BEST WAY TO MAKE VIETNAMESE PHO

How Long Does It Take To Cook Pho?

You know how when you asked the Pho restaurants how long it takes to cook their broth? And they would tell you \”2 days!\” or \”48 hrs\”? THAT IS A MYTH! I cringed when I hear people say that authentic pho takes 2 days to make the broth or some ridiculous amount of time to do so. Perhaps back in the old days when they just invented pho? Which was when Vietnam was under French colonization. Back then they don\’t have gas stove like we do now, which they had to cook using wood or coal (most likely wood). So taking 1 whole day just to get a huge pot of water to boil is probably the case when they said it takes them a couple days to make the broth, considering the 2nd day is butchering the cow itself. Don\’t take that as a fact though, it is my assumption where this \”2 day\” broth making time came from when Vietnamese restaurant tells people that it takes them THAT long to make the broth. I can tell you that it takes only 3 hours to make a perfectly good broth from scratch with today\’s kitchen standards. While there are a few different methods that I personally use to cook pho depending on how big of a crowd I am cooking it for. I will show you the following recipe to cook the BEST and FASTEST pho you\’ll EVER had. (4-5 servings) The more the servings you make, the more complicated it gets and the longer the prep time depending on your kitchen appliance that are available to you.

The Best Pho Recipe?

There\’s a lot of recipes and videos out there that teaches you the \”correct\” way of making pho; most of whom aren\’t even vietnamese! Not that I have anything against non-Vietnamese people cooking pho, but the taste pallet of a Vietnamese person who grew up eating pho most of their lives, should know better on how a good bowl of pho should taste like compared to those pallet of people of different ethnicity. With that being said, I am 100% Vietnamese, so you can certainly trust me on this recipe. I\’ve cooked and experimented countless times to find the perfect way to cook Beef Pho.

What is the Difference between Pho in the United States compared to Pho in Vietnam?

Traditional Vietnamese Pho have A LOT of Monosodium-Glutamate (MSG), it is one of their main ingredients when cooking. Recently, the health trend forces home cooks to NOT use MSG. They turn to using chicken broth seasoning or vegetables broth seasoning (most which still have MSG but in less abundant). Almost ALL restaurants add an abundant amount of (MSG) in their broth while using minimal beef bones, subbing chicken bones to make the broth. Hence the broth you see at the restaurants are clear and translucent. Since we use Ox-tail, the broth will not be translucent, but it is rich in flavor.

Pho, as served in Vietnam. One key difference when compared to pho in the States is the rice noodles. The rice noodles are freshly made and delivered to the local restaurants and shops early morning. Most people in the states refer to this type of pho to be Northen Vietnam Pho (Pho Bac or Pho Ha Noi).

Leftover Pho Broth

The Pho broth is THE BEST left over! The broth flavor builds up over night and when you heat it back up the next day, it is WAY better than the day before. But be cautious, heating the broth over and over again will make the broth more salty each time. That\’s why it is important to NOT over season the broth the first day otherwise your broth will be super salty the next day. You can always add more fish sauce or hoisin sauce in your PHO bowl when you eat if you wish it to be more salty flavor. Most likely you will have leftover broth. Make sure once you turn off the heat, don\’t touch or stir the broth back up, this will cause your broth to spoil more easily. Let it sit and cool down to room temperature before putting it in the fridge. If your fridge is not big enough, make sure you transfer the remaining leftover broth to a smaller container or pot and let cool. If you cover the broth when it is still warm and put in the fridge, it will spoil!

Here is the list of ingredients as well as a list of \”tools\” you need to make the fastest and best Pho:

Tools:

• PRESSURE COOKER (this will reduce your cooking time and bring out the flavor of your broth)
• Spice strainer pod
• Noodle strainer
• Big pot for broth (10qt – 16qt pot will be good for 4-5 servings, remember there\’s going to be bulky bones and vegetables, so 10qt pot will yield 6qt broth only)
• Other obvious essentials: knives, broth scoop, etc.

