Pho Bo: Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup with Charred Ginger

Hettie arrived at dawn with a stopwatch on a string around her neck. “Pho takes almost six hours,” she said. “Nobody rushes my broth.” Gerzsi had planned on soup by lunch. He looked at the clock, then at Hettie’s glasses, and decided not to argue. Pho is the beef noodle soup Vietnam eats from early in the morning, and the broth is the whole point.

First the oxtail went into a pot of cold, salty water to soak for an hour. Hettie clicked the stopwatch. Then the onions, ginger and garlic went onto the grill pan, skins and all, until they were black on every side. Gerzsi was sure he had burned them. Clyde pushed his head through the window. “Something’s on fire!” “Charred,” said Hettie, without looking up.

Everything went into the big stockpot with six liters of cold water. For fifteen minutes Gerzsi skimmed the foam off the top while Hettie timed him. Then in went the fish sauce, the rock sugar, the charred onions and the little cloth bag of toasted spices. The lid went on, the heat went down, and the pot settled into a slow simmer. Gerzsi lifted the lid twice. Hettie wrote it down both times.

The hard part came at the end. The full pot was far too heavy for a beaver, and the broth was boiling hot. Chef Tamás lifted the pot and held it steady over the strainer while Gerzsi guided the stream through the cloth into a clean pot.

Then came the fun part. Each nest of noodles got twenty seconds in boiling water, with Hettie counting out loud. Gerzsi laid thin slices of raw sirloin on top and ladled the broth over, and the beef went from pink to brown right there in the bowl. Clyde got his bowl at the window, with extra lime. Hettie checked her stopwatch one last time. “Five hours and forty-five minutes,” she said. “Acceptable.”

Why this one works

Charring the onions, ginger and garlic in their skins gives the broth a sweet, smoky depth. The whole spices are toasted first and tied in a cloth bag, so their flavor goes into the broth and nothing has to be fished out later. The sirloin is sliced thin enough that the boiling broth cooks it in the bowl, so it stays tender.

Pho Bo: Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup

• Servings: 8
• Prep Time: 45 minutes
• Cook Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
• Time: 5 hours 45 minutes
• Difficulty: Intermediate
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A slow oxtail and brisket broth with charred onion, ginger and garlic and a bag of toasted whole spices, poured boiling hot over rice noodles, sliced brisket and thin raw sirloin.

Ingredients

For the broth
• 4 1/2 lb (2 kg) oxtail, cut into 1 1/4-inch (3 cm) pieces (ask the butcher)
• 4 1/2 lb (2 kg) beef brisket
• 4 tablespoons salt, divided
• 1 whole garlic bulb, unpeeled
• 4 large onions, unpeeled
• 5 1/4 oz (150 g) fresh ginger, unpeeled
• 3/4 cup (185 ml) fish sauce
• 2 3/4 oz (80 g) rock sugar
• 6 1/3 quarts (6 liters) cold water
For the spice bag
• 8 whole cloves
• 5 star anise
• 2 pieces cassia bark, about 4 inches (10 cm) each
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• A 16-inch (40 cm) square of muslin or cheesecloth
To serve
• 3 1/2 lb (1.6 kg) fresh rice noodles, about 7 oz (200 g) per bowl
• 14 oz (400 g) trimmed sirloin, sliced very thin
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Cilantro sprigs
• 2 bird’s eye chiles, sliced
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions

1. Soak the oxtail: Put the oxtail in a large pot, cover it with cold water and stir in 3 tablespoons of the salt. Leave it for 1 hour, then drain.
2. Make the spice bag: Toast the cloves, star anise, cassia and peppercorns one kind at a time in a dry pan over medium heat, just until each smells fragrant. Let them cool, crush them coarsely and tie them up tightly in the muslin.
3. Char the aromatics: Put the garlic, onions and ginger, still in their skins, on a grill or chargrill pan over medium-high heat. Turn them now and then until they are blackened all over, about 15 minutes. Peel away the burnt skins and chop the insides roughly.
4. Start the broth: Put the oxtail, brisket and the 6 liters of cold water in a large stockpot and bring it to a boil. Skim off the foam that rises for the first 15 minutes, then lower the heat to a gentle simmer.
5. Season: Add the fish sauce, rock sugar, the remaining 1 tablespoon salt, the chopped aromatics and the spice bag.
6. Simmer: Cover and keep at a low simmer for 3 hours, until the liquid has cooked down by almost half.
7. Strain and slice: Lift out the brisket and let it cool, then slice it thinly. Strain the broth through a muslin-lined strainer into a clean pot and keep it very hot.
8. Noodles: Working one portion at a time, dip the noodles into boiling water for 20 seconds, drain them and put them in a bowl.
9. Build the bowls: Top each bowl with 3 or 4 slices of brisket and 3 or 4 slices of raw sirloin. Ladle in enough boiling broth to cover; it cooks the sirloin in the bowl.
10. Finish: Add a tablespoon of scallions, a pinch of black pepper and a cilantro sprig to each bowl. Put the chiles and lime wedges on the table.

