Oxtail/Beef Pho bo

[Sgt.Slaughter]

As requested...here ya go...this is a shortened version vs. the traditional but better than you'll get at any restaurant in Ptown - Enjoy!

• Start with good oxtail/beef bones: Avoid neck bones. Look for knuckle bones and leg bones that contain marrow.

• Aim for a clear broth: This is achieved by parboiling and rinsing the bones, which greatly reduces the amount of residue in the broth. You may think you're pouring essential flavors down the drain, but you're not. The bones exude their essence during the three-hour gentle simmer. Cooking at a low heat also helps produce clear broth.

• Char the onion and ginger: It imparts a wonderful brown color and deepens the overall flavors. This here is the key that many people don’t’ expect.

• Leave some fat. Skim some off the top but leave some.

• Serve it hot: To cook the raw beef and warm the cooked beef and noodles, the broth must be boiling when it's ladled into the bowl. But hot pho shouldn't be left to sit in the bowl. The noodles will absorb too much broth.

Prepare the broth:
Char onion and ginger. Use an open flame on grill or gas stove. Place onions and ginger on cooking grate and let skin burn. (If using stove, turn on exhaust fan and open a window.) After about 15 minutes, they will soften and become sweetly fragrant. Use tongs to occasionally rotate them and to grab and discard any flyaway onion skin. You do not have to blacken entire surface, just enough to slightly cook onion and ginger.
Let cool. Under warm water, remove charred onion skin; trim and discard blackened parts of root or stem ends. If ginger skin is puckered and blistered, smash ginger with flat side of knife to loosen flesh from skin. Otherwise, use sharp paring knife to remove skin, running ginger under warm water to wash off blackened bits. Set aside.
Parboil bones. Place bones in stockpot (minimum 12-quart capacity) and cover with cold water. Over high heat, bring to boil. Boil vigorously 2 to 3 minutes to allow impurities to be released. Dump bones and water into sink and rinse bones with warm water. Quickly scrub stockpot to remove any residue. Return bones to pot.
Simmer broth. Add 6 quarts water to pot, bring to boil over high heat, then lower flame to gently simmer. Use ladle to skim any scum that rises to surface. Add remaining broth ingredients and cook 1 1/2 hours. Boneless meat should be slightly chewy but not tough. When it is cooked the way you want, remove it and place in bowl of cold water for 10 minutes; this prevents the meat from drying up and turning dark as it cools. Drain the meat; cool, then refrigerate. Allow broth to continue cooking; in total, the broth should simmer 3 hours.
Strain broth through fine strainer. If desired, remove any bits of gelatinous tendon from bones to add to your pho bowl. Store tendon with cooked beef. Discard solids.
Use ladle to skim as much fat from top of broth as you like. (Cool it and refrigerate it overnight to make this task easier; reheat before continuing.) Taste and adjust flavor with additional salt, fish sauce and sugar. The broth should taste slightly too strong because the noodles and other ingredients are not salted. (If you've gone too far, add water to dilute.) Makes about 4 quarts.

Oxtail/Beef noodle soup (pho bo)
Makes 8 satisfying (American-sized) bowls
For the broth:
2 medium yellow onions (about 1 pound total)
4-inch piece ginger (about 4 ounces)
5-6 pounds oxtail/beef soup bones (marrow and knuckle bones)
5 star anise (40 star points total)
6 whole cloves (You can get the ready made tea bags if you are lucky to find them)
3-inch cinnamon stick
1 pound piece of beef chuck, rump, brisket or cross rib roast, cut into 2-by-4-inch pieces (weight after trimming) You can have the butcher slice any for you
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 ounce (1-inch chunk) yellow rock sugar or regular sugar 2 table spoons
For the bowls:
1 1/2-2 pounds small (1/8-inch wide) dried or fresh banh pho noodles -you can get these noodles at any asian store. Make sure they are fresh ones but if not the dry ones are fine too but you’ll have to cool those. It’s just an extra step that you don’t want.
1/2 pound raw eye of round, sirloin, London broil or tri-tip steak, thinly sliced across the grain (1/16 inch thick; freeze for 15 minutes to make it easier to slice) Like I said have the butcher slice it for you. It’s easier. Trust me.
1 medium yellow onion, sliced paper-thin, left to soak for 30 minutes in a bowl of cold water
3 or 4 scallions, green part only, cut into thin rings
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
Ground black pepper
Optional garnishes arranged on a plate and placed at the table:
Thai basil
cilantro
Bean sprouts (about 1/2 pound)
Red hot chilies thinly sliced
Lime wedges
Hoisin, Sriracha, fish sauce, roasted garlic in hot oil, sugar.

[tt3886]

Good god man.

Looks great...thanks for the detailed post....thankfully there is very little prep work involved.

[Something Good]

Definitely will try it!

