"BASIC GREAT PHO WITH BRISKET RECIPE

By RoketJSquerl

Ingredients

• Pho Broth:
• 3-4 inch chunk of ginger
• 2 onions, halved
• 1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon whole cloves
• 4 whole star anise
• 2 pounds beef shank bones or oxtail
• 5 quarts water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 large carrot, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 1 small daikon, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 1 lb beef brisket
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce, or to taste
• 2 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
• To serve:
• pho noodles, fresh or dried
• thinly sliced steak, optional
• beef balls, optional
• sliced green onions
• roughly chopped cilantro
• red chilis
• Thai basil
• lime wedges
• hoisin sauce
• sriracha

Details

Adapted from iamafoodblog.com

Preparation

Step 1

Toast your ginger and onions in the oven on broil until the onions are sweaty everything is nicely charred. Alternatively, you can char your aromatics on your gas range, rotating as needed. Peel the ginger and onions and set aside until you’re ready to start your broth.

Toast the coriander seeds, cloves, and star anise in a dry pan on low heat until they are aromatic, about 2-3 minutes. Tie the spices up in cheesecloth or large tea/spice bag for easy removal from your soup.

Put your beef bones in a large pot with cold water and bring to a hard boil for 5-10 minutes to force the scum and impurities out. Drain, rinse the bones and wash your pot.

Fill your clean pot with about 5 quarts of water and add the beef bones, ginger, onions, spice packet, cinnamon stick, carrots, daikon, and brisket. Bring to a boil and lower to a very gentle simmer, uncovered. After 1 hour, check to see if your brisket is tender and cooked through. Remove it from the broth and place it into a bowl filled with cold water and ice. When chilled, remove from the water, dry, then wrap tightly and place in the fridge.

Continue simmering for as long as you can; reducing it will intensify the flavor. I let my broth simmer for about 4 hours until the water reduced to 3 quarts. At this point take out the bones and strain the stock into a new clean pot. If using oxtail, remove and shred the meat from the oxtails and discard the bones.

Gently heat the stock up and season with fish sauce and sugar. Add the sugar and fish sauce in increments until you’re happy with the flavor. You want the soup to be aggressively seasoned because the noodles will dilute the flavor. Slice the beef brisket against the grain. Gently warm up the brisket and beef balls in the broth. The stock should be very hot.

Prepare your noodles according to the package, strain and divide evenly into large bowls. Add a generous amount of beef brisket, thinly sliced steak, meatballs and oxtail if you used that. Top with broth, and garnishes. Enjoy!

Note: You can use any types of beef bones you see at the store – try to find some with bits of meat on them. If oxtails are on sale, definitely get those! Also, you can find Vietnamese style beef balls at your local Asian grocery store. If you can’t find them, this pho is great with just brisket and thinly sliced steak as well.