How to cook Vietnamese Beef Soup PHỞ BÒ

PHỞ BÒ

looks like a relatively harmless bowl of beef noodle soup.

That is, until you take your first slurp.

The Pho soup broth is everything. It’s light yet full of flavour, deceptively beefy, savoury, complex, has the tiniest hint of richness and is filled with beautiful spices like cinnamon.

It is, without question, one of The Best Soups in the whole world!

Experience the magic of one of the largest noodle soups in the world with this easy-to-follow traditional Vietnamese Pho recipe! The process from the very beginning to the "signature" broth, which is light and at the same time full of flavor, is filled with spices such as cinnamon, star anise and cardamom. The soup is completely addictive and each spoon will give you more!

Recipe from Nagi, RecipeTinEats

For: 6 people / 6 servings

Preparation: 20 min, cooking: 3 h. total: 3 h 20 min.

Ingredients

AROMATICS:

• 2 large onions , halved
• 150g / 5oz ginger , sliced down the centre

SPICES:

• 10 star anise
• 4 cinnamon quills
• 4 cardamon pods
• 3 cloves (the spice cloves!)
• 1.5 tbsp coriander seeds

SEASONING:

• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 1 tbsp salt
• 40 ml / 3 tbsp fish sauce 

BEEF BONES:

• 1.5kg / 3lb beef brisket
• 1kg / 2lb meaty beef bones
• 1kg / 2lb marrow bones (leg, knuckle), cut to reveal marrow
• 3.5 litres / 3.75 quarts water (15 cups)

NOODLE SOUP - PER BOWL:

• 50g / 1.5 oz dried rice sticks (or 120g/4oz fresh) (Note 3)
• 30g / 1 oz beef tenderloin, raw, very thinly sliced (Note 4)
• 3 - 5 brisket slices (used for broth)

TOPPINGS:

• Beansprouts, handful
• Thai basil, 3 - 5 sprigs
• Coriander/cilantro, 3 - 5 sprigs (or more basil)
• Lime wedges 
• Finely sliced red chilli 
• Hoisin sauce 
• Sriracha (for spiciness)

Instructions

AROMATICS

• Heat a heavy based skillet over high heat (no oil) until smoking.
• Place onion and ginger in pan cut side down. Cook for a few minutes until it's charred, then turn. Remove and set aside.
• Toast Spices lightly in a dry skillet over medium high heat for 3 minutes. 

REMOVE IMPURITIES:

• Rinse bones & brisket then cover with water in large stock pot.
• Boil for 5 minutes, then drain.
• Rinse each bone and brisket under tap water.

BROTH:

• Wipe pot clean, bring 3.5 litres / 3.75 quarts water to boil.
• Add bones and brisket, onion, ginger, Spices
• Add onion, ginger, Spices, sugar and salt - water should just barely cover everything.
• Cover with lid, simmer 3 hours.
• Remove brisket (should be fall-apart tender), cool then refrigerate for later.
• Simmer remaining soup UNCOVERED for 40 minutes.
• Strain broth into another pot, discard bones and spices. Should be about 2.5 litres / 2.65 quarts (10 cups), if loads more, reduce.
• Add fish sauce, adjust salt and sugar if needed. Broth should be beefy, fragrant with spices, savoury and barely sweet.

ASSEMBLE:

• Prepare rice noodles per packet, just prior to serving.
• Place noodles in bowl. Top with raw beef and brisket.
• Ladle over about 400 / 14 oz hot broth - will cook beef to medium rare.
• Serve with Toppings on the side!

How to serve Pho

The classic way to serve Pho is with:

• rice noodles – fresh or dry;
• thinly sliced raw beef that cooks to a perfect medium rare when the hot broth is ladled over.
• piles of bean sprouts, Thai basil and coriander/cilantro on the side – help yourself as you eat the pho
• lime wedges
• hoisin sauce and sriracha (or other chilli sauce).

Video recipe