[SpinGlo68]

Hey thx Sgt...!!At work now but gonna get home n write this stuff down..!Aint nothin like a good pho noodle soup on a cold saturday mornin..!Founfd the best deal on oxtails at freddy's then other day too!!

[Sgt.Slaughter]

Originally Posted by tt3886

Good god man.

Looks great...thanks for the detailed post....thankfully there is very little prep work involved.

and that's the quick version of pho...the OG viet broths simmer for 2 days sometimes....yummy in da tummy

[Sgt.Slaughter]

Originally Posted by SpinGlo68

Hey thx Sgt...!!At work now but gonna get home n write this stuff down..!Aint nothin like a good pho noodle soup on a cold saturday mornin..!Founfd the best deal on oxtails at freddy's then other day too!!

looks like i'm headed to freddy's need to do a Filipino style peanut sauce oxtail pan fry....buddy's recipe made with actual peanut butter...off the charts...may be a recipe comin soon....

[Fishalot]

Man! and to think i have been just opening up a can of the Pho broth . I love the Pho noodle soup, got to spice it up with the red chilly paste, and don't forget brown sauce also.
You can not possibly eat it all Sgt. , when you want me to stop by?


Fishalot

[Sgt.Slaughter]

it's actually been a month or so since I've even made it...I get an "instant" powdered broth version from the Asian store...blue package I think Dragonfly or Dragon brand...not too shabby for a quick fix..just add some onions/garlic to the broth..simmer bout 15 min...then I add thin sliced raw beef and noodles straight to my bowl and let the hot broth cook 'em....garnish with bean sprouts/cilantro/green onions and soups on!!! (in 20 min)

[tt3886]

Just a follow up:

Great recipe...the entire family loved it.

Freash banh pho noodles are not easy to find...I ultimately went to my locale vietnamese deli (where I should have gone first), and they sold me 5lbs of them for next to nothing.

Great way to spend a dreary weekend day in the kitchen.

Thanks Sarge.

Note: Oxtails at $04.50usd/lb...must be a shortage on Ox's around here...mighty good though.

[byebyeducky]

Made some Kare Kare a couple weeks ago. I used a recipe out of the BBQ Bible. It was AWESOME! Tomato/peanut sauce poured over the meat was great, and the meat was soo tender (par-boiled)and grilled too.

I want to try it again.

[Sgt.Slaughter]

dam i'm hungry now..or maybe it's just the beer..probably both

[bird dog bob]

hey sarge whats a good beer to go with that ?? maybe "33"

[chef serg]

Reminded me of the Pho soups we had at the new phoenix casino when i was the kitchen supervisor there. Same direction and ingredients except our broth would cook/simmer for 12, sometimes 16 hours.....

Now that its been 3 months without having to adjust anything for quality/consistency I think I might make a small pot at home soon.

Thanks SGT for sharing.

By the way I prefer your version to the versions we had at the casino- gelatized pork blood/protein, pork uterus, inside of beef stomach- white and bleached to increase tongue appeal- just remembered the name---- tripe....and some things that I just can't explain.

There was another version of pho that appealed to westerners a lot. Pho broth but had meatballs for protein.

[Sgt.Slaughter]

My fav brews with pho is tiger beer, beer chang (hard to find) or tsing tao

chef: the original version of this recipe actually called for 36-48hrs. of simmering...but after some research/experimenting i found this version to be almost as flavorfull - funny...i used to do security at the New Phoenix/Last Frontier...waaaay back in the day i dig the meatballs/tendons in mine too...everything but the tripe

[chef serg]

I'm with you on that one. Hold the tripe and the uterus.

So you are an EX PHOENIX COMMANDO? Jk. Nice to know. I run into many former employees on here as well as out fishing.

[mben2979]

Loos amazing.

Originally Posted by Sgt.Slaughter

As requested...here ya go...this is a shortened version vs. the traditional but better than you'll get at any restaurant in Ptown - Enjoy!

• Start with good oxtail/beef bones: Avoid neck bones. Look for knuckle bones and leg bones that contain marrow.

• Aim for a clear broth: This is achieved by parboiling and rinsing the bones, which greatly reduces the amount of residue in the broth. You may think you're pouring essential flavors down the drain, but you're not. The bones exude their essence during the three-hour gentle simmer. Cooking at a low heat also helps produce clear broth.

• Char the onion and ginger: It imparts a wonderful brown color and deepens the overall flavors. This here is the key that many people don’t’ expect.

• Leave some fat. Skim some off the top but leave some.

• Serve it hot: To cook the raw beef and warm the cooked beef and noodles, the broth must be boiling when it's ladled into the bowl. But hot pho shouldn't be left to sit in the bowl. The noodles will absorb too much broth.

Prepare the broth:
Char onion and ginger. Use an open flame on grill or gas stove. Place onions and ginger on cooking grate and let skin burn