It’s been stupefyingly cold here for what seems like weeks now, I’ve been totally maxed out at work, and, as a final injustice, I’ve gotten sick twice within a span of three weeks. Bleh.
Of course, all of which means it must be time for comfort food, right? In this case, phở. Yes, those funny accent marks mean it’s pronounced more like ‘fuh’ than ‘foe,’ but you knew that already, didn’t you?
I used this recipe, and damn if it wasn’t delicious. I tweaked the recipe somewhat – I used about 1T of canola oil when roasting the meat and spices instead of the recommended 2 ounces of lard, and I wound up using a lot of meat with bones when making the broth: meaty soup bones, a hunk of beef shank on the bone, and bone-in beef short ribs. I let the broth sit in the fridge overnight, and because of all the bones it came out like cinnamon-and-anise scented beef Jell-O. Yum. Yes, the process is kind of a pain in the ass, but still – for results like these, it is totally worth it. The only change I’d make would be to use an actual roasting pan – I roasted everything in the same Dutch oven that I made the actual stock in, so I didn’t caramelize the onion and ginger as much as I would have liked. Still, it makes for a fine, fine stock indeed.
I found fresh phở noodles (less soaking time than dried rice sticks), and we served it with diced shallots, sliced Thai bird peppers (woo! hot!), bean sprouts, lime wedges, hoisin sauce, cilantro & mint. Somehow my Thai basil didn’t make it into my shopping basket (that, or I’ll find it decaying in the back of the fridge in a couple of weeks), but we really didn’t miss it.
Two thumbs up. We’ll definitely be making this again.
[edited to add: I must clarify that 'stupefyingly cold' in Seattle would pass for 'pleasant harbinger of Spring' any other place I've ever lived. Here, however, it's 'depths of bleakest winter.' Go figure.]
Posted by protected static as random at 9:04 AM UTC