Traditional Vietnamese Beef Pho Recipe- Poppa Trinh’s Recipe + Video

Vietnamese Pho Tips- How to make a flavorful and clear broth at home!

Vietnamese Pho- Pho is the national dish of Vietnam and is unarguably the most popular Vietnamese dish as well.

There is no such thing as a good, quick pho. Pho is basically a Vietnamese bone broth flavored with some Vietnamese aromatics and served with rice noodles and fresh herbs. A good bone broth requires good bones and more importantly a long cook time to really release collagen and all those really good & beneficial nutrients.

This family recipe is so comforting and richly seasoned. Steeping hot fragrant beef broth is ladled over flat rice noodles and thinly sliced beef and topped off with fresh herbs and vegetables like cilantro, asian/thai basil, mint, bean sprouts, lime juice and bean sprouts.

This was always a Trinh staple on Sunday afternoons. My dad would actually start cooking the beef bone broth on Saturday and would continue to cook the broth into Sunday which made for a very deep and fragrant broth (keep in mind that a good beef bone broth steeps for 12-24 hours so you can imagine the flavor with extended broth times). A few things that my dad does differently is his special dry spice ratio, charring ginger and onions; and adding daikon to the broth which adds a little sweetness to the pho without adding too much sugar.

There's a few tips to making great pho. So, what makes a great pho you ask?

1. The broth has to be really fragrant, gelatinous, flavorful with a little fat.
2. The broth should be clear and rich in color, velvety, glutinous like a rich bone broth BUT not cloudy.

Here are a few tips to make your Pho, the Trinh way:
1. Brush and wash your bones to get rid of any impurities and grit. Parboil your bones with a little vinegar and salt to clean your bones (doing this will help with a clearer broth).
2. Grill and char your ginger and onion to enhance the flavor of the aromatics in your pho broth and to bring that subtle smokiness to your broth
3. Leave your broth undisturbed while it's simmering, too much tampering and stirring of the pot will cloud your broth. When making the broth and simmering the key to a clear broth is to avoid stirring the pot and moving things around. Also keep it at a low simmer and remove as much of the top of the impurities as possible and this will also help with a purer broth. DO NOT let your pho come to a boil, this will make it cloudy and murky.
4. Add your dry spices in the very end for that subtle spice aroma!
5. Do no peel your ginger, the most fragrant oils are in the skins so it’s better to keep this intact for charring

*About the meats: my dad likes to freeze the eye round steak (or NY strip steak) for about an hour or so until it’s almost frozen so that it’s SUPER easy to cut ultra thin pieces of the rare sliced beef!
*You need about 2-2.5 lbs of beef bones per gallon of water.
*Parboil bones- clean, brush and par boil bones, this will release most of the impurities from the bones and will result in a clearer broth.

BEEF STOCK INGREDIENTS

4 lbs beef bones (Mixed bones, whatever you can get: shank bones, or beef bones, mixed beef leg bones, shin, knuckle and marrow bones, *achilles tendon/foot, femur bone and any knuckle or joint bones are really good because they’re rich in cartilage and tendons)
1.5-2 lbs of oxtail
2 lbs beef chuck or brisket (this really adds to the beef flavor)
1.5-2 lbs eye round or NY Strip steak (place in freezer for 1 hour to cut thin strips)
*Few pieces of tendons / cartilage pieces (optional)
18-24+ cups water (~1.5 gallons, about half a pho pot of water)
2 tbs salt
2 tbs sugar

2-3 tbs Vietnamese vegetable powder
1 large onion (peeled, charred)
2 medium to large shallot onions (peeled, charred)
4 thumb sizes of ginger (charred, do not peel)
1 large piece of Daikon cut into four pieces

*1 tbs fish sauce or to taste, see note below, add as LAST ingredient to go in.

