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Vietnamese classic pho |
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gonefishin
Master Chef Joined: 20 September 2012 Status: Offline Points: 1778 |
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Posted: 15 January 2014 at 08:03 |
Here is a wonderful page on Vietnamese Pho. You can visit the page directly by visiting JSonline
Vietnamese classic pho gains steam in America By Jan Uebelherr of the Journal SentinelThi Cao left his native Vietnam in 1975 in what he describes as a "fairly dramatic" journey. He was just a few months old, so he had only heard of the long trip to America. "There were helicopters, running, refugee camps, lost identity and a boat ride over," Cao said. They left behind the life they knew, settling in Madison and a new world. They missed many things, but one dish pulled at them: pho. NATIONAL DISHPho (pronounced fuh) is a fragrant broth-and-noodle dish that has been described as the national dish of Vietnam. "The broth itself is so flavorful," said Cao, a longtime Milwaukee-area chef who is now at Buckley's Restaurant and Bar at 801 N. Cass St. - where he included pho on a recent Vietnamese New Year menu. "People in Vietnam eat it pretty much all hours of the day," he noted. But very few people there make it themselves. Why bother? It's time-consuming, taking hours to simmer just the broth. Besides, steaming bowls of savory pho can be found on nearly every street corner, and for not a lot of money. The classic version of this beloved street food uses beef, but there are chicken and vegetarian versions as well. Pho is thought to have originated from the French pot au feu, a traditional and hearty stew. It was introduced to Vietnam during the French colonization during the 1880s, according to Cuong Huynh, who - like Cao - fled Vietnam in 1975 during the fall of Saigon. He settled in California and, like so many Vietnamese establishing a life in America, missed being able to go out on a street corner and get a comforting bowl of pho. "Vietnam is a country of comfort food and snack food and street food," said Huynh, who is working on a documentary film called "A Century of Pho." He added, "A lot of people do not have money, but they do like to hang out. Street foods are all over the place. One bowl of pho will get you going in the morning." Huynh is a managing partner in Ui-Cha! Pho, which has a pho shop at a university in Missoula, Mont., and plans for more cafes on other college campuses. He started a blog called Loving Pho about three years ago when he saw a lot of information about pho on the Internet - much of it wrong. First, he pointed out, pho is not soup. "This is a noodle dish," he said. "There's a distinct difference. For Asians, it is the noodle that is more important. The broth is the agent to keep the dish together." But the broth provides a hearty base, blending spices and charred ginger and onion. "There are variations, depending on region, depending on personal taste, depending on the family, even. But without fail - what makes it so different from other noodle dishes is the spice you put into." NORTH AND SOUTHPho started in the north, in a town called Nam Dinh in the Hanoi area, where it was a simple dish. In 1954, there was a mass migration to the south when the country was split into North Vietnam and South Vietnam, with many fleeing to avoid communist rule in the north. With them came pho, and in the south it was transformed. "It morphed into something a lot more elaborate - a lot more meat options and fresh herbs," Huynh said. "In the north, you make the broth and if you want the meat variety, you have just the flank and brisket. In the south, people start throwing in meatballs, tripe, tendons. You have five or six or even 10 different parts of the cow. In the north, there's not much garnishing - just a chopped scallion and cilantro." In the south, the garnishes may include bean sprouts, chilies, lemon or lime and a variety of herbs such as Thai basil. "Compared to northern-style pho, southern pho is sweeter and more elaborate in the sense that it's served with the fanciful plate of garnishes and often presented in bodacious big bowls," said Andrea Nguyen, author of "Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors" (Ten Speed Press, $35). "In the northern region, the stalwart pho shops don't give you much in terms of garnishes, and the portions are moderate. Northern cooks also don't like to sweeten their pho broth. It tends to be on the savory side than on the savory-sweet side. There's a certain purity in the northern pho, and aficionados say that it's the best." FINDING PHO IN AMERICAToday there's no shortage of pho restaurants - including Cao's favorite spot, Pho 27 in Greenfield. It's run by Lia Huynh and her husband, Hao Huynh, who makes the broth from a family recipe that dates back four generations. It's a southern recipe that contains all the usual ingredients, but it's the process - which takes 12 to 16 hours - that is critical, Lia said. The process includes pan-searing the spices and constant skimming of residue from the top as the bones cook. Another critical step: "It's always on simmer all the time," she said. "We never let it cool, even overnight. If we let it cool totally down, it gets really, really salty." The broth is the basis for chicken and beef pho, a vegetarian variety with tofu (though the beef broth makes it not-so-strictly vegetarian, Lia said) and the house special - the most popular version - featuring six kinds of meat, including meatballs, tendon and tripe. "I said once to Hao, 'Show me how to make the pho.' He said, 'Uh-uh. It's got to be perfect. If you miss one step, it's not the same.' " Before restaurants like Pho 27 popped up, Cao, the Buckley's chef, was eating it at home, thanks to his mother, Bichyen Tran. Like many Vietnamese new to this country, her memories of pho pushed her to take on a task she never would have dreamed of - making her own pho. "If one lives in Vietnam, not many families actually cook pho at home," said Huynh. "They go out to the corner and buy it. Why spend hours and hours on end to cook this broth yourself? It wasn't until Vietnamese refugees left Vietnam that we had to make it ourselves. One of the first challenges was to find ingredients. By and large, we made do with whatever we had." Cao remembers the fragrant broth coming together in his mother's kitchen. "I remember my mom started making the broth early in the morning," he said. "It would be like an all-day event. You had to get the bone marrow, boil it off, dump the water - otherwise it would be kind of cloudy. You want a clear, clean broth. For such a simple dish, there's a lot of time and