Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup with a fragrant beef broth, rice noodles, and fresh herbs and garnishes. Making pho involves simmering beef bones and meat with spices and aromatics to create a rich broth, then assembling the soup with cooked noodles, slices of beef (often added raw to cook in hot broth), and fresh toppings like bean sprouts, basil, lime, and chilies. Here is a basic outline to make authentic beef pho:
Making the broth
- Start by blanching beef bones and beef chuck in boiling water for 5 minutes, then discard that water to get a clean broth.
- Char ginger and onions over an open flame until lightly blackened and fragrant.
- In a clean stockpot, add fresh water, bones, charred ginger and onions, scallions, fish sauce, and rock sugar.
- Toast spices such as star anise, cloves, cinnamon stick, cardamom, fennel seeds, and coriander seeds, then place them in cheesecloth and add to the broth.
- Simmer gently for several hours (often 4-6 hours), skimming off any impurities and fat.
- During the simmering, add salt and adjust seasoning with more fish sauce or sugar to taste.
Preparing the noodles and beef
- Cook rice noodles according to package instructions.
- Thinly slice beef (like sirloin) to be added raw to the bowl.
Assembling the pho
- Place cooked noodles in a bowl.
- Add slices of cooked beef chuck (from broth) and raw beef slices.
- Bring broth to a rolling boil and ladle it over the noodles and beef. The hot broth cooks the raw beef.
- Serve with garnishes like bean sprouts, Thai basil, cilantro, lime wedges, sliced chilies, hoisin sauce, and sriracha.
This process takes time mainly due to the long simmering for the broth, but it yields the iconic deep flavors of pho.
