Hello everyone! Today, I will show you my 'secret' recipe to make an amazing bowl of Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup (Phở Bò) A rich and hearty bowl of Phở should have clear beef broth The taste is light and slightly sweet from the bones. The broth is infused with many spices I use a normal stockpot to cook today, not a pressure cooker to simmer the bones. I already had a video to share with you on how to simmer the bones by the pressure cooker. However, some of you may not have the pressure cooker at home. So, what are the steps to make this quintessential Vietnamese dish? Let's go to the kitchen and make Phở Bò with me. Beef bones are indispensable for making the broth. Simmering these bones will give natural sweetness to the soup Moreover, the soup stock will also be rich and fatty because of these beef bones So, here I have 1.2kg of marrow bones Under running water, wash each piece thoroughly Now, we're gonna wash it 3 - 4 times or even more. Using your fingers, gently rub the bones as shown in the video Make sure to get all the icky scum off Just use normal water to wash the bones. Do not use either cold or hot water for this step. Water at room temperature is fine. Now, I've washed for the third time. After washing thoroughly, we're gonna transfer the bones to another bowl of clean water. And we're gonna soak them. Just use a sufficient amount of water to submerge the bones. And then, add 1 teaspoon of salt to the bowl. Let soak for at least 1 hour and at most 3 hours. This helps remove the blood and any impurities from the marrow. So when simmering, we'll have clear broth without the need to skim off the foam. After soaking for 2 hours, I will rinse the bones one more time. Can you see the color of the water? That's the blood from the bones. Now, add the bones to a large stockpot and fill it full with water. No matter how much water you fill the pot with, just make sure that the bones are submerged in water. Now, bring to a rapid boil. This helps to remove the impurities one more time. So that we can get clear broth. Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the pot. The salt helps move the impurities from the bones to the surface As the water comes to a boil, gently stir everything. Because there remain some parts that are not submerged in water or it is not boiled evenly, so just stir well. Boil vigorously for 3 - 4 minutes Pour out the boiling liquid and discard. And be careful as the water is boiling hot. Transfer all pieces out. Under running water, wash each of the bones. And again, use water at room temperature, neither too hot nor too cold. Run your fingers along each piece washing away blood or dirty foam Alright, now, we're gonna move on with the soup stock. Place a large stockpot on a stove. Turn on the highest heat. Place three onions in the pot. As usual, some folks will grill these onions to have fragrant broth. But if you are not able to grill, so you can use this method. I will add 50 grams of sliced ginger. Cook over high heat until charred. Check the onions constantly to see if they've charred yet. Rotate the onions and ginger so they char evenly When you can smell a smoky aroma, the onions and ginger are charred evenly, then remove from the stove. This step helps the broth develop a more complex and deeper flavor. After removing from the stove, use a pair of chopsticks to stir them gently. Then let it cool down for 3 minutes before adding some water to the pot. If we add water to a hot pot right now, it's gonna splatter. Firstly, I'll fill the stockpot with 1 liter of water. Then, add the beef bones filling the bottom of the pot And continue adding more water to the pot. It depends on your preference whether your family has lots of people or you prefer rich broth, etc. So I will add 1.8 liters of water to the pot. So there are 2.8 liters of water in total. Place the pot on the stove. Turn on the highest heat and bring it to a boil. As the liquid comes to a boil, skim off the foam and discard If you are not interested in using the stockpot like mine, and you have a pressure cooker at home so feel free to use it. It can be even faster, more convenient and the broth can also be clear. After skimming off the foam, cover the pot with a lid. Now, let the stock simmer for at least 4 hours. Remember to simmer for 'at least' 4 hours. You know, I once read a story from a Phở stall owner and they said that, almost every Phở stall, they have to cook their broth for 12 hours to get the best broth quality Let's prep the herbs and vegetables. I have 50 grams of spring onions. separate the root from the stems. Chop the green onion stems and transfer into a small bowl. We'll use them later on. Cut the root portions lengthwise as shown in the video. Then, we're gonna soak these sliced roots in a bowl of cold water. If your water is not cold enough, place some ice cubes to the bowl. Now, let it soak for 1 hour Onions soaked in ice water will get very crisp. Moreover, they will also lose the strong taste and become sweeter. Now, I'll move on to prepare the aromatic signature pho spices for our broth. Here I have 6 whole star anise, 1.5 tablespoon of coriander seeds 3 cinnamon sticks, 30 grams of ginger and 1 tablespoon of cloves. If you want the broth to be more flavorful, then you can add more spices, namely, dried tangerine peel Personally, I prefer slightly aromatic pho stock Here I have 3 shallots. and 1 sweet onion. Now, we're gonna toast these spices Toasting these spices until they are fragrant Turn on the highest heat. Add the cinnamon sticks and star anise to the pot. Stir occasionally because they get burned very quickly. When the smoke rises and the spices turn slightly black like in the video, then remove from the stove, transfer to a small bowl. Clean up that pot and put it back to the stove Now, turn on medium heat. Now, we carry on toasting coriander seeds and cloves. Stir them well. Until they are fragrant and turn brown, again, remove from the stove, clean up the pot. Add shallots and ginger to the pot, toast them until fragrant. Remember to toast on medium heat. Stir occasionally. If you can use a charcoal grill, it'll be much more delicious. But if you don't have one, then you can go with the method. Transfer the shallots and gingers to a small bowl and wait for the broth to be ready. Here is our broth after 4 hours. If you have more time, you can replace these sweet onions with the new ones and continue simmering. so that the broth will be more scrumptious and nutritious. Because regarding these bones, after cooking for 4 hours, the nutrients are not completely extracted from the bones Remove the sweet onions and the bones. One of the best things about these bones are the beef tendons. I will cut these beef tendons, transfer them to a separate bowl and cover. We'll serve it later with Pho. If you want, you can put the bones that are trimmed off the tendons back to the stockpot and continue simmering. Here are our spices after toasting. And I also prep 1/2 tablespoon of whole peppercorn to be more fragrant. Transfer the spices into a large tea filter or a cotton muslin bag/herb sachet. Add the bag or sachet of toasted spices and immerse in the stock I bought this filter when I was traveling to Korea. just in case you guys wanna know. Adding these spice bags to the stockpot and cook on low heat Continue simmering for some minutes. At least 20 minutes and at most 30 minutes. Don't cook for too long as it's no longer fragrant. This is my broth after simmering for 20 minutes. Transfer the spice bags and discard. Cut the onion in half. Place the onion halves to the broth. This helps get a clear broth. Because of the bad lighting during filming process, you guys may see that the broth is quite dark. But in fact, it's super clear and delicious. Add 1.5 tablespoon of salt Season it gradually and adjust to your taste because the amount of water may change. Add 1 tablespoon of rock sugar, 1 tablespoon of chicken powder. Usually, almost every Phở stall uses MSG but I don't have MSG at home so I substitute with chicken powder. And the chicken powder also contains MSG but in lower content. Anyway, we should use MSG for this dish to get the sweetness. Nevertheless, using chicken powder may not give us clear broth as desired But that's fine as we only serve at home. So here are all the ingredients for a bowl of Phở. Here is a dish of beef tenderloin which is the most tender cut of beef Here is a bowl of beef tendons which were trimmed from the marrow bones. And also some beef balls, bean sprouts, bunches of Thai basil, sawtooth herbs, spearmint, etc It depends on your preference. If you'd like to eat beef brisket, feel free to cook with them. Because I've already had these beef tendons, so I do not add beef brisket. It's gonna be too much Add 100 - 200ml of soup to a separate pot. Add a few slices of the beef to the pot and cook in the broth to the desired doneness. More importantly, it still keeps the broth clear. Turn on the highest heat and bring the soup stock to a boil Stir a few seconds for rare and until no longer pink for well done Then, remove from the stove. Continue using a pair of chopsticks to stir the beef until no longer pink. With this method, the beef is gonna be so tender, sweet and delicious. You should choose beef tenderloin, in Norwegian, folks call it 'Indrefilet' It's so yummy and tender. Transfer the beef balls to the stockpot to reheat them. I made these beef balls by myself. Very tasty. Place the beef tendons on the rice noodles next is the medium rare beef tenderloin Ladle a generous amount of the soup stock into the bowl. If you don't like the broth to be oily from the beef fat just don't scoop in the bowl. But without the beef fat, the fragrance will not be there. Wow, the broth is rich, clear and smells so good. My family loves eating Phở with slight fragrance like this. Top the soup with the chopped green onions. I hope that all of you can make a delicious pot of Phở. If you have any questions, just drop a comment below or send me a message. Thank you so much for watching. I'll see you very soon in the next video.
