Authentic Pho

Serves 4
Broth Preparation
25-30 cups of water
2 onions
4 inches of ginger (about 4 small pieces)
4¼-5 pounds oxtail beef, remove from packaging and wash well
3 star anise pods
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
5 inches of a cinnamon stick
2 cardamon pods (black is preferred but green also works)
8 whole cloves
5 inches of a cheese cloth (or you can use a spice ball)
1 teaspoon salt
1-2 teaspoons sugar (to taste)
3 tablespoons Premium MegaChef Fish Sauce (Nuoc Mam Nhi) Pure Anchovy

Fill a large pot with the water (I used exactly 25 cups). Bring pot to boil. In the meantime remove extra skin on the onions. It will still have brownish pieces but nothing should be loose or hanging. Using the flame from the stove (if you don’t have a gas stove you can also use a broiler). Place the onions and the ginger directly on the plates on the gas stove so it’s right above the fire. Char the onions and the ginger on low/medium heat. You will need to turn the ginger and onions occasionally with tongs to make sure it’s full charred but not black. Wipe down with a paper towel and drop both onions and the ginger into the pot of boiling water. Add the oxtail beef. Bring the water to medium/low once the oxtail beef is added. To prepare the spices you will need to first toast them. To do this, place the star anise, coriander seeds, cinnamon stick, cardamon pods, and cloves into a dry pan over medium heat, stay close and shake the pan a couple of times to make sure they toast. You’ll know when they’re ready when you start to smell them and they are aromatic(about 3-4 mins). Remove from heat and wrap the spices in a cheese cloth. Tie with kitchen twine. Drop the spice mixture in the liquid. Now while the liquid is slowly cooking you have to keep removing the scum liquid from the top of the pot. You will have to do it every 20 mins for the first 2 hours. Then as the time gets longer you can do it every 30-40 mins. Every time you remove the scum liquid add an equivalent amount of water back into the pot. So if you remove ¼ cup of scum liquid add another ¼ cup water back to the pot. Place the lid on the pot and let it slowly simmer with this process for 4¼-5 hours. After the time has ended remove all solids and reserve the liquid and continue to cook on very low heat. If it has a very strong fragrance you can add an additional 2 cups of water to dilute the fragrance). Add salt, sugar and fish sauce. Continue to simmer for 10 mins then follow assembly of pho bowls directions below.

Pho Sides Preparation
¼ a bunch of cilantro, wash and dried, separated into 2 secions
2 cups packed thai basil (thai basil has a purple stem instead of green), wash and dried
2-3 limes, quartered
4-10 thai red chilies
2 cups Bean sprouts

Using half the cilantro, basil, bean sprouts, limes, and red chilies assemble on a plate as a garnish for serving with the pho.

For assembly of Pho Soup Bowls

4 scallions, washed and chopped
16 ounce package Fresh Rice Stick Noodles (called Banh Pho Tuoi)
1 pound flank meat, sliced at an angle against the grain (it’s easier to cut if you place it in the freezer for about 10 mins before cutting)
1 12oz package of steam fresh vegetables , microwaved according to package directions

Place the noodles in a pot and pour boiling water over them and let them soak until soft and nearly clear about 30 seconds to 1 min since these are fresh noodles. Now place the soaked noodles in a bowl (about 1 cup per person). Top with the raw flank steak slices in a single layer. Add 1 cup of the steamed veggies. (If you like your meat sort of reddish then you can continue to the next step but if you like your meat more well done I would microwave the bowl for an additional 1 min 30 seconds at this point before you continue to the next step). Add the other half of your cilantro mixture from the Pho Sides Preparation above and add the scallions (enough to be separated between each bowl). Now add the broth to the bowl. I used about 8 ladles of broth per bowl. Adding this hot broth will continue to cook the meat. Season with salt/pepper to taste. You can service this with a variety of sauces including Hoisin Sauce, Fish Sauce, Sriracha or Peanut Sauce. I generally like it with Sriracha, Hoisin and Peanut Sauce. See the recipe for Peanut Sauce here.