Try this Paleo Pho Bone Broth recipe, or contribute your own.
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 stick
- 1-2 sweet onions
- 1 piece ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil
- 1-2 tablespoons salt
- 1 pounds bones ((beef ox tail, turkey necks, or a combination))
- 5 stars anise
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorn
- 1 teaspoon cardamom pods
- Carbohydrate 1.12933597187587 g
- Cholesterol 40.4916666666667 mg
- Fat 15.8086290268715 g
- Fiber 0.474175002343614 g
- Protein 0.636606389331212 g
- Saturated Fat 10.0169048048854 g
- Serving Size 1 1 -7 serving (103g)
- Sodium 572.540848161288 mg
- Sugar 0.655160969532253 g
- Trans Fat 1.1269946526837 g
- Calories 145 calories
Step-by-step
- Chop 1 or 2 onions in half. Chop 1 piece of ginger in half lengthwise.
- Broil onions and ginger in oven until charred - approximately 10 minutes. Be sure to have your fan on especially if you have a sensitive smoke detector.
- At the same time, combine all spices in a non-stick pan, cooking on low heat until they are fragrant - 3-4 minutes approximately. Do not over-cook as burnt spices can wreck everything.
- Turn Instant Pot on saute and wait for it to heat up (until display reads "hot"). Add some coconut oil and brown your bones. You will brown these bones on all sides (turn as needed).
- As you are doing this, boil water in kettle (this makes the process faster, but you’re free to do it all in the Instant Pot in the next step if you wish).
- Once your bones are browned, turn the Instant Pot off. Add boiled water, onions and ginger, spices and fish sauce, and salt to taste - probably 1-2 Tablespoons.
- Fill remainder of Instant Pot with boiled water to max line.
- Turn Instant Pot to “Manual†setting for 75 minutes and use a slow pressure release when finished.
- Strain and put into jars. You may want to freeze them and thaw as needed. Enjoy!
Fish sauce drives the foundational umami engine of this broth through its high concentration of free glutamate, which bonds with the gelatin released from the simmering bones to amplify savory perception on the palate. Without this fermented anchor, the liquid risks tasting thin and medicinal despite the heavy presence of aromatics. Chemistry dictates that free amino acids interact with salt during prolonged pressure cooking, intensifying the savory depth far beyond what plain water and animal collagen can achieve independently.
Charring the onions and ginger under the broiler triggers the Maillard reaction and subsequent caramelization, breaking complex carbohydrates down into simpler sugars while producing pyrazines and furans that impart a distinct smoke-forward aroma. This thermal degradation is necessary because raw alliums contain harsh sulfur compounds that taste sharp and astringent when undercooked. Subjecting the ginger and onions to high direct heat neutralizes those aggressive volatiles before they hit the extraction vessel.
Applying gentle dry heat to whole spices like star anise, fennel, and coriander releases essential oils trapped inside their seed coats, specifically anethole and eugenol, which are fat-soluble compounds. Toasting them in a dry pan for three to four minutes liquefies these aromatic oils, allowing them to disperse evenly through the liquid fat rendered from the ox tail or turkey necks. Overheating these seeds past the fragrant threshold destroys those delicate compounds, turning the flavor profile bitter and medicinal.
Vietnamese phở traditions rely on a careful balance of clarification and spice infusion, principles adapted here for a pressure cooker environment that accelerates extraction times from twelve hours down to seventy-five minutes. Sealing the chamber traps volatile compounds that normally escape into the kitchen during a traditional stovetop simmer, concentrating the medicinal spice notes into a potent stock base. Straining the final liquid through a fine-mesh sieve removes particulate matter, leaving a clear, gelatin-rich broth ready for immediate use or long-term freezing.
