Sa Sung USA's Organic Phở Spice Sachets are made with an authentic hand-selected blend of premium organic whole spices that are critical key components to making a delicious restaurant style Phở broth. No longer will you have to traverse the elements to visit your local Vietnamese restaurant each time you crave the warmth and comfort of this dish. With our our Phở Spice Sachets, you can make your own Phở at the comfort of your own home and enjoy it anytime you want!
 
Beef Pho (Phở Bò)
 
Ingredients
For the broth - Suitable for a 6-8qt pot (6-8 servings)
1 Sa Sung USA Organic Pho Spice Sachet
10 grams of Sa Sung USA's wild caught Sá Sùng
3 medium yellow or white onions (about 1.5-pound total)
2 large pieces of whole ginger (about 8-10 ounces)
5 pounds of beef broth bones (knuckle, back, vertebrae, or marrow bones)
1-pound piece of beef chuck, rump, brisket or cross rib roast (weight after trimming)
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons fish sauce (added at the end right before serving *very important*)
2 ounces (two 1-inch chunks) yellow rock sugar (đường phèn)
For the bowls
2 - 2.5 pounds thin cut (1/8-inch wide) dried or fresh banh pho noodles ("rice sticks'' use fresh noodles for best results)
1/2 - 1 pound raw eye of round or sirloin, thinly sliced across the grain (1/16 inch thick or as thin as possible. For ease, refrigerate before slicing.)
1 medium yellow or white onion, sliced paper-thin, left to soak for 10 minutes in a bowl of cold water, drain and set aside.
1 bundle scallions/green onion, green part only, slice into thin rings or at an angle.
1/2 cup chopped coriander/cilantro (rau mùi)
 
Optional garnishes arranged on garnishing plate and placed at the table
Sprigs of sweet mint (rau thơm) and Thai basil (húng quế)
Culantro, Eryngium Foetidum (ngò gai)
Bean sprouts (1 lb.) Red or Green spicy chilis (Thai bird's eye or Jalapenos (thinly sliced)
Fresh lime wedges (4 wedges per lime)
 
Instructions
Prepare the pho broth
Char the onions and ginger. Use an open flame on a grill or gas stove. Place onions and ginger directly over flame and let skin burn. After about 10-12 minutes, they will soften and juices will begin to bubble out from the top point of the onion. Use tongs to occasionally rotate for even charring. You don't have to blacken the entire surface of the onions or ginger, just enough until you can smell a slightly caramelized sweet aroma.
Allow to cool. Under running water, remove charred skin; trim and discard blackened parts of root or stem ends. Use sharp paring knife to remove blackened outer skin, under running water use a small brush or sponge to remove blackened skin from the ginger. Slice onions in hald and slightly smash the ginger using the back of a knife, rubber mallet or meat tenderizer. Set aside for later use.
 
Parboil bones. Place all the bones into a large stockpot (minimum 14-quarts) and cover with cold water. Over high heat, bring to a hard boil for 3 minutes to release impurities which will float to the top. Dump bones and water into sink and rinse bones with running water. Quickly clean the stockpot completely to remove any residue. Return washed and cleaned bones to pot.
 
Simmer broth. Add enough water to cover 2-3 inches over the surface of the bones, bring to slight boil over high heat, then lower flame to gently simmer (medium-low). Use a ladle or small sieve to skim any scum that rises to the top. Add charred onions (sliced in half) & ginger (slightly smashed), and meats to cook, uncovered, for 2.5 hours. Boneless meat should be slightly chewy but not tough. When it is cooked to your liking, remove it and place in bowl with a few ladles of the simmering pho broth for 15 minutes; this prevents the meat from drying up and turning dark as it cools. Drain the meat; cool, then refrigerate. After 5 hours, add in Sa Sung USA's Organic Pho Spice Sachet and allow to simmer for 45 mins to 1 hour then remove and discard. Allow broth to continue cooking; in total, the broth should simmer for 6 hours. Strain the pho broth through a fine strainer. If desired, remove any bits of gelatinous tendon from bones to add to your pho bowl or use the entire bones with tendons & meat still attached. If removing tendon from bones, store it with the cooked beef. Discard all other solids.
 
Use ladle to skim as much fat from top of the pho broth as you like. Taste and adjust flavor with additional salt, fish sauce and yellow rock sugar. The pho broth should taste slightly salty because the noodles and other ingredients are not salted. (If you've gone too far, add water to dilute).
 
Assemble pho bowls:
The key is to be organized and have everything ready to go. Thinly slice cooked meat. For best results, make sure it's cold.
 
Heat the pho broth and ready the noodles. To ensure good timing, reheat broth over medium flame as you're assembling bowls. If you're using dried noodles, cook for 4-6 mins, until softened and opaque white. Drain in colander. For fresh rice noodles, quickly dip into a pot of hot boiling water for 10-15 seconds and add to bowl.
 
Blanch noodles. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a hard boil. For each bowl, use a long-handle noodle strainer to blanch a portion of noodles. As soon as noodles have collapsed and lost their stiffness (10-15 seconds), pull strainer from water, letting water drain back into saucepan. Empty noodles into bowls. Noodles should fill 1/5 to 1/4 of bowl. If desired, after blanching noodles, blanch bean sprouts for 30 seconds in the same boiling pot used for the noodles. They should be slightly wilted but retain some crunch. Drain and add to the garnish plate.
 
Add other ingredients. Place slices of cooked meat, raw meat, cooked bones and tendon on top of noodles. (If your cooked meat is not at room temperature, blanch slices for few seconds in hot water from above.) Garnish with onion, bean sprouts, scallions and chopped cilantro.
 
Ladle in broth and serve. Bring broth to rolling boil. Check seasoning. Ladle broth into each bowl, distributing hot liquid evenly so as to cook raw beef and warm other ingredients. Serve your pho with the garnish plate.
 
Enjoy!