love involved." CRUCIAL INGREDIENTSWhile spices and condiments may vary, certain methods and ingredients are crucial. Cinnamon, star anise and cloves are the main spices, Cao said. "People may put like banana peel, orange peel, to get that nice citrus essence in there," he said. "I go very traditional." Other key elements are charred onion and ginger, which are added to the broth for a robust flavor. "The charring is crucial, and so is using good bones - leg bones with marrow," said Nguyen, the cookbook author, whose family also fled Vietnam during a dramatic trip in April 1975. "People try to use neck bones, but they just don't add the right flavor," she said. "Every year I buy a share of a grass-fed cow and make sure to order extra bags of bones that I freeze for pho." Cuong Huynh has an opinion about those bones, too. "The meat bones, that's what makes the broth. If you want to spring for the best flavor, you spring for the ox tail. That's even better than the beef bones," he said. Pho recipes often call for something called yellow rock sugar, too - though the broth made at Pho 27 doesn't include sugar because of the long simmer time for the bones, according to co-owner Lia Huynh. "The sweetness comes from the bones," she said. If sugar is used, it's important to use this and not plain white sugar, said Nguygen. "Yellow rock sugar imparts a soft mouth feel without being cloying," she said. "It rounds out all the rough edges and brings the flavors together in many Vietnamese noodle soup broths. Many Viet cooks in the past used granulated sugar, and the flavor is just sweet and flat." Rock sugar is made of white sugar, unrefined brown sugar and honey. Look for the golden-yellow sugar sold in plastic bags or paper boxes at Chinese and Vietnamese markets. RECIPESThis recipe is from Thi Cao, the chef at Buckley's. He and his family came to this country from Vietnam in 1975. This is his mother's recipe for pho. HANOI PHO |
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Rod Franklin
Chef Joined: 17 February 2010 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 921 |
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I've tried to make Pho four times over the years and never could get it to taste correct to my palate anyway. This is getting me wanting to try again.
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Hungry
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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I've never had it, and have never even had the opportunity to have it, but it sure sounds good. The first recipe (Hanoi pho) looks to be a good representation and should even be within reasonably-easy reach as far as availability of ingredients goes.
Great read, Dan - thank you for posting! |
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Hoser
Admin Group Joined: 06 February 2010 Location: Cumberland, RI Status: Offline Points: 3454 |
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Great info here Dan...as much as I love Asian cuisine, I have never tried to make pho.
Like Tas says...seems pretty straightforward, but it must be a labor of love with all those ingredients. I just might give this a shot down the road a bit.
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Go ahead...play with your food!
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africanmeat
Chef Joined: 20 January 2012 Location: south africa Status: Offline Points: 910 |
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Thanks for the info .
i will try it .
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Ahron
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HistoricFoodie
Admin Group Joined: 21 February 2012 Location: Kentucky Status: Offline Points: 4940 |
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Pho is all about the broth, guys. If you can't find good bones, don't even bother. That's one reason I never make it at home.
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AK1
Master Chef Joined: 10 April 2012 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Offline Points: 1081 |
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I tried making it once... didn't work so good.
Fortunately there is a Vietnamese restaurant close by that makes excellent Pho, and cheap too.
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gonefishin
Master Chef Joined: 20 September 2012 Status: Offline Points: 1778 |
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I remember the first time I had pho, I was blown away! Luckily, in the Chicago area we not only have some good ethnic grocery stores...but we've also got the Vietnamese area, on Argyle Street.
When sourcing the ingredients, try to take a look at some ethnic grocery stores, especially various Asian grocery store seem to have the best selection of bones, at least by me. You may also find some tendons there as well, if you're so inclined to add them in as well. I am not an expert in pho at all, but good pho is a glorious treat. But bad pho is very ho hum...plain...unexciting...etc...etc. The unfortunate thing is...some pho restaurants make below average pho as well. But when you find that nice bowl...make sure you remember the place
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Enjoy The Food!
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Margi Cintrano
Master Chef Joined: 03 February 2012 Location: Spain Status: Offline Points: 6357 |
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Dan, Excellent research and background on the dish. Thank you for posting. Margaux. |
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Volamos a Mediterraneo, un paraiso que conquista su gente u su cocina.
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gracoman
Chef Joined: 09 August 2013 Status: Offline Points: 885 |
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AK1
Master Chef Joined: 10 April 2012 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Offline Points: 1081 |
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I'm drooling.
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gonefishin
Master Chef Joined: 20 September 2012 Status: Offline Points: 1778 |
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I need a virtual spoon!
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Enjoy The Food!
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gracoman
Chef Joined: 09 August 2013 Status: Offline Points: 885 |
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TasunkaWitko
Admin Group Joined: 25 January 2010 Location: Chinook, MT Status: Offline Points: 9356 |
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Nice job on the pho, gMan!
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