Good Eats: Phan’s Phở
By: Nhan Phan
5.30 a.m. I began to reluctantly rise from my bed to make it on that weekly bus to Hannafords. I had a shopping list ready, my mom’s credit card in hand and a sense of enthusiasm to begin my grocery journey to shop for the ingredients. But when I arrived at the meat section, I froze. In front of me was an array of all the meat in the world: beef, chicken, lamb, venison, veal, pork. What’s a ribeye? What’s a flank? Is this flank? Then, I proceeded to gently roll my half-full shopping cart to the produce section. I’m supposed to find coriander and “Thai” basil, but navigating the rows of vegetables was a daunting task on its own. Don’t even mention the spices and the sauces. I was going to cook in a week, so why prepare so soon, you ask? Well, the answer is simple: cooking phở is a long and laborious process. It’s not easy to achieve the great depth of flavor phở has in its broth, nor is it easy to achieve the tenderness in the meat. Hence, why a good pot of phở will require weeks of preparation.
But skip forward in time. It was the day where I’d hold the record for the most complicated thing to be made in the Wentworth kitchen. It was the day where I would cook phở. I woke up at 8:30a.m., asking what I got myself into.
Now, in order to achieve a phenomenal pot of broth, the secret is bone marrow, onions, and time. I headed down to the kitchen, with eight pounds of bone marrow in the fridge, a handful of onions and ginger, and nine pounds worth of meat. My chair was ready at the kitchen counter, and “Disco Music Playlist” was blasting from my laptop’s Spotify. I began my journey.
The bone marrow is not ready on its own––you need to spend at least two hours cleaning it first. A good ol’ trick of the trade my dad taught me back in Vietnam is to submerge the bone marrow for an hour; it gets the junk and the blood out. After submerging it, put it all in the same pot, submerge all at once again, and boil the water. After this, your bone marrow should be ready. While that’s being taken care of, you need to prepare your onions and ginger. Ginger and onions are extremely important for adding the aroma into the pot of broth because it secretes this oil that adds a wonderful depth of flavor.
Now, the meat. If you are planning to serve a lot of people, 8-9 pounds of meat should be enough to feed quite a few. There are many varieties of phở, from beef to chicken to shrimp, or even Surf n’ Turf! In this case, I chose to make the classic beef phở. The cut of meat is equally as important as the broth and the noodles. It needs to be tender when cut, and it needs to add part of the sweetness of the broth. A slab of boneless ribeye is the best for long cooks; because of its size, it takes quite a while to cook and tenderize, and it’s prudent to slice the slab in half to lower your cooking time. Flank and top sirloin cuts are also good; they also take a long time to cook but they are a bit more stringy in texture and chewier than the ribeye. However, if you want parts that take a quicker time to cook, the round eye or the London broil are all quick-cooking pieces of beef that won’t leave you chewing for hours. My choice was a 6.5-pound slab of ribeye and a 2-pound slice of top sirloin.
Now you are all set to begin cooking the broth! Essentially, the broth consists of the bone marrow, a lot of water, the onions you broiled, some seasoning, spices and your meat. Seasoning depends on you; I seasoned the broth with salt and brown sugar, but the quantity depends on your own taste. In terms of spices, there are a variety that you will need to acquire at your nearest Hannafords: star anise, cinnamon sticks, coriander seeds, whole cloves and cardamom pods. The intensity of the spices can really shine through the broth, so measure out these seeds in moderation. I wanted a subtle yet clear flavor, so I only added small quantities.
After 6 hours of cooking the broth, I tackled noodles, vegetables, and condiments. Then, it was showtime. Students from Wentworth arrived to witness the masterpiece of food, and the art that is the serving of phở. One at a time, people lined up for a bowl. The meat from the pot was sliced thinly into beautiful pieces and placed on the side. The other side held an array of coriander, basil, and bean sprouts. I strained the noodles and placed them at the center of the bowl, topping it off with splashes of hot broth. As I did that, I noticed that so many people were waiting that the line stretched outside Wentworth bike entrance, and even Principle Rawson came to enjoy (this recipe is given by special request from him personally)! On that glorious night, Phở was eaten with sriracha and Hoisin sauce, a wedge of lemon and some chili on the side; the broth was flavorful, the meat melted in our mouths, the noodles added texture to the complexity of the Phở. It was beautiful. If done right, making Phở can be a food experience to remember.
