Classic Vietnamese beef pho

This is the kind of recipe to set aside for weekends or moments when you want to spend time in the kitchen. A traditional pho broth takes time, but it is so worth it. The secret lies in drawing out those complex flavours from the charred aromatics, bones and spices.

Credit: Sippakorn Wongthanapa

• serves

  6

• prep

  35 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

• 200 g piece beef round steak, eye fillet (or any other cut that doesn’t have too much connective tissue or fat)
• 1 kg dried rice stick noodles
• ½ brown onion, finely sliced
• ½ cup finely sliced spring onion 

Broth

• 1 large onion
• 8 cm piece unpeeled ginger
• 2.5 kg beef bones (short ribs, knuckle bones or oxtail)
• 4 star anise
• 5 cloves 
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 spring onions
• 1 tbsp rock sugar
• 80 ml (⅓ cup) fish sauce, or to taste, plus extra to serve
• 2 tbsp sea salt, or to taste

To serve

• Hoisin sauce
• Sriracha sauce
• Lemon or lime wedges
• Finely sliced red chilli
• Thai basil leaves
• Bean shoots

Instructions

1. For the broth, char the onion and ginger over a naked flame, turning regularly for 10-15 minutes or until blackened all over. Alternatively, roast them under a hot oven grill. Transfer the onion and ginger to a chopping board and scrape off and discard most of the blackened skins, then roughly chop. Set aside.
2. Place the beef bones in a large stockpot (at least 6 litre capacity). Pour over enough water to generously cover the bones. Bring to the boil and simmer for 4 -5 minutes, then drain (there should be quite a bit of scum at the surface). Rinse the bones and clean the stockpot. Place the bones back into the clean stockpot along with the peeled onion, ginger, star anise, cloves, cinnamon stick, spring onion and 5 litres of water. Bring to a simmer and cook gently for 4 hours, skimming the surface every so often.
3. At least 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, soak the dried rice noodles in a large bowl of room temperature water. Drain.
4. Place the steak into the freezer for 20 minutes before you want to slice and serve (this makes it easier to thinly slice the beef). Cut the steak against the grain into very thin slices.
5. Remove the beef bones from the broth. If you can salvage any meat from the bones, keep that for serving. Strain the broth and place it into a clean pot. Add the sugar, fish sauce and salt. Taste and season with more fish sauce or salt to your taste (the broth should be on the saltier side because the noodles and other ingredients will be unseasoned).
6. To serve, drop the noodles in boiling water (I like to do this in individual portions), drain and place straight into serving bowls. Add some sliced raw onion, spring onion and some of the braised beef, if using. Drape over thin slices of the raw beef. Heat the broth up so that it is bubbling before ladling it over the raw beef (it should cook in the hot broth). Serve with hoisin and sriracha sauce, lemon or lime wedges, chilli, Thai basil, bean shoots, and fish sauce to be added at the table to taste.
   

Watch how to make this recipe in Episode 5 of Marion Grasby's Flavours Of Heart & Home streaming free on SBS On Demand.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.