopsticks]

who knew cows had knuckles?

[mirri97]

I only learn how to cook other Asian dishes through youtube. And your vid is a great help. Thank you.

[gabeuop79]

@cryogenikz - - you can only find that invisible ginger at asian supermarkets. very hard to find otherwise...

[EPIIIX]

i have that bowl.

[johnsoncody17]

Damn thats a lot of work for a broth...

[heapner]

Way to complicated! There's better videos on youtube.

[mariasalas0440]

what up with the ginger........

[REMIX8604]

how much beef knuckle should i use per gallon of water? is it 2 pounds beef knuckle per one gallon?