“Pho Bo”- Traditional Vietnamese Beef Pho With Brisket Recipe

Authentic traditional style Vietnamese Pho- this family recipe is so comforting and richly seasoned. Steeping hot fragrant beef broth is ladled over flat rice noodles and thinly sliced beef and topped off with fresh herbs and vegetables like cilantro, basil, mint, bean sprouts, lime juice and bean sprouts.

This was always a Trinh staple on Sunday afternoons. My dad would actually start cooking the beef bone broth on Saturday and would continue to cook the broth into Sunday which made for a very deep and fragrant broth (keep in mind that a good beef bone broth steeps for 12-24 hours so you can imagine the flavor with extended broth times). A few things that my dad does differently is his special dry spice ratio, charring ginger and onions; and adding daikon to the broth which adds a little sweetness to the pho without adding too much sugar.

My dad loves his pho with some crunchy sweet onions with sriracha. Basically you soak sliced sweet onions in ice water and a little vinegar, then add sriracha at the end to mix. So so good! 🤤.

Here are a few things that my dad/family does:

1️⃣ Always char your ginger and onions (we like using shallot onions).
2️⃣ Add daikon to the broth along with a some rock sugar to add a little natural sweetness.
3️⃣ When choosing bones for your stock try to get femur bones, knuckle bones because they add lots of flavor and also has really good pieces of tendon that adds that velvety silk to your broth.
4️⃣ Dry roast your seasoning spices and add in the last hour of cooking for optimal flavor.

⏪ If you’re afraid of using fish sauce, I tried using some @redboatfishsauce salt at the end for a little extra umaminess! It’s easier to add and it’s more subtle in taste.

Other additional tips:
*About the meats: my dad likes to freeze the rare beef (eye round steak or whatever cut of meat you use for the raw meat) for about an hour or so until it’s almost frozen so that it’s SUPER easy to cut ultra thin pieces of the rare sliced beef!

*Don’t stir your broth: When making the broth and simmering the key to a clear broth is to avoid stirring the pot and moving things around. Also keep it at a low simmer and remove as much of the top of the impurities as possible and this will also help with a purer broth.

*Parboil bones- Clean and parboil your bones, this will release most of the impurities from the bones and will result in a clearer broth.

BEEF STOCK INGREDIENTS

5-7 lbs beef bones (Mixed bones, whatever you can get: shank bones, or beef bones, mixed beef leg bones, shin, knuckle and marrow bones, achilles tendon/foot, femur bone)
2 lb beef brisket (cut in 2 large pieces)
1.5-2 lbs eye round beef steak (place in freezer for 1 hour to cut thin strips)
*Few pieces of tendons / cartilage pieces (optional)
24+ cups water (~1.5 gallons)
3 tbs salt
3 tbs sugar (rock sugar or white sugar)
3 tbs vegetable powder
2 large onions (charred)
4 thumb sizes of ginger (charred, rinsed off)
1 large piece of Daikon cut in two half pieces

*1 tbs fish sauce or to taste, see note below, add as LAST ingredient to go in.

DRIED SPICE BAG
2" asian cinnamon stick cracked in quarters or smashed
8 pieces of dried cloves
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
3 whole pieces of star anise
1 tsp fennel seeds
3/4 tbs black peppercorns

PHO
1 bag vermicelli pho rice noodles

GARNISHES
1 bunch green scallions, chopped thinly
1 bunch fresh mint
1 bunch cilantro (large stems removed, chopped semi-finely)
*1 handful of thai basil leaves (optional, since these are seasonal and hard to find)
1 thinly sliced red onion (add 1 tbs of vinegar and lightly mix and put in bowl to neutralize the onion some)
1 bag of bean sprouts
2 limes, cut into quarter wedges
Red chillies, chopped (served on side, chili seeds removed)
2-3 jalepenos cut into small slices
Deep fried shallots (served on side)

CONDIMENTS
Hoisin sauce (served on side)
Fish sauce (served on side)
Sriracha hot sauce (served on side)

PREPARATION
1. Clean the beef bones. Bring a large pot of water (enough to cover bones) to a rolling boil and 2 tbs salt. Add beef bones and tendons and boil for about 4-5 minutes until all bones has released all its impurities and blood. Rinse bones under running water and clean using your hands to remove any grit off bones and set all aside in a bowl. Rinse and clean stock pot.

*See tip above if you want to roast your bones for a deeper broth.

2. Place in freezer eye round for 1 -2 hours until it’s partially frozen, at this point it will be easy to cut into super thin slices. Cut into thin slices, and place in a tupper ware and set in fridge until ready to serve.

3. Roast spices: In a small frying pan roast all the dried spices until fragrant on high to medium high heat until fragrant and lightly smokey (do not burn spices). Shake pan occasionally to prevent any burning. Transfer to bowl and let spices cool for handling. Then place into a spice colander container or tea bag (tie tightly so the spices don't spill out loose in your stock).

4. Roast ginger / onions: peel outer shell of onions, in broiler grill the ginger and onion until it's charred on all sides (turn as sides are charred).

OR dry roast to frying pan on medium high heat. When the pan is hot add ginger slices and onions to slightly burned and fragrant (If you have a grill char it on a grill!).

5. Bring to a boil a fresh pot of about 1.5 gallons of water in large stock pot. Add salt and sugar.

6. Add washed bones, tendons and brisket; and roasted shallots/onions and ginger and boil for about 30 min (no lid) on high until you get a nice boil and then set to a LOW simmer for 3-12 hours (uncovered). (Occasionally remove any scum or impurities from top of broth without stirring too much).

7. After 3-4 hours when your broth is super fragrant- remove the onions, daikon, ginger from your stock and discard. If you want a deeper, richer bone broth remove onions/daikon/ginger from stock after 3-4 hours and keep boiling bones up to 8-12 hours total. I like to put the broth in the fridge after day 1 (removing all daikon/onions), and one day 2 continue to cook broth then move on to step #8 below.

*Check the brisket after a couple hours of it simmering. When the brisket is super tender, remove, and let them rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes,. Then thinly slice across the grain and place in a tupper ware and set in fridge.

8. When your broth is done to your liking add your spice bag and let simmer for 30 minutes then remove and dispose of spice bag after 30 min. Taste stock, and add sugar or salt to taste and add fish sauce (we like to add it individually into the bowls but feel free to add it in the soup as the last ingredient as well).

9. To serve: Plate in bowl a nice helping of hot cooked vermicelli noodles to center of individual serving bowls. On top of each bowl add bean sprouts, onion, cooked brisket and a few slices of raw beef (it will cook in the piping hot broth bowl). Ladle in a few scoops of boiling broth to generously fill the bowl with your broth. Top with fresh onions, scallions, cilantro and thai basil.

Condiments and extra garnishes: Serve with side of extra bean sprouts, limes, jalepeno, cilantro, mint, thai basil, sriracha and hoison sauce.