Phở Bò

About this dish

Phở took its shape in Hanoi in the early twentieth century, when French colonial butchery left Vietnamese cooks with beef bones that had gone unused in a diet built mostly on pork and poultry, and French pot-au-feu technique met Chinese five-spice sensibilities and native rice noodles. The name itself is thought to derive from the French 'feu' (fire, as in pot-au-feu) filtered through Vietnamese pronunciation. What made it a national dish rather than a regional curiosity was the 1954 partition: southern migrants carried northern phở recipes with them and sweetened and embellished the broth with the herbs, bean sprouts and hoisin now typical of the southern bowl. The broth is the whole dish — bones and spices simmered for hours until it tastes like more than the sum of its parts — and everything else is assembled at the very last second precisely so the raw beef cooks only in the last, hottest ladleful poured over it.

• Gluten-free
• Lactose-free
• Not vegetarian because of Beef stock, Beef brisket on the bone, Sirloin steaks, Fish sauce

• 2lBeef stock
• 500gBeef brisket on the bone
• 300gSirloin steaks
• 400gFlat rice noodles
• 150gOnion
• 40gFresh ginger
• 4piecesStar anise
• 6piecesWhole cloves
• 1pieceGround cinnamon
• 60mlFish sauce
• 20gCaster sugar
• 10gFine sea salt
• 200gBean sprouts
• 20gThai basil
• 15gFresh coriander
• 30gSpring onions
• 2piecesFresh red chilli
• 60mlLime juice

Instructions

1. 1

   Char the halved onion and sliced ginger directly over a flame or under a hot broiler until the cut sides are blackened, about 8-10 minutes, then rinse off the burnt skin under cold water.

   10 min

   Tip: Charring isn't for show — it's what gives the broth its smoky backbone and keeps it from tasting like plain boiled bone. Scrub off only the black skin, not the sweetness underneath.

2. 2

   Simmer the beef stock with the brisket, charred onion and ginger, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fish sauce, sugar and salt for 75 minutes, until the brisket is fork-tender.

   75 min

   Tip: A hard boil turns broth cloudy and beats the spices into bitterness; keep it at the gentlest simmer you can manage, with only the odd bubble breaking the surface.

3. 3

   Cook the rice noodles in a separate pot of boiling water for 3-4 minutes until just tender, then drain and divide between four bowls.

   10 min

   Tip: Rice noodles keep cooking in their own heat even off the stove, so slightly underdone is exactly right — they'll finish softening in the hot broth poured over them at the table.

4. 4

   Lift out the brisket, slice it thinly against the grain, and arrange it with the raw beef sirloin — sliced paper-thin — over the noodles.

   5 min

   Tip: Freeze the raw sirloin for 20 minutes before slicing; it firms the meat just enough to cut shavings thin enough to cook through in seconds.

5. 5

   Strain the broth, bring it back to a rolling boil, and ladle it scalding hot directly over the beef and noodles; serve at once with bean sprouts, Thai basil, coriander, green onion, sliced red chilli and lime juice at the table.

   5 min

   Tip: The raw beef only cooks because the broth hits it at a full boil, straight from the pot to the bowl — let it cool even briefly on the way and you're left with raw meat in lukewarm soup.