Homemade Vietnamese Pho Recipe
Making your own fabulous bowl of Vietnamese pho at home is not hard, all you need is a straightforward recipe, a few secrets and a nice big stockpot. We realize our recipe may look daunting, but this is quite simple to do and there is a lot of inactive time while you wait for the broth.
Making your own fabulous bowl of Vietnamese pho at home is not hard, all you need is a straightforward recipe, a few secrets and a nice big stockpot. We realize our recipe may look daunting, but this is quite simple to do and there is a lot of inactive time while you wait for the broth.
- 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
- lime wedges
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
- fish sauce
- 2 medium onions quartered
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
- 6 whole cloves
- bean sprouts
- 2 sticks
- 6 star anise
- 1 black cardamom pod (see note below)
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced onions (see note)
- sprigs of fresh mint and/or asian/thai basil
- thinly sliced red chilies (such as thai bird)
- hoisin sauce
- 5 pounds of beef knuckles or leg bones
- 6 quarts cold water
- 4-inch piece of fresh ginger halved lengthwise
- 1-inch piece yellow rock sugar (see note below)
- 1 pound small (1/8-inch wide) dried or fresh “banh pho†n
- 1/2 pound raw eye of round, sirloin or tri-tip steak, thinl
- Carbohydrate 23.2026430880598 g
- Cholesterol 0.2 mg
- Fat 3.44982998323995 g
- Fiber 7.83189091080497 g
- Protein 4.13461112598602 g
- Saturated Fat 0.741396198373665 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (3035g)
- Sodium 2226.44177975908 mg
- Sugar 15.3707521772548 g
- Trans Fat 0.866552868051591 g
- Calories 115 calories
Step-by-step
- Add beef bones to a large pot that will hold at least 10 quarts. Then, cover bones with cold water. Place pot onto high heat and bring to a boil. Boil for 3 to 5 minutes. During this time, impurities and foam (or scum) will be released and rise to the top. Drain bones, discarding the water. Then, rinse bones with warm water and scrub stockpot to remove any residue that has stuck to the sides. Add the bones back to the stockpot and cover with 6 quarts of cold water.
- Meanwhile, move an oven rack to a high position then turn broiler to high. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place quartered onions and halved ginger onto baking sheet then broil for 10 to 15 minutes, turning onions and ginger occasionally so that they become charred or browned on all sides.
- Add cinnamon sticks, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, star anise, cloves and the black cardamom pod to a dry frying pan. Place onto low heat and cook, stirring occasionally until fragrant. About 5 minutes. Place toasted spices into a cotton muslin bag/herb sachet or cheesecloth then tie with butchers twine to seal.
- Bring stockpot with parboiled bones and water to a boil then lower to a gentle simmer. Add charred onion and ginger as well as the bag or sachet of toasted spices. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt, a 1/4 cup of fish sauce and the rock sugar. Continue to simmer broth, uncovered, for 3 hours. If at any time foam or scum rises to the surface, use a spoon to remove it.
- Use tongs or a wide mesh spoon to remove bones, onion and ginger from broth then strain broth through a fine mesh strainer. The broth will have a layer of fat at the the top. There are two ways to remove this. First, if you plan to enjoy the broth now, skim the fat from the top of the broth using a spoon. If you do not mind waiting, you can also pour broth into containers then refrigerate overnight. As the broth cools, the fat will solidify, making it very easy to remove.
- Bring the broth to a gentle simmer over medium heat.
- If you are using dried noodles, add noodles to a bowl then cover with hot water and soak for 15 to 20 minutes until soft and opaque. If you are using fresh, add to a colander then rinse with cold water.
- To cook the noodles, bring a medium saucepan filled with water to a boil. Place noodles into boiling water and cook for about 10 seconds or until they collapse. Drain noodles then divide between bowls. (We like to fill each bowl by 1/3 with noodles).
- Arrange slices of raw meat into bowls, and then top with the hot broth. Finish broth with onion slices and cilantro. Serve bowls with a plate of optional garnishes listed above.
Requiring at least a ten-quart stockpot to accommodate five pounds of beef knuckles alongside six quarts of water, this preparation demands substantial physical capacity before any heat is applied. Initial parboiling of the bones for three to five minutes denatures surface proteins and coagulates impurities, which must be discarded to prevent a cloudy, bitter broth. Toasting whole spices like coriander, fennel, and star anise in a dry pan for roughly five minutes volatilizes essential oils such as anethole and linalool, locking those aromatics into a muslin bag so they do not muddy the liquid. Broiling onions and ginger until charred caramelizes surface sugars through the Maillard reaction, yielding a deep, sweet complexity that balances the savory depth of the fish sauce and rock sugar. Simmering the filtered broth for three uninterrupted hours breaks down dense collagen within the connective tissues into gelatin, naturally bodying the stock without starches. When pouring the boiling broth directly over raw eye of round slices, residual thermal energy cooks the thinly cut beef instantly to a tender medium-rare. Visual doneness for the rice noodles is achieved precisely at the ten-second mark in boiling water when the strands collapse completely, avoiding the mushy texture that occurs from overhydration.
