"Untitled" by Bill N

Phở is widely known across the world as the most popular and national dish of Vietnam, their multiple variants of the dish as with any other dish. Phở to me is home, it is a reminder of my childhood when I was still living in Ho Chi Minh City and only a small part of the vast cultural heritage of Vietnam as a whole. In its purest form, Phở is a bowl of rice noodles with different cuts of beef (sometimes chicken) in hot broth made from the biggest bones you could find at the supermarket. Originally, phở was created in the northern capital of Hanoi from the remnants of the French take over of Vietnam but was widespread to the southern city of Ho Chi Minh City. During the rise in popularity in the south, the dish went to a drastic change separating the dish into a northern style which is less flavorful, simple, and completely inferior in every way. The style that all of us are used to in the U.S. is of course the over the top southern style of phở, which packs flavor in every spoon and flooded with meat. The southern style will always have a place in my heart as I grew up eating it everyday before school for breakfast, after school lunch, and for dinner. Most of you reading have probably had phở before at a restaurant but let me tell you when I say what you had is definitely nothing like the real authentic version of it so here I am presenting my own family’s take on the dish and don’t be afraid to make mistakes, the dish requires a lot of labor and is much harder than it looks. 

Ingredients:

• -  6 Big beef bones
  
• -  1 and a half Ginger , cut into halves
  
• -  1 White onion , peeled and cut into halves
  
• -  Salt (add to taste)
  
• -  2 Star anise (put them into a cheesecloth or herb bag)
  
• -  10 cups of Water
  
• -  2 tblspoons of Fish sauce (add to taste)
  
• -  Rice noodles
  
• -  1 pound of Flank, Brisket, Oxtail, Steak (any of these will work)
  Garnishes:
  

• -  Cilantro
  
• -  Bean Sprouts
  
• -  Lime wedges
  
• -  Hoisin sauce
  
• -  Sriracha
  
• -  Green onions
  
• -  Basil
  Cooking instructions:
  

1. In a large pot, place all your bones and meat into it and fill the pot with water, bring the pot to a boil (around 15-20 mins)
   
2. Drain out the pot and rinse the bones and meat of any scum and impurities (this step is especially important to not having a cloudy phở broth by the end and don’t worry about losing flavor because the bones haven’t gotten to the stage of breaking down)
   

3. Take your onions, star anise and ginger, roast them on a saucepan until the star anise and ginger are nicely roasted, while the onion is browned and soft to the touch. (By doing this, they add umami and flavor to the broth, while also making it extremely aromatic, THIS STEP IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT)
   
4. Place your bones, meat, onions, ginger, star anise, fish sauce, and water all back into the cooking pot and bring it to a boil.
   
5. After the pot is boiling, turn the heat down so that the bones can cook low and slow for maximum flavor (Keep it cooking for about 8 hours at a minimum and 12 hours at a maximum, the longer it is cooking the deeper the flavor)
   
6. Occasionally check on your pot, mixing it around every time and taste the broth. (Salt to taste)
   

Prepping the Bowl:
1. Remove the meat from the pot and slice it into manageable bite sized pieces
2. In another smaller pot, bring water to a boil and cook the noodles to your liking then
place it into a big bowl
3. Place your slices of meat down and pour the boiling hot broth into the bowl
4. Garnish your bowl of delicious phở with bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, lime, hoisin and
sriracha sauce, and green onions (this step is completely optional, it is to your
preference)
5. There’s nothing left to do but to enjoy a delicious bowl of your hard work.
P.S. - Personally I like to eat my phở in its purest form without anything else other than how it is served, you shouldn’t ruin 8 hours of hard work by pouring sriracha and hoisin into it without even tasting the original broth but everyone likes different things so this is just how I prefer to eat.
That concludes my recipe for arguably one of the best dishes in the entire world, I hope you guys enjoy making it and finally getting to have an authentic eating experience.