note: I encourage you to read this (and all other recipes) at least twice before you start cooking. If you have any questions, or need any clarification please email me at brinsonfolks @ gmail.com
I love cozy take out nights, the weather is changing beautifully right now in Georgia and we're settling in with its drop in temperatures. Just Pho is a reoccurring staple here at the homestead, but a few things about our favorite comfort food need improvement. The amount of styrofoam and plastic that they pack their goods in fills up most of the kitchen trashcan and half of our recycle bin. I am overwhelmed with kitchen clean up for a take out night, pretty counteractive. The other is cost. By the time we get enough food for our family of four we're at forty bucks. We can sometimes stretch that in to two meals for at least David and myself, but if we're really hungry and add two banh mi to the feast, forty bucks goes poof in just one sitting.
After searching high and low for oxtail I finally found it in two places in one day. Local Watkinsville Farmers at The Pastures at Rose Creek usually keep it in stock, and Earth Fare tries to as well. You get one oxtail per cow, so you can imagine it sells out quickly. I suggest emailing The Pastures at Rose Creek, or talking to John at Earth Fare. Any of the friendly guys in the meat department can help you, but John knows the orders well, I think he must be the manager. I have also seen oxtail at Fresh Market and have heard that Bells on Hawthorne carries it, although not pasture raised.
Plan on being home all day for this recipe, and don't forgo reading it twice before starting. The broth needs to simmer for 8-10 hours, the longer the better. This broth won't look like the kind you buy in most restaurants, it is rich and dark in color. Also note that you may want to skim some gelatin off of the broth, this is the sign of authentic pho. I like to refrigerate it to harden the joint jelly for easy removal.
Pho Recipe
{pronounced fuh, or you can call it foe, like Singer}
Broth Ingredients
Five pounds oxtail
2 gallons water
6 inches of ginger
1 1/2 large onions
10 star anise pods, or 1 1/4 teaspoon anise seeds
8 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
10 cardamon pods
3/4 teaspoon coriander seeds
6 bay leaves
3/4 teaspoon whole pepper corns
fish sauce
You will also need a piece of cloth and butcher's string to make a spice bag, or you can buy one. You can use a reusable teabag, or any muslin bag. I use a linen napkin to keep the fennel and coriander seeds inside securely, instead of cheese cloth like the video suggests.
Pho Fixin's
We like our pho topped with a rare thinly sliced beef cut, as well as basil, lime, jalapenos, onions, cilantro, and Siracha.
Toppings
tofu
mushrooms
beef (meatballs, brisket, flank, eye round)
chicken
rice noodles
Garnishes
chopped fresh basil
lime wedges to squeeze
sliced jalapeños
sliced green onions or scallions
chopped fresh cilantro
bean sprouts
Sriracha
for the broth
Move oven rack (at most) four inches from the heating element and heat oven to high broil.
Wash and drain oxtail in a colander with cold water, then place rinsed oxtail in large stockpot covered with water and bring to a boil.
While waiting for the oxtail to boil cut onions in half and remove the outer layer of onion paper on one and a half onions.
Put the onion halves face down on a baking sheet with ginger (I leave the peel on) and place in oven, broil for 15-20 minutes, until soft.
Carefully toast the star anise, cloves, cinnamon sticks, fennel seeds, cardamon pods, and coriander. Watch your pan vigilantly- you do not want to burn these important spices.
Once the water starts to boil you will notice a gray foamy scum on floating to the top of the water, skim the foam off and throw it away, as I wouldn't encourage pouring it down the sink.
Then pour the oxtail and water back into the colander and rinse the oxtail to remove any leftover foam. What you have now is oxtail that will create a much purer and more pleasant tasting broth. Place the oxtail back inside the stockpot and cover with clean water.
By this time your onion should be charred, and your spices fragrant. Remove the onion from the oven and pull the blackened outer layer off and discard. Add you onion and ginger to the pot. Place the toasted spices, peppercorns, and bay leaves in your spice bag or fabric, secure and submerge in stockpot.
Bring to boil and immediately reduce to simmer and cover. At this point your water should not being boiling, but should have bubbles popping randomly on the surface, a few bubbles every few seconds is key.
Now you wait, preferably for ten hours, but keep watching that pot for surface breaks of simmering bubbles.
After 8-10 hours taste your broth, it will likely be very light in flavor to your tastebuds. The pho broth will compliment the toppings that you add to it like you could hardly believe. Pho broth is much more about the aroma than the initial taste, some Vietnamese scoff at adding fish sauce to their broth, as well as hoisin and soy. This is when I say add your fish sauce. I add a good bit, probably 1/3 a cup, or more. Taste again and if you still have a very mild broth don't be alarmed. You can also hold off on adding the fish sauce until you plate the pho so each person can dictate the saltiness of their own pho. Or don't add any at all.
Strain your broth into another pot via the colander and discard spices, ginger, onion, and oxtail.
for the noodles
Follow the directions according to the package of dry noodles you buy.
to serve
Divide noodles in bowls, add your choice of proteins and toppings, ladle pho broth in to bowl.
This meal is meant to start first thing in the morning for supper, or in the evening for an overnight simmer to feast on the next day. I suppose you could use a crockpot for the simmer, but I don't own one. I have let my broth simmer over night on the stove, and when we woke up the next day the whole house smelled of yummy pho. I then placed the pho broth in the fridge to harden the gelatin for easy scoops off the top. Many folks praise gelatin for its healthy properties, but I don't find it appetizing in abundance via pho, so I discarded a good bit of the jelly for a better broth mouthfeel. If you have too much broth leftover it freezes well for leftovers.