Recipe facts
- Yield
- 4 large bowls
- Prep
- 45 minutes (plus 1 hour soaking bones)
- Cook
- 4 hours
- Total
- 345 minutes
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Spice
- Mild (heat added at the table)
Allergens Contains fish (fish sauce) and beef. Gluten-free if the fish sauce is gluten-free. Dairy-free.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
Ingredients
The broth
- 4 lb (1.8 kg) beef leg and knuckle bones, cut into pieces
- 1 lb (450 g) beef brisket, in one piece
- 5 qt (4.7 L) cold water, plus more for parboiling
- 2 large yellow onions, halved, skin on
- 4 in (10 cm) piece fresh ginger, halved lengthways
- 5 star anise
- 1 cinnamon or cassia stick, about 3 in (8 cm)
- 4 whole cloves
- 1 tbsp (6 g) coriander seed
- 1 black cardamom pod, lightly cracked (optional but characteristic)
- 2 in (5 cm) piece yellow rock sugar, about 1 oz (30 g)
- 3 tbsp (45 ml) fish sauce, plus more to taste
- 1 tbsp (18 g) fine sea salt, plus more to taste
The bowls
- 14 oz (400 g) dried flat rice noodles, bánh phở, about 1/4 in (5 mm) wide
- 10 oz (280 g) beef eye of round or sirloin, well chilled
- 4 scallions, green parts thinly sliced, white parts halved lengthways
- 1 small yellow onion, sliced paper-thin
- 1 small handful cilantro, roughly chopped
At the table
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
- 2–3 fresh red chillies, sliced
- Freshly ground black pepper
Equipment
- Large stockpot, 8 qt (7.5 L) or larger
- Fine skimmer or ladle
- Fine-mesh strainer
- Small dry skillet for toasting spices
- Tongs
Method
- Put the bones in the stockpot, cover generously with cold water and bring to a hard boil over high heat. Boil 10 minutes; grey scum will rise heavily.
- Drain the bones into the sink and rinse each piece under cold running water, rubbing off any clinging scum. Scrub out the pot. Return the clean bones to the clean pot.
- Meanwhile, char the onion halves and ginger directly over a gas flame, under a broiler, or in a dry skillet over high heat, turning until blackened in patches and fragrant, 8–10 minutes. Rinse off loose char and peel the onions.
- Toast the star anise, cassia, cloves, coriander seed and black cardamom in a dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant, 2–3 minutes. Tie them in a spice bag or a square of cheesecloth.
- Add the 5 qt (4.7 L) cold water, the brisket, charred onion and ginger, and the spice bag to the pot. Bring slowly to a bare simmer — surface barely trembling, never a rolling boil.
- Skim carefully for the first 30 minutes, then simmer uncovered at that bare tremble for 3 hours, skimming occasionally. Do not stir; agitation clouds the broth.
- After about 1 hour 30 minutes, lift out the brisket, cool it, and refrigerate it. Continue simmering the bones.
- Remove and discard the spice bag after 1 hour 30 minutes total so the spices do not turn bitter.
- Strain the broth through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean pot; discard the solids. Season with the rock sugar, fish sauce and salt, tasting as you go — it should taste clean, beefy and gently sweet, and slightly saltier than you want in the bowl.
- Soak the rice noodles in warm water 20 minutes, then boil in fresh water 20–40 seconds until just tender; drain and divide between four deep bowls.
- Slice the chilled eye of round paper-thin against the grain. Slice the cooled brisket thinly.
- Lay the raw sliced beef and the brisket over the noodles. Scatter with scallion, sliced onion and cilantro.
- Bring the broth back to a full rolling boil and ladle it over each bowl, aiming at the raw beef so it cooks on contact. Serve immediately with lime, chilli and black pepper at the table.
Uses from this chapter
- Nước Chấm (Dipping Sauce) (Recipe #26) — Not usually served with the northern bowl; offered at some tables
The Complete Edition
Phở Bò (Beef Noodle Soup) sits in the Vietnam chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Vietnam chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
In review with Amazon KDP
Both editions have been submitted to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and are currently in review. Submitted prices are $9.99 for the kindle edition and $49.99 for the paperback. Neither is on sale yet, and prices are as submitted rather than final.