Recipe for Beef Phở
Ingredients (for 5-6 large portions)
3-4 pounds of boneless ribeye
2 pounds of flank/top sirloin
4-6 pounds of bone marrow
3-4 whole onions
1-2 purple onions
2-3 whole ginger segments
Coriander
Thai basil
Bean sprouts
1-2 packs of Phở Noodles (Rice Noodles)
Salt
Brown Sugar
1 tsp Coriander Seeds
2-3 Whole Clove segments
1 Cinnamon Stick
2-3 Cardamom Pods
1-2 Star Anise
Lime (cut into wedges)
Sriracha
Hoisin Sauce
Chilli flakes/chilli oil
Equipment
Strainer (for bubbles)
2 x Stockpot (preferably 12-16 quart)
A pan
Baking tray and parchment paper
Cheesecloth and string
Knives (large size)
Tongs
Colander
Procedure
Stage 1: Preparation Phase
Place bone marrow into one of the stockpots. Submerge it fully with cold water. Add three tablespoons of salt into the water. Let it submerge for one hour until the water turns red/coloured. If bone marrow doesn’t fit into a single pot, divide into several pots.
Take the meat out of the freezer, and do not remove the meat from the packaging. Submerge it underwater for 35 minutes to defrost. After 35 minutes, take it out and remove the packaging. Wash the meat with cold water, and remove any blood.
After submerging the bone marrow for an hour, remove the water and add new water to submerge the bone marrow again. Put the pot on the stove and boil the pot. This should get rid of all excess residue from the bone marrow. Continue this for another 45 minutes. Strain all bubbles if they rise to the water surface.
While bone marrow is being boiled, wash and unpeel the onions and slice the ginger in half. Using a knife, cross the onion by making two half-cuts that do not go all the way through. Do this for all the onions.
Afterwards, put all the onions and the ginger on a baking tray and place all of it in the oven. Broil the onions for approximately 45-50 minutes.
After the bone marrow finished being cleaned, move the bone marrow to another pot and thoroughly clean the previously used stockpot.
Stage 2: Cooking the Broth
At this point, cleaned bone marrow, defrosted meat, a clean stockpot, broiled onions and ginger should all be available.
Put all of the spices on a pan, and measure out the spices to one’s personal taste. Turn the stove to high heat, roasting the spices for 5-7 minutes, then turn to small-medium heat.
Place the bone marrow, meat and onions into the stockpot in that order, then proceed to pour in water into the stockpot.
Turn the stove on high heat for the first 5-10 minutes until the water begins to boil. Season the preliminary broth pot with salt and brown sugar (season according to taste). After the water begins to boil and bubbles are visible on the surface, continuously strain bubbles for 25-30 minutes. Be sure to check in 5-7 minute intervals for the first 30 minutes.
After the bubbles are no longer visible, turn the stove to medium heat and let the broth pot simmer for 4-6 hours. Be sure to strain bubbles if spotted.
Put all the roasted spices on a sheet of cheesecloth, then crumple the cheesecloth to create a spice bag. Tie it up with a piece of string. Place the spice bag into the stockpot after the first hour of cooking.
Throughout the 6 hours, be sure to constantly taste the broth and add seasoning if needs be. If you see yellow blobs of fat on the water surface, do not strain. The beef fat adds flavor.
Some of the water may evaporate during cooking; add more water for more broth if needed.
Stage 3: Preparation for Service
After 4 to 5 five hours of simmering the broth, remove the onions from the broth. Also, remove the meat to check its cookedness. If it is raw, place it back in the broth pot and turn the stove to high heat for 15-20 minutes.
Wash coriander, basil, bean sprouts and vegetables, and place on the tray.
Begin to cut lime into wedges for service, layout all sauces and condiments.
Put 1 pack of phở noodles into the other stockpot; let it submerge for 10 minutes under cold water before turning on the stove.
Boil water until phở noodles are tender; using tongs, remove the noodles into a basket and strain out the water.
Once the meat is fully cooked, remove it from the broth pot and slice thinly.
Stage 4: Service
The service station should be like a factory line; it should consist of multiple stations.
First place vegetables on the side of the bowl.
Place several slices of meat on the opposite side.
Using tongs, place noodles in the center of the bowl; do not place too much.
Ladle the hot broth into the bowl.
Finish with a lime wedge and chopsticks on the side. Phở is served!
