Pho
Recipe by Jack Goldstone
Ingredients
1 lb. beef brisket
1.5 lb. oxtail
1 marrow bone cut into 3rds
2 onions (one quartered, one sliced thin for plating)
1x 4 inch piece of ginger
1 garlic clove cut in half
1 cassia bark (cinnamon is a perfectly fine substitute)
1 stalk Lemongrass cut into 2 inch pieces
2 star anise
4 cloves
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 stalks green onions
Big bunch of cilantro
Big bunch of Thai basil
A lot of those lil pho bean sprouts
Fish sauce
Directions
Put the brisket, oxtail, and marrow bones in a pot and cover with cold water, bring to a boil and let cook for 5 minutes, skimming the scum from the boiling meats. Strain and discard water.
Rinse the brisket and oxtail under cold water, then pat dry with a towel. Put a very small dab of peanut oil in the pot on low heat, add 1.5 tbsp of sugar and stir till it turns into a caramel color, add the brisket and oxtail and stir around until the sugar coats all the pieces and it smells nice and fragrant. Add the marrow bones and cover with cold water, turn heat to high and bring to a boil, bring down to a simmer and simmer for 12 hours.
Quarter one onion and cut the ginger into 3rds long ways (no need to skin it), place on a baking sheet and broil for around 15 minutes, rotating the pieces until they’re all nice and CHARRED all around. Add this, the garlic, lemongrass, star anise, coriander seeds, cinnamon, and cloves to the pot. Simmer for another 12 hours.
Tong out the beef, oxtail and marrow bones onto a cutting board, and strain out remaining solids from broth and salt to taste.
Pull the brisket apart into soup friendly strands. Poke out any cooked marrow remaining in the marrow bones, save for plating, discard the bones. Using clean fingers pull away any edible meat from the oxtail, it will resemble stringy pulled pork, and discard bones. Place oxtail meat in an oilless frying pan on high heat and give them a good sear, remove from heat and return to cutting board with the rest of your meat bounty.
Take your onion and slice it as thin as you can, chop cilantro (stems and all) roughly, slice the green parts of a green onion into nice disks and mix all of these in a small bowl.
Boil water and cook rice noodles
Add a small splash of fish oil to each soon-to-be bowl of pho. Next add strained rice noodles, and top with some of the cilantro and onion mix. Arrange beef on top. Pour fresh piping hot broth over your beautifully crafted bowl. Serve with small mushroom shoots, Thai basil and a lime half. A bottle of sriracha is also a standard condiment that you should use for individual spoonfuls (rather than tainting the entire broth)
Notes from Jack
Mostly this Matty Matheson recipe.
Minor tweaks here and there but all praise to that large legend and the people of Vietnam who showed him the ways. The man needs no introduction and his youtube channel is full of more badassery.
