Pho Broth

Prep Time: 25 minutes                                Cook Time 2-24 hours          Add to MyFitnessPal

 

Oh pho, how I love thee. I grew up eating southeastern asian cuisine. Despite mom's affinity for McD's, I learned to eat with chopsticks long before I could handle a fork and spoon. And of all the foods I ate, none tastes like home quite like a steaming bowl of pho. But those stinking rice noodles have WAY too many carbs for my diet, and the broth seemed impossible to make (or so I thought.) I spent three years trying to perfect pho but could never make it like Ngdom used to when I was a little. Oh, and it's a protein BOMB! YUM YUM YUM!

Protein, salt, collagen, perfection



Before you read any further - note that this is an involved recipe compared to most of what I post - but it is also my very favorite! If you're not a pho phan (HA!), or have never tried pho, find a good pho place (it will be the one with very few customers not recently immigrated from southeast asia) and try some before undertaking this endeavor. Bring a friend to eat your noodles as you won't be eating those, but the broth is heavenly. I'm only posting the broth here, but will post the full-meal-deal shortly. Also, you can always buy the broth at a local pho joint and then assemble at home using the full pho recipe below - though then you don't know exactly what you're getting.

I made mine with goat spine leftover from the last butchering
If I'm going to raise an animal for meat, I'd better use it all

When I made the decision to have surgery, I was determined to figure out how to make pho before going under the knife so that, in those first weeks post op I could have some amazing, high protein (yet, high protein) broth to look forward to on the other side, even if I had to wait on the noodles, beef, herbs & onions. I reached out to the local vietnamese community, met with several pho chefs, and finally achieved this pinnacle of success. To make it perfect, you're going to have to do the 24-hour minimum simmer on your broth and use 100% fresh spice, but a 2-hour simmer will do in a pinch.

Lastly, whatever you do, DO NOT use premade pho stock, the pho paste that comes in a jar, or the bouillon-cube-style pho seasoning you find at some stores. It's downright NASTY! Instead, you can often find pho spice packets at your local asian grocer that look like teabags - these are a good timesaver if you don't want to assemble your own - but use 2 if you do this as these spices are pre-ground and thus have lost much of their luster.
 



The cinnamon in the top left is Vietnamese cinnamon bark - YUM!

Ingredients:

Onions, halved, skin on - 2

Chunk of gingerroot, halved lengthwise - 4"

Beef bones (ideally knuckle, leg, or oxtail) - 4-5 lb

Water - 6 quarts

Cinnamon stick - 1

Coriander seeds - 1 Tbsp

Fennel seeds - 1 Tbsp

Star anise, whole - 5

Cardomom pod, green, whole - 1

Cloves, whole - 6

Noniodized salt - 1.5 Tbsp (halve if using regular table salt)

Fish sauce (vietnamese, NOT thai, use that for other tasty dishes) - 1/4 cup

Sugar (I know, I know, but here it's used as a spice, not a sweetener) - 1 oz

 

Preparation:

Turn on your broiler and move the rack to the top position. Place your ginger and onions on a baking sheet cut-side-up. Brush with a smidgeon of olive oil and broil until they just begin to char. Then turn over and continue until this side just begins to char.

Perfect - though admittedly the ginger could have used a little more toasting

Fill a very large pot with cool water. Boil your bones on high for 10 minutes, then dump the water, rinse the bones & rinse the pot. This will help limit the "scum" in your final broth. Take a small spoon and scoop out most of the marrow if you can. Toss that also. It's good for you, not good for broth.

 

Fill the pot with the bones and 6 quarts water. Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer. After 5 minutes, skim off any 'scum' that rises to the surface with a fine mesh strainer, ladle, or spoon.

 

Take all of your spices and put them into a cloth or mesh packet. You essentially want to make a teabag to steep these spices but don't want them left in your broth when you're done. You can use a clean dishtowel and a paperclip if push comes to shove. Even an old (and sterilized) sock - this is what my favorite chef downtown used. I'm not kidding. I use an old tea-ball.
 

Works like a champ

 Add ginger, onion, spice packet, sugar, fish sauce and salt to the broth and simmer for 2-24 hours.

Ready for the stove

If you're going for the long simmer, be sure to top off the pot every few hours so you don't burn the house down. I typically put my pot on top of our woodstove (we use wood to heat our home) overnight, top it off once in the morning, and then finish at about noon. Also, periodically come back and scrape off any 'scum' that forms on the surface. It's all good stuff, but makes for a funky texture to your broth.

 

Taste your broth, if it's off, you can add more salt or fish sauce until it's perfect. Heck, even a little lime juice might just mean perfection.
 

If you're not feeling like it's beefy enough, you can put in a hunk-o-beef (chuck is best) for an hour or so to increase the beefiness, then remove and either feed to your chickens or use in a stew later. The catch here is now you'll have to start over with the 'scum' skimming.

 

Allow to cool to room temperature, strain all solids out of your broth and then refrigerate. This will cause any fat in the broth to solidify on the surface - you can just pluck this off the top. You'll notice your broth is completely opaque, this is because you've got a TON of gelatin (which is pure protein by the by) in your broth and WOW is it tasty.

 

At this point, you may wish to simply reheat and sip servings of just broth. GO FOR IT! This is excellent stuff in phases 1 & 2 to help you get protein in while still sipping broth. It will also keep you from getting lightheaded from a sodium deficiency.

 

Divvy out into separate portions, freeze what you don't plan to eat within a week (it freezes wonderfully) and enjoy.

 

Nutrition (per cup):

Calories: 70

Fat: 4 g

Carbs: 1 g

Protein: 6.4 g

Sodium: 424 mg