Three-Hour Beef Pho with Charred Onion and Toasted Spice

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A weekend-friendly pho bo that gets a deep, clear, sweetly spiced broth in three hours instead of overnight: bones are parboiled and rinsed for clarity, onion and ginger are blackened under the broiler, and the spices are toasted dry in a skillet before they ever hit water. The bowls are assembled the way a good Vietnamese soup shop does it — raw shaved sirloin in the bottom, hot rice noodles on top, boiling broth poured over to cook the beef at the table — with a loaded herb plate so everyone finishes their own bowl.

Ingredients

• 3 lb beef marrow and knuckle bones, cut crosswise
• 1 1/2 lb beef brisket or chuck, in one piece
• 1 lb oxtail (optional, for body)
• 5 quarts cold water, plus more for parboiling
• 2 oz yellow rock sugar (or 2 tbsp light brown sugar)
• 1 1/2 tbsp fine sea salt
• 3 tbsp fish sauce, plus more to taste

• 2 large yellow onions, halved through the root
• 4 inch piece fresh ginger, halved lengthwise
• 2 whole star anise
• 1 stick cinnamon (3 inches), preferably cassia
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 pods black cardamom (or 3 green cardamom pods)

• 12 oz dried flat rice noodles (banh pho), 1/8-inch wide
• 12 oz beef sirloin, eye of round or ribeye, well chilled
• 4 stalks scallions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 small white or red onion, shaved paper-thin
• 1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
• Freshly ground black pepper

• 3 cups mung bean sprouts
• 1 large bunch Thai basil
• 1 bunch cilantro or culantro (sawtooth herb)
• 2 whole limes, cut into wedges
• 2 whole jalapeño or Thai chiles, thinly sliced
• Hoisin sauce and sriracha, for serving

Instructions

1. Put the bones, brisket and oxtail in your largest stockpot, cover with cold water by 2 inches and bring to a hard boil over high heat. Boil 10 minutes — it will look alarming and grey. Drain everything into the sink, then scrub each bone and the meat under running water to remove all clotted foam. Wash the pot too. This single step is what makes the finished broth clear.
2. Return the cleaned bones, brisket and oxtail to the pot and add 5 quarts cold water. Bring to a bare simmer over medium heat (about 20 minutes), then adjust the heat so the surface barely trembles — 195–200°F, never a rolling boil. Skim any grey foam for the first 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, set an oven rack 5 inches under the broiler and heat it to high. Put the onion halves cut side up and the ginger on a foil-lined sheet pan and broil 10–14 minutes, turning once, until both are blistered and blackened in patches and smell sweet. Scrape off any fully carbonized skin from the ginger and add both to the pot.
4. Toast the star anise, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, fennel and cardamom in a dry skillet over medium heat, shaking constantly, for 3–4 minutes until fragrant and the coriander pops. Tie them in a spice bag or a double layer of cheesecloth and drop into the pot. Loose spices work too but will need straining later.
5. Simmer uncovered at that bare tremble for 3 hours total, skimming fat and foam every 30 minutes and topping up with hot water if the bones become exposed. At the 1 1/2 hour mark, test the brisket with a fork: when it is tender but sliceable, lift it out, plunge it into a bowl of ice water for 5 minutes to keep the edges from darkening, then pat dry, wrap and refrigerate.
6. Remove the spice bag at 2 1/2 hours so the cinnamon and clove don't turn bitter. Add the rock sugar, salt and fish sauce and simmer the final 30 minutes. Taste: the broth should be assertively savoury and faintly sweet, because the noodles and herbs will dilute it. Add fish sauce a tablespoon at a time and salt as needed.
7. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve lined with a damp paper towel into a clean pot; discard the bones and aromatics. You should have 3 1/2 to 4 quarts — if you have more, boil it down; if less, add hot water. Skim the fat from the surface, or chill 20 minutes in a shallow pan and lift the fat off. Keep the broth at a hard simmer until serving.
8. Slice the raw beef against the grain as thin as you possibly can — 1/16 inch. Freezing it for 20–25 minutes first firms it up and makes this easy. Lay the slices in a single layer on a plate. Slice the cooled brisket thinly across the grain as well.
9. Soak the dried rice noodles in hot tap water 20 minutes, then boil them in a large pot of unsalted water for 30–60 seconds, until just tender with a little chew. Drain and rinse briefly under hot water. Divide among 4 deep, warmed bowls (rinse bowls with boiling water first — cold bowls kill pho).
10. Arrange the herb plate: bean sprouts, Thai basil, cilantro, lime wedges and sliced chiles on a platter for the table, with hoisin and sriracha in small dishes.
11. Lay the raw beef slices over the noodles in each bowl, add the brisket, then scatter scallions, shaved onion and cilantro on top. Bring the broth to a full rolling boil and ladle 1 1/2 to 2 cups over each bowl, aiming directly at the raw beef so it poaches to rare on contact. Finish with a good grind of black pepper and serve immediately with the herb plate.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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