First attempt at Pho broth... any pointers?

[JDMMAN]

So I've been looking at several different recipes online for Pho broth. I don't mind taking the time to do this right, so not really looking for shortcuts. Looking for tips/pointers on the types of bone/meat combinations you think could make the best broth. And also for those that make their own Pho broth at home, which butcher in Calgary tends to have most of the meat/bone ingredients?

[dj_rice]

For how my mom's make the broth is, its chock full of oxtail bones and chicken bones/carcasses. She boils it first for a short time like 30 mins, then dumps it all out and washes it. The 30 min boil gets rid of all the impurities and blood and etc and will give you a nice clear broth after.

Then re-fill with water, and she cooks the broth overnight 6-8 hours. For flavoring, she takes a whole white onion and burns/marks the outside and tosses that in. She also uses star anise, a whole piece of ginger burned/marked on outside as well.

[theken]

Watch your salt levels. I made the broth a few times and first too were soooooo salty, I tried countering with more water and some cane sugar and then it was like a diluted sweet salty mess.

[sexualbanana]

Originally posted by dj_rice
For how my mom's make the broth is, its chock full of oxtail bones and chicken bones/carcasses. She boils it first for a short time like 30 mins, then dumps it all out and washes it. The 30 min boil gets rid of all the impurities and blood and etc and will give you a nice clear broth after.

Then re-fill with water, and she cooks the broth overnight 6-8 hours. For flavoring, she takes a whole white onion and burns/marks the outside and tosses that in. She also uses star anise, a whole piece of ginger burned/marked on outside as well.

Wouldn't dumping all the water remove everything you just extracted from the bones and carcasses? As far as I know from making chicken broth, you just have to scoop out the top layer of foam and shit (which is all the blood and impurities), and the broth should be fine.

[The_Rural_Juror]

You can dump the initial boil to get it clean. Both ways work, but dumping results in a clearer broth. There's still plenty of stuff left in the bones for extraction.

[CompletelyNumb]

Dumping the first boil is the only way to get that clear broth look. Otherwise it will look murky like beef dip.

+1 for oxtail. Plenty of recipes online, you'll see a pretty distinctive trend with spices and ingredients. They sell premade spice packets at the asian market (tnt?), they're not bad.

Once you master the broth, start skimming and clarifying the fat. Make nuoc beo for the soup

[sputnik]

Originally posted by sexualbanana
Wouldn't dumping all the water remove everything you just extracted from the bones and carcasses? As far as I know from making chicken broth, you just have to scoop out the top layer of foam and shit (which is all the blood and impurities), and the broth should be fine.

No.

In reality you are just rinsing the bones after a 30 minute boil. This gets rid of the solid proteins (that create a foamy scum in your broth) and other loose bits you don't want.

When it comes to broth what you really want is the collagen and that takes 8+ hours at a slow simmer to extract.

[dawwgy]

Buy Star Anise at Bulk Barn, was hard to find elsewhere....

I added Peanut butter and Coconut milk to my finished broth along with sate sauce for a nice unique flavor.

Other than that, I used any bones I could find at the supermarket, which was slim pickings and ended up costing me more to make at home then it would have to eat out.

Good luck, you are in for a good half day over the stove!

[JDMMAN]

Thanks for the tips. Yeah par boiling is what's required to make sure a clear broth.

dj_rice - was the skin still on for the onion and ginger for the charring?

[sputnik]

Protip.

A cheap way to get good amounts of collagen in your broth is to use chicken feet instead of other chicken bones. Usually you can get them for under $1/lb and they make GREAT broth.

[msommers]

Turns out I've been using bones for stews and broth wrong the whole time

[friedn00dles]

Originally posted by dj_rice
For how my mom's make the broth is, its chock full of oxtail bones and chicken bones/carcasses. She boils it first for a short time like 30 mins, then dumps it all out and washes it. The 30 min boil gets rid of all the impurities and blood and etc and will give you a nice clear broth after.

Then re-fill with water, and she cooks the broth overnight 6-8 hours. For flavoring, she takes a whole white onion and burns/marks the outside and tosses that in. She also uses star anise, a whole piece of ginger burned/marked on outside as well.

X2 - same exact method my mom uses.

[sputnik]

Alton Brown has a good chicken stock episode.

[dj_rice]

Originally posted by JDMMAN
Thanks for the tips. Yeah par boiling is what's required to make sure a clear broth.

dj_rice - was the skin still on for the onion and ginger for the charring?

Skin was off on the onion but on for the ginger. The burning creates a more in depth flavor and brings it out more. Kinda like searing meat. It seals the juices in.

[dj_rice]

Originally posted by friedn00dles


X2 - same exact method my mom uses.

I'm pretty sure I'm missing a few steps/ingredients as she starts cooking it late evening 9-10pm and it simmers during the night.

For the meats, I do know she uses tripe, beef meatballs, brisket. But mainly the soup is tons of oxtail.

[diamondedge]

3 chicken carcasses and the more oxtail, the better.

I char the onion and ginger under the broiler, turn often. Leave skin on the onion. In essence you're caramelizing the first few layers of the onion underneath the skin - nom nom.

My mom told me to take a peeled daikon and a peeled old carrot - toss it in after the parboil to add some vegetable sweetness. I also toast the star anise, coriander seeds and other herbs lightly in a pan before tossing into the stock as well.

F I want to make pho now.

[botox]

Originally posted by dj_rice
For how my mom's make the broth is, its chock full of oxtail bones and chicken bones/carcasses. She boils it first for a short time like 30 mins, then dumps it all out and washes it. The 30 min boil gets rid of all the impurities and blood and etc and will give you a nice clear broth after.

Then re-fill with water, and she cooks the broth overnight 6-8 hours. For flavoring, she takes a whole white onion and burns/marks the outside and tosses that in. She also uses star anise, a whole piece of ginger burned/marked on outside as well.

Yeah this is how my wife makes it as well. No MSG needed and tastes great. Whenever we make any soups with any bones or carcasses we always boil it for a bit first then discard the water and clean the bones and boil again to get a clean broth.

[01RedDX]

.

[Strider]

Anyone tried making it in a pressure cooker?
Haven't done it myself, but usually you get cleaner broths because there's no turbulence from boiling and it should cut the time down by a lot.

Also... source for cheap ox tail? it's essentially the same price as steak at Superstore.

[95EG6P]

Originally posted by Strider
Anyone tried making it in a pressure cooker?
Haven't done it myself, but usually you get cleaner broths because there's no turbulence from boiling and it should cut the time down by a lot.

Also... source for cheap ox tail? it's essentially the same price as steak at Superstore.

ox tail too expensive for me i use beef knuckles or the neck bone