Pho Bo — Vietnamese Soup
⏳ Time
3 hours 30 minutes
🥕 Ingredients
18
🍽️ Servings
6
Description
A recipe for authentic and delicious Vietnamese Pho Bo, slightly simplified by me to avoid a heroic kitchen disaster. Since there are many ingredients and it can be easy to get confused, I will divide the recipe into three sections: broth, bowl, and herbs. The final step will be to pour the broth over everything in the bowl and serve the herbs separately.
Ingredients
- Ground coriander - 1 bunch
- Beef Shank - 2 lbs
- Spanish onions - 2 heads
- Ginger - 3.5 oz
- Star anise - 5 pieces
- Clove - 6 pieces
- Cinnamon - 1 piece
- Salt - 1 tablespoon
- Fish Oil - 4 spoons
- Sugar - 1 tablespoon
- Rice Noodles - 10.6 oz
- Veal Tenderloin - 10.6 oz
- Scallions - to taste
- Mint - 1 bunch
- Fresh basil leaves - 1 bunch
- Mild Chili Spice - to taste
- Lime - 1 piece
- Peanut Sprouts - to taste
Step by Step guide
Step 1
CHAPTER 1. Broth. We wash the meat for the broth (shank), cover it with cold water, and place it on the heat.
Step 2
While the future broth is coming to a boil, prepare the onion and ginger: slice them into rounds about 1-1.5 cm thick and roast them over an open flame (set aside half an onion for the grand finale). If you don't know where to find an open flame, turn to your gas stove (yes, you'll have to sacrifice its cleanliness and place the slices directly on the burner, turning them occasionally until they soften slightly. A charred surface on the onion and ginger is not only acceptable but encouraged). If you don't have a gas stove, do the same in a dry skillet. In any case, don't forget to turn on the exhaust fan — the smoke will be thick. Let them cool for a bit, scrape off the blackened spots with a knife, and rinse them under water. And don't be alarmed — it's not as difficult or time-consuming as it seems.
Step 3
Skim off the foam from the boiling broth, then add the burnt rice, star anise, cloves, a whole stick of cinnamon, salt mixed with sugar, and fish sauce. Cover with a lid, reduce to low heat, and let it simmer for 1.5 hours.
Step 4
After 1.5 hours, we remove most of the meat (leaving the bones and remaining meat for another 1.5 hours). We soak what we've taken out in cold water for 10 minutes to prevent the meat from darkening and drying out. Set it aside until the next step. As you might have guessed, we did this to ensure the meat doesn't completely dissolve into something tasteless, allowing us to enjoy its flavor in the finished soup.
Step 5
Once the broth has been simmering for at least 3 hours, turn off the heat and strain it. Taste the broth—it should be slightly over-seasoned, with a touch of extra salt and a rich blend of spices. If it doesn't taste that way, feel free to add salt, sugar, or fish sauce. When we pour this broth over the fresh herbs and noodles, everything will come together beautifully.
Step 6
CHAPTER 2. Bowl. I prepare the contents of the bowl while the broth finishes cooking.
Step 7
Cook the rice noodles according to the instructions on the package. Since I usually prepare more than one or two servings, after boiling, I rinse them under cold water and twist them into portion-sized nests for convenience. I place one nest in each bowl.
Step 8
I slice the meat that we rescued from complete boiling and took out of the broth after an hour and a half into thin slices and place it in a bowl.
Step 9
Add the raw beef tenderloin, slightly frozen and sliced into the thinnest possible slices, to the mix. When we pour the scalding broth over everything, the pieces of tenderloin should change color, leaving a delicious pink center. It goes without saying that the meat should be of the highest quality. If you are unsure about its 100% kosher status, it's better to skip this point and add more cooked meat instead.
Step 10
CHAPTER 3. Herbs. The simplest one! Wash everything, detach the cilantro, mint, and basil from their stems (don't chop, keep everything large). Slice the green onion and lime into rings, and the onion into the thinnest slices. You can use dried or fresh chili, any color, and even a sauce (my favorite is sriracha). Place all of this on a separate plate, and when you've poured the results of Chapter Two over the results of Chapter One, sit down to savor it, generously dipping the herbs you like into the steaming, appetizing bowl.
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