Ingredients:

• 3-4lbs Ox tail (try to pick the pieces that are smaller with more bones so that the broth will be more flavorful)
• Your choice of beef steaks (slice thin)(tell your butcher to slice thin for you)(restaurants use round eye steaks for their rare steak pho. If you like lean steak then that is perfect. I like mines to be tender and more beefy flavor so I usually go with ribeye steak or flank steak. You can experiment with your favorite cut of steaks. Just make sure to slice thin.)
• Beef meatballs (optional)
• 2 can chicken broth (make sure read the labels, choose the ones with no MSG)
• 2 can vegetable broth (choose ones with no MSG)
• 1 large Daikon radish
• 6 large yellow onions (yes 6, trust me it will make your broth more mellow sweet)
• 2 large piece ginger root (.5lbs)
• rock sugar (NOT granulated sugar)
• Salt to taste
• Chicken/vegetable seasoning (different brands have different taste.)
• Fish sauce to taste (there\’s different brands of fish sauce, some more saltier and subtle than the other, I use different brand depending if I am cooking it in a broth or for marinade, or making a dipping sauce, etc. For pho, I use: THIS fish sauce)
• Fresh pho Noodles (In Vietnam, this noodle is actually use for Hu Tieu, not pho. But many Vietnamese restaurant use this noodles here for pho as well as this same noodle for Hu Tieu, so it was branded as being the noodles to use for Pho in the States. Supposedly the correct noodle to use for the exact fit to traditional Pho noodle is the thin, flat, rice noodles they used to make Pad Thai. But unfortunately they don\’t offer that noodles in fresh form in most supermarkets yet. I did however CAN find it, but we are so used to eating the other noodles here in the state as a substitute that it became the norm for me.) You can try finding a dried pho noodles which you follow the instruction on the package to prepare that noodle for pho. This dried noodle is the closest to resembling the pho rice noodles that are used in Vietnam. That package looks something like THIS.
• Bean sprouts (garnish)
• Green Onions (garnish)
• White Onions (garnish)
• Thai basils (garnish)
• Fresh Cilantro (or chinese cilantro) (garnish)
• Lime
• Hoisin Sauce
• Siracha
• 6oz Star anise
• 6 oz cinnamon sticks
• 6 oz coriander (cilantro seeds)
• 2 oz black cardamom (can do without)
• 2 oz cloves (can do without)
• 2 oz fennel seeds (can do without)

The last 3 ingredients, you can probably do without. Traditional pho in Vietnam don\’t use these 3 ingredients. Pho restaurants in the States however, do use it. So if you want to have the fragrance like in the states, add the bottom 3 ingredients. The fragrance of the Pho I had in Vietnam is more of cilantro and star anise. Cloves, black cardamom, and fennels are chinese ingredients. They add a stronger and more punctual smell. I prefer the traditional method. If there\’s a Vietnamese supermarket in your area, you can probably buy a packet of the already mixed spice ingredients to make your life easier. It looks something like THIS. 1 pack is probably good for a 10 qt pot.

Instructions:

Is Pho Worth The Time to Cook?

Is pho worth it to cook at home? Heck yeah! Once you had the perfect home cooked pho, the restaurant\’s Pho will not fully satisfy your cravings. You can add in beef bones if you want a stronger beef flavor, but that will probably take at least 4-6 hr cooking time to extract the flavor from the dense bones. Clear broth only uses bones that does not have any red meat. The red meat has blood stains, hence it will make the broth murky in color.

The BEST way to actually cook pho is to EXPERIMENT yourself! Like everything else, you\’ll get better the more you go at it. Know the basic and just add your own flare, such as… seafood pho, chicken pho, etc. I hope this recipe will be the last recipe you will need to help you make the perfect bowl of PHO for you and your family!

Eat, Love, & Live Happy.

ChefQ (Donny Nguyen)