How To Make Pho: The Authentic Recipe

The Authentic Gay Makes Pho

Here at The Authentic Gay, we are big fans of a classic Vietnamese dish known as Pho. This soup is thought to have been invented in northern Vietnam in the early 20th century, and spread around the world by refugees following the Vietnam War. Pho has historically consisted of a bone/meat broth, rice noodles, different cuts of meat, topped with bean sprouts and basil, however many variations exist based on geographic origin. This Pho Recipe should serve as a traditional cornerstone version.

Just as Pho makes for a delicious, savory meal, it also has many health benefits. According to Livestrong, the average serving of Pho contains 24 grams of protein, equal to almost half of the suggested daily protein intake for men. This dish also contains 20 percent of the daily suggested iron intake, an essential mineral responsible for oxygen transport in red blood cells. Although restaurant-made version of this soup can sometimes be high in sodium, this factor can easily be controlled by creating this dish at home.

For this essential iteration we visited our webmaster’s family for an authentic Vietnamese Pho recipe. We made sure to take pictures of almost every step, including the ingredients you will most likely only be able to find at asian food markets. We hope you enjoy this recipe and the final product as much as we do!

Pho Recipe – Serves 4-6, cook time between 1-2 hours

You will need:

1. 6 Pieces of Beef Neck Bone
2. Pho Bac Spice Seasoning (Gia Vi Nau Pho Bac Hieu Ong Gia Que Huong)
3. 2x Limes
4. 2x Onions
5. Thai Basil
6. Two Pounds of Bean Sprouts
7. Cilantro
8. Wet Pho Noodles (1 Packet/4 People)
9. Nuoc Mam (Fish Sauce)
10. Rock Sugar
11. 2 x Beef Meatballs (with Tendon)
12. 2 lb Angus Beef Round Bottom Roast
13. Beef-flavored “Pho” Soup Base (Cot Pho Bo)
14. Ginger root

See below for pictures.

1. 6 Pieces of Beef Neck Bone

2. Pho Bac Spice Seasoning (Gia Vi Nau Pho Bac Hieu Ong Gia Que Huong)

3. 2x Limes

4. 2x Onions

5. Thai Basil

6. Two Pounds of Bean Sprouts

7. Cilantro

8. Wet Pho Noodles (1 Packet/4 People)

9. Nuoc Mam (Fish Sauce)

10. Rock Sugar

11. 2x Beef Meatballs (with Tendon)

12. 2lb Angus Beef Round Bottom Roast

13. Beef-flavored “Pho” Soup Base (Cot Pho Bo)

14. Ginger root

Directions:

Place neckbones in 2-gallon pot, fill with enough water to cover bones, bring to boil, dump out water (“scum” will form during the first boil and must be dumped out)

After you dump out the first broth, re-fill to ¾ full (with neck bones still in the pot) and bring to boil, then turn down to medium-low and allow to simmer for 1 hour with cover on

Begin thawing meatballs (leave out or submerge in lukewarm water)

Begin cutting the beef roast – cut against the muscle striations, as thin as possible (leave these out until final steps)

Peel 2 onions, peel half of large ginger root, put on tin foil with ingredient #2, turn oven onto “low broil,” place in oven for 3-4 minutes, remove

Remove scum from surface of bowl (if forming)

Put onion balls directly into the pot (these will be taken out after flavor is extracted, make sure you take out before they start to fall apart)

Put ginger root directly into boiling broth

Put tangerine-size amount of rock sugar into the pot

Place one tablespoon of Pho Soup Base directly into pot

Continue to allow broth to simmer with all above steps completed for at least 1 hour

Put roasted herbs into cheesecloth bag, close up (tight), put in boiling pot

Slice thawed meatballs into thirds, place these into the pot

Slice thawed meatballs into thirds, place these into the pot

When broth is done simmering:

Fill a separate 2-gallon pot ½ full with water

Bring pot of water to boil, place handful of noodles into pot for 45 seconds only, take out and place directly into serving bowls

Place cut-up raw beef into the bowls on top of the fresh-cooked noodles

Pour simmering broth over the noodles and beef, adding meatballs as desired (the simmering broth will cook the thin-cut beef as it is poured into the serving bowls)

Garnish with bean sprouts and basil…

And enjoy!