What the Pho?

I'm going to do something I've never done on here before. I'm going to share a recipe. Now don't get too excited, this is not going to turn into a food blog or anything, but I am nothing if not random, right?

But first, a story! A few years ago my sister introduced me to Pho (pronounced fuh). If you don't know, Pho is a Vietnamese beef soup, and it is way yummy. After loving it in the restaurant I found a recipe for it and tried making it at home, and it has become one of my favorites. The last time we had it we decided to invite that same sister and her little family over to enjoy it with us, and to see if what we made was anything close to what they serve in a Vietnamese restaurant.

Of course, Murphy's law came to play that day, and about the time I needed to start the broth the power went out. We have an electric stove. But I'm stubborn and I wanted my own homemade Pho, and so we improvised, like so:

Kids, don't try this at home. Our grill has a side burner, and so that is where we prepared the entire dinner. We moved the grill into the garage because it was too windy outside for the flame to stay lit. The strong wind was also why the power was out in the first place, I suspect. We opened the garage door a touch and kept the back door open to provide ventilation so we didn't all die of carbon monoxide poisoning. I used the grill part as my work surface. And then my sister and her husband got there and laughed at our strangeness. The end.

And now, the recipe!

Ingredients:

Stock:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 minced garlic cloves

1 small onion, chopped

3 inch piece ginger, thinly sliced

12 cups beef stock

2 cinnamon sticks

2 star anise

2 lemon grass sticks, slightly bruised

2 tablespoons fish sauce (Hint, don't smell this before you put it in, just trust me. Also, don't google how they make it. You won't like it, I promise. Just trust.)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons sugar

For the rest of the soup:

2 lb fresh rice noodles

7 oz beef eye fillet, very thinly sliced (if you freeze the meat before slicing it works better)

2 cups bean sprouts

Fresh basil leaves

Limes cut into wedges

Jalapenos, cut into slices

Plum sauce (found in Asian section of grocery store)

Heat the oil in a large stock pot. Add the garlic, onion and ginger and fry until it really starts smelling awesome. Add 8 cups of water, beef stock, cinnamon, star anise, lemon grass, fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar. Bring to a boil and then turn to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then strain the stock and return it to the pot. Return it to a boil. You want this very, very hot. Like roiling boil hot. Super hot. This makes enough stock to feed about 6-8 people.

While making the stock, cook the noodles per the package directions.

And now for the fun part about Pho. The beef that you put in your bowl is raw, like so:

You put the noodles in the bottom of the bowl, then add the beef. I also add my other "toppings" at this point. The bean sprouts, basil and lime are a must, and I like a few jalapenos in there, too.

The broth then gets poured over the top, and if it is hot enough and if the meat is sliced thinly enough, it will cook the meat instantly. I love watching the meat turn from red to pink to fully cooked as each scoop of broth is poured over.

Adding some plum sauce at this point is even more yummy. The other fun thing about this soup is that you eat it with chopsticks and some of those fun Asian soup spoons. You get the big pieces with the chopsticks and then the broth with the spoon. Yum!