Gene: Do you have some good fish sauce in your recipe? If not try adding some. And how about sa sung as mentioned in an Andrea Nguyen's post Pho Secret Ingredients: Dried Earthworms (Sa Sung)? Anyway in general, fish sauce, MGS, and a few others may get you the umami flavor you want.
yeah i agree with some of the above comments no one wants to read the pointless bs just tell us how to make pho and keep the rest to yourself
Hello h: That's what I like! The passion about pho and making pho yourself. You can't wait to get to the meat and bone of it (pun intended) to get your pho fix. Well I apologize that this article does not meet your needs. I would refer you to my 2 other sources to make your own pho broth. They are Top Pho Bo and Pho Ga Recipes You Must Try Yourself and Quick Beef Pho Recipe with Quoc Viet Foods’ Pho Soup Base.
Let me know how you did. And thanks to your excellent and spot on comment, I've put a note at the top of this article to help future visitors go to the correct articles if making pho is all they want.
Wow...thank you thank you thank you....wonderful website and exactly what I was looking for! My wife and I are foodies...travel for food and love learning new recipes.
I have long wondered how on earth they made this broth, I had ideas trying to deconstruct it, but I wasnt even close. Now I can finally do it the right way!
Mike: I'm glad you found information about Vietnamese pho broth you can use. I admire you for trying to deconstructing pho broth, a futile effort 😉 but very deserving a big pat on the back, especially if you didn't grow up in Vietnam where you may be more familiar with pho ingredients and their taste and function (I'm assuming you're Caucasian; my apology if I'm wrong.) In any case, happy pho broth day to you Mike!
To make a clear broth follow these two steps;
1. Par-boil the boes for 5 minutes, rinse in cold water and then either wash your stock pot or place the bones in a second clean stock pot. Cover with cold water.
2. Bring to a simmer, not a full boil. A full boil will emulsify the bone marrow into the stock and make the stock coudy or milky. Especially if you are using the proper long marrow bones to make your stock.
Agree with what Mike said about making clear broth. Full boil or frequent/aggressive stirring or mixing of the broth during simmering will have the same effect to emulsify the bone marrow or other solids into the stock. Of course for home cooking, it is really up to the home chef to cook the way he/she likes to enjoy with a few people. For commercial restaurants, there is no excuse for serving murky pho broth to customers.
When SIMMERING bones. knuckles/ cartilage/ etc... What you are looking for is the melting point of collagen: 160F and HOLD it at that temperature for as long as possible. This where the "good things" happen and you are rewarded with a rich and bodied broth.
Crank you heat to high and impurities start to leach out into your broth, possibly even dissolving the calcium. Good broths and stocks cannot be rushed. The L O N G E R it goes at a l o w e r temperature is absolutely best.
