OT - Pho

rtt121

I have been working on this a little.  Not as good yet as the Pho place 30 minutes away.

Some shaved choice sirloin

The broth (everything filtered out before serving)

Fixins

Before sirloin and broth

Terrible plated shot.  Added a little hoisen and siracha.

Zmokin

My local ethnic grocery store sells shabu shabu which is very thinly sliced meat.  They sell both pork and beef this way.  It's great for Pho as it cooks almost instantly when dropped into the boiling soup pot due to it's thinness.

If you don't achieve the restaurants flavor, you may want to look into adding MSG.  None of our local Vietnamese places will serve Pho w/o MSG.  I guess it is an essential ingredient to them.

rtt121

You are probably right on the MSG now that you say it.  It is very flavorful but missing that extrasensory something.

KiterTodd

No you're right up my alley!!!   I have this at least once a week.  I've only made it a couple times, and have decided it's a cheap lunch and isn't worth my effort to make at home.     By the time I buy the bones/meat for broth, spices, rice noodles, bean sprouts, jalepenos, fresh basil, etc...  I might as well just take the family out.  

Not to dissuade you though, I love the stuff home or out.  Our local asian grocery also sells very thin slices frozen meat, rib eye.  I have used that for soup and I have also used it to make some kiiiiiillller cheese steaks. 

But, some PHO from a local favorite before I loaded it up with the veggies and sriracha;

bclarksicle

This! I salute you, sir. The key to pho is the broth. The "traditional" way can take hours. How did you do yours?

Botch

KiterTodd said:

I have this at least once a week.  I've only made it a couple times, and have decided it's a cheap lunch and isn't worth my effort to make at home.     By the time I buy the bones/meat for broth, spices, rice noodles, bean sprouts, jalepenos, fresh basil, etc...  I might as well just take the family out.  

 

Same here, once a week at the local place but way too much busywork to make at home for one person.  Love pho!  

nolaegghead

One of my friends owns Pho Tau Bay and he still gets mad when I ask him for his broth recipe.

theyolksonyou

nolaegghead said:

One of my friends owns Pho Tau Bay and he still gets mad when I ask him for his broth recipe.

do we know this guy?

blind99

I love pho.  The best pho broth is so much better than any other soup I've ever had.  I'd guess it's very time consuming to make... Yours is looking good!

Little Steven

I've made it a few times and it has been better than the Vietnamese places. I've always gone with a high ratio of oxtail and beef bones and gone overnight with the stock. If you can find the fresh rice vermicelli and just dip it in the stock prior to serving it makes a huge difference. I don't care about the time that the stockis cooking because I can use the extra for beef stuff. When the stock is done and de-fatted put in the spices and herbs and simmer for a couple of hours.

rtt121

I did a traditional low and slow with the broth.  

I hear ya on the cost but this is a 14 gallon pot so I made enough broth for the next few months.. but it was almost $90 bucks all in.

It was a broth of normal pho spices and about 4 pounds of ox tails 2 pounds of shanks 2 chucks and a brisket flat.

The pho in the picture above looks great.

rtt121

Regarding vermicelli I could only find the dried stuff and I can't make that the right texture either.

I heat it in boiling water for 3 minutes and then pull it before adding broth

Little Steven

Some of the South Asian markets have the fresh. I've only seen them in white plastic buckets with questionable looking water but they hold the texture in the soup so much better.

BYS1981

That looks great, I love phó, but can never convince myself to make it at home. I just don't think I can make it better or cheaper than the grandmother at the local shop. Cooks Illustrated had a recipe for it, like 20 ingredients lol.

Gogogordy

BYS1981 said:

That looks great, I love phó, but can never convince myself to make it at home. I just don't think I can make it better or cheaper than the grandmother at the local shop. Cooks Illustrated had a recipe for it, like 20 ingredients lol.

I agree, we've done it with a Pho soup base mix from the asian store but frankly for $5.75 and they do the dishes?

caliking

That's a pho-king awesome looking bowl

The rice vermicelli may be better with just a dunk in boiling water. I haven't liked it as much after boiling the vermicelli.

rtt121

I might need to experiment with the vermicelli more.  It instructs cook for 3 minutes.  I figured cook 2 and then the broth will finish it.  I didn't care for that it was too stiff.

I have tried 3 minutes boiling and then into the bowl.  Not all that different.

I will try a dunk next time.    Also I have a pretty good asian market not too far away.  I will look for fresh next time I am over that way.  They also have a vendor their with good Pho

anton

Mmmm, mmmmm, I love me some Pho. I'll never forget a nice waitress correcting my pronunciation of the word Pho. She said, "think of it as fa, with a flat "a" sound, not an O sound". I now sound like I know what I'm talking about. )
Yours looks terrific.