DRIED SPICE BAG
(Use store bought spice bag or make your own below):

• 3 pieces (small 2" pieces)- asian cinnamon stick cracked in quarters or smashed (Chinese cassia bark)

• 1 thao quo: Chinese black cardamon

• 2 tbs fennel seed

• 3 tbs coriander seed

• Six white peppercorns

• Six black peppercorns

• Five Ding Huong (Clove buds)

• 3-5 whole anise stars

PHO
1 bag vermicelli pho rice noodles

GARNISHES
1 bunch green scallions, chopped thinly
1 bunch fresh mint
1 bunch cilantro (large stems removed, chopped semi-finely)
*1 handful of thai basil leaves (optional, since these are seasonal and hard to find)
1 thinly sliced red onion (add 1 tbs of vinegar and lightly mix and put in bowl to neutralize the onion some)
1 bag of bean sprouts
2 limes, cut into quarter wedges
Red chillies, chopped (served on side, chili seeds removed)
2-3 jalepenos cut into small slices
Deep fried shallots (served on side)

CONDIMENTS
Hoisin sauce (served on side)
Fish sauce (served on side)
Sriracha hot sauce (served on side)

PREPARATION
1. Clean the beef bones and oxtails. Run under cold water and use a brush to brush off any bone debris and grit.

2. Par boil bones & meat: Bring a large pot of water (enough to cover bones) to a rolling boil and add 2 tbs salt and 2 tbs Vinegar . Add beef bones and tendons, wait till it boils and then time about 3-5 minutes until all bones has released all its impurities and blood. Rinse bones under running water and clean using your hands to remove any grit off bones (use brush again if necessary) and set all aside in a clean bowl. Rinse and clean stock pot (dispose/dump out water- we will not be using that for broth). Do the same for your meats.

2. Place eye round in freezer for 1 -2 hours until it’s partially frozen, at this point it will be easy to cut into super thin slices. Cut into thin slices, and place in a tupper ware and set in fridge until ready to serve.

3. Roast spices: In a small frying pan roast all the dried spices until fragrant on high to medium high heat until fragrant (do not burn or smoke the spices). Shake pan occasionally to prevent any burning. Transfer to bowl and let spices cool for handling. Then place into a spice colander container or tea bag (tie tightly so the spices don't spill out loose in your stock).

4. Roast ginger / onions: peel outer shell of onions, in broiler grill the ginger and onion until it's charred on all sides (turn as sides are charred).

OR dry roast to frying pan on medium high heat. When the pan is hot add ginger slices and onions to slightly burned and fragrant (If you have a grill char it on a grill!).

5. Add oxtail / bones in a clean pot. Add water so that all bones are covered, you should have about half a pot of water.

6. Rinse off onion and garlic from loose skin/burnt skin. Add salt and sugar and Vietnamese vegetable powder. Add roasted onion and ginger and boil for about 30 min (no lid) on high until you get a nice boil and then set to a LOW simmer for 3-10 hours (uncovered). (Occasionally remove any scum or impurities from top of broth without stirring too much).

7. After 3-4 hours when your broth is super fragrant- Remove the onions, daikon, ginger from your stock and discard. If you want a deeper, richer bone broth remove onions/daikon/ginger from stock after 3-4 hours and keep boiling bones up to 8-12 hours total. I like to put the broth in the fridge after day 1 (removing all daikon/onions), and one day 2 continue to cook broth then move on to step #8 below.

*Check your meat after an hour to two hours, and your oxtails after 2-3 hours until tender and do not overcook the oxtails or else they will fall apart in your broth (if you have different sized oxtails like smaller pieces of oxtail, make sure to take these out sooner as they will cook much faster than the very large pieces of oxtail, you want them super fork tender). Transfer oxtail after tender into a tupper ware or bowl and set aside in fridge.

*Remove all tendons and cartilage after 2-3 hour mark and boil separately in separate pot if they haven’t cooked tender yet (you can use a couple cups of your broth and a few cups of tap water to cook these down, cooking too much of the tendons in the pho broth will make it too gelatine’y). Cook tendons just till they’re about soft enough to eat.

8. When your broth is done to your liking add your spice bag and let simmer for 30-60 minutes then remove and dispose of spice bag after that time. Taste stock, and add sugar or salt to taste and add fish sauce.

9. To serve: Plate in bowl a nice helping of hot cooked vermicelli noodles to center of individual serving bowls. On top of each bowl add bean sprouts, onion, cooked brisket and a few slices of raw beef (it will cook in the piping hot broth bowl). Ladle in a few scoops of boiling broth to generously fill the bowl with your broth. Top with fresh onions, scallions, cilantro and thai basil and add a little fresh cracked black pepper like how they do it in Vietnam!

Condiments and extra garnishes: Serve with side of extra bean sprouts, limes, jalepeno, cilantro, mint, thai basil, sriracha and hoison sauce.