Rock sugar is sold in Asian grocery stores. Plain sugar works in a pinch, though the broth tastes a little less rounded.
The broth has to be at a full boil when it goes into the bowls, because it is the only thing cooking the raw sirloin.
Each bowl needs its noodles freshly dipped. If they sit in the strainer, they stick together.

🛒 Worth buying for this recipe

• Cook N Home 12-Quart Stainless Steel Stockpot. A co-winner in America’s Test Kitchen’s stockpot test. Light for its size, with comfortable looped handles for carrying a full pot to the sink. About $70 at the time of their review. See it on Amazon
• T-fal Specialty Stainless Steel 12 Qt. Stockpot. The other co-winner in the same test and the lowest-priced top pick, with silicone-covered grips. About $50 at the time of their review. See it on Amazon
• Cuisinart Chef’s Classic 12-Quart Stockpot. Highly Recommended by America’s Test Kitchen. Easy to move from stove to sink, with the lightest lid in the lineup. Check price. See it on Amazon
• Rösle Fine Mesh Strainer, 7.9 inch. The winner of America’s Test Kitchen’s fine-mesh strainer test. Its long, wide hook sits securely on the pot while you pour. Line it with the muslin for a clear broth. About $45 at the time of their testing. See it on Amazon
• OXO Good Grips Scoop and Strain Skimmer. The winner of America’s Test Kitchen’s spider skimmer test. It lifts a portion of noodles out of the water after their 20 seconds. Check price. See it on Amazon
• OXO Good Grips 12-Inch Tongs. The winner of America’s Test Kitchen’s tongs test. For turning the onions and ginger while they char. About $18 at the time of their review. See it on Amazon
• Victorinox Fibrox Pro 8″ Chef’s Knife. The winner of America’s Test Kitchen’s chef’s knife test. For slicing the brisket and the sirloin as thin as you can. About $47 at the time of their review. See it on Amazon

How Chef Tamás makes it

Chef Tamás adds beef bones or marrow bones to the pot, cooks the broth longer, for 5 to 8 hours, and uses only brisket or shank for the meat.

He chars the ginger and the halved onion until they are dark, either right over the gas flame or in a dry pan. Don’t be scared of the black spots, he says. Scrape off anything that has turned to ash, but the smoky, caramelized parts are what give pho its typical aroma. He toasts the spices dry (star anise, cinnamon, cloves, coriander seed) until they smell fragrant, then puts them in a tea ball or spice bag so they are easy to lift out.

🧰 Tools we use

Tamás didn’t name brands for this one. The linked model is America’s Test Kitchen’s pick for the same job.

• A big stainless steel stockpot, 10 to 15 liters. See the ATK pick on Amazon
• A gas flame or a grill pan, for charring the onion and ginger.

💡 Chef Tamás’s tricks

• Keep it at a bare simmer, never a boil. Cook the broth over very low heat, barely trembling. A hard boil makes it cloudy, and the flavors turn heavy.
• Skim the foam the whole time.
• Toast the spices separately.
• Freeze the sirloin a little, so you can slice it thin.
• Set the final seasoning at the end, with fish sauce and salt.
• Don’t leave the spices in too long. Take them out as soon as the broth smells fragrant and balanced.
• The most common mistakes he sees: a cloudy broth, overcooked noodles that fall apart, too little spice or too much star anise, broth that isn’t hot enough so the meat stays raw, and meat sliced too thick.
• How he serves it: as in the recipe, with scallions, cilantro, chile and lime, plus Thai basil and bean sprouts. He also serves the broth Hungarian style, like a húsleves, with Hungarian soup vegetables.
• The broth keeps for 3 to 4 days in the fridge. He also makes it in big batches for events.

Adapted from Beef Noodle Soup with Rice Noodles: Pho Bo on Food Network. Cooked our way at the inn.

Sources

• Food Network: Beef Noodle Soup with Rice Noodles: Pho Bo (recipe courtesy of Luke Nguyen)
• America’s Test Kitchen: The best stockpots
• America’s Test Kitchen: The best fine-mesh strainers
• America’s Test Kitchen: The best spider skimmers
• America’s Test Kitchen: The best kitchen tongs
• America’s Test Kitchen: The best chef’s knives
• NBC Select: The best fitness trackers