Pho - I got my spicy noodles

High Cheese

Saucier
I looked through a few recipes and threw this together.

Oxtail, onion and ginger roasted under the broiler.

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Cinnamon, cardomom, corriander, bay, clove and star anise.

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About 8 quarts of water, all the above ingredients simmered for 3 hours. Also added about 1/4 cup of fish sauce.

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Assorted ingredients for the pho: mint, cilantro, green onion, lime, various chiles, bean sprouts, the oxtail meat and some paper thin sliced flank steak.

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The finished dish. I strained the stock, then brought it back to a boil before serving. The heat from the stock cooks the flank steak.

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High Cheese

Saucier
Between the bean sprouts and the limes, it was the first thing to go into the bowl so they're pretty much covered.
 

Keltin

New member
Gold Site Supporter
Whoa!! That looks incredible! I'd love to have a big bowl of that! Awesome job!
 
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RobsanX

Potato peeler
Super Site Supporter
Looks great! Noodles are my favorite Asian food. I especially like spicy noodle bowls!
 
K

Kimchee

Guest
Yah boy gimme gimmme!

My pretty much daily lunch is now a simple noodle bowl.
Napa cabbage, cucumber, leek, yellow or red pepper, 3-6 cayenne/Thai peppers,
noodles, some sort of protien (chicken, sardines, leftover meat, etc), cilantro,
and Nuoc Cham sauce. Sometimes I add the flavoring packet from Top Ramen,
and egg to the noodle water and pour that over everything for "noodle soup".
Quite tasty and I admit, I am addicted.

But your Pho is to my noodle bowl as fine steak is to bologna, LOLOL!
 

Sass Muffin

Coffee Queen ☕
Gold Site Supporter
Wow Cheese!
You threw that together?
We should all be so lucky to be able to have your talent for making it look so easy and delicious.
Karma coming, looks scrumptious!
 

High Cheese

Saucier
I made a chicken version called Pho Ga. No recipe as I just followed the basics from the original beef Pho recipe.

In a nutshell:

4 chicken thighs, skin removed and discarded, bones removed and placed on a baking sheet along with one onion halved, head of garlic halved and a piece of ginger halved. Broiled on high for about 12 minutes until browned. Remove and add to a stock pot with dried spices and a 50/50 mixture of water and chicken broth (for even deeper flavor), about 8 quarts, but you could just use all water. Bring to boil and simmer for about 2-3 hours skimming the surface of any foam or fat that forms.

I added the chicken thigh meat towards the end of cooking then removed and sliced on a cutting board. The veg was about the same as the beef except I added chopped Napa cabbage which added a great crunch.

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K

Kimchee

Guest
Then there is the low budget version... :yum:
1 package ramen style noodles, cook as directed.
Add 1 hot dog, stir in 1 whisked egg. (Leftover chicken, pork, beef all works too)
Add raw vegetables of choice, cut thin.
(I use napa cabbage, cucumber, leek, shallot, yellow pepper)
Add 1-infinity fresh hot peppers of choice, chopped
Add 4 TBSP Nuoc Cham sauce.
Enjoy!
 
K

Kimchee

Guest
In Vegas, our hotel had a restaurant named "Pho"... so of course we had to eat there.
Oh my gawd.....
Guess I'd never had authentic Pho before, but rest assured, I will be following High Cheese and boiling some up very soon. My wife says make a LOT of broth and we will
freeze a gallon or two in quarts. I totally agree.
 

High Cheese

Saucier
Nice!

I haven't had 'authentic' pho before, but there's a pho restaurant up in north Jersey I want to try. I'm curious how close mine is......or how waaay off it is. lol
 
K

Kimchee

Guest
Made my Pho today. Followed pretty much the same recipe as Cheese, but used beef soup bones and some beef short ribs in the stock. Had a larger quantity of spices, but then I made 2 1/2 gallons of broth.
Definitely authentic Pho, based on similarity to the restaurant's! I need to play a little with quantities of the spices, but it was great! Took a lot more fish sauce, sugar and salt than I thought it would, and I added some fennel too.
A hugely satisfying soup, well worth the time and effort.
 

High Cheese

Saucier
Took a lot more fish sauce, sugar and salt than I thought it would

That's one of the things I need to address...the saltiness. I make the stock w/o any salt and it's bland as all hell. I add salt to taste to the batch that will be used right away. But I still don't know exactly how much would be appropriate. I'm going to try different bones next time for a deeper flavor. The oxtail is too light IMO.

And I need to get 3 crabs fish sauce yet.
 
K

Kimchee

Guest
I probably used a cup of fish sauce, 3-6 tsp each of sugar and salt for 2.5 gallons. (I didn't measure the extras, just added in approx. 1 tsp increments..)
Probably any first press fish sauce would be fine... Squid, Tiparos, 3 Crabs...

The beef short ribs gave a nice amount of meat for the broth, and some "tendons" (the chewy cartilage stuff). These were offered in the more expensive Pho version I had at the restaurant. But... I also skimmed a good 7 ounces of fat off the broth too!
 

BamsBBQ

Ni pedo
Site Supporter
All looks like authentic Pho to me. Add some slow cooked tender melt in your mouth cartilage, thin brisket pieces. Yummy

at the Viet. place we eat at they have this slow cooked beef stew I know you would enjoy HC if you like Pho. Spicy,rich,red and a soup basically..
 

PanchoHambre

New member
so damn nonchalant HC "i pulled this together" that looks great!... mmm fish sauce.. I am feeling inspired to visit the Spring Garden Market soon.
 

High Cheese

Saucier
The family has been bugging me for months to make this again, so I'm going to do it tomorrow.

A Vietnamese place opened up in my town and I'm happy to say that my Pho is as good or better than theirs. The DW said mine was better, lol, I was just happy that the flavor of the broth was very similar. I'm going to see what the Asian market has, might change it up a little.
 

BamsBBQ

Ni pedo
Site Supporter
after eating Pho all this time i have discovered that i prefer egg noodles over the rice ones...i could go for a nice big bowl of Pho..i have 2 Pho places within walking distance of me

mmmm Pho..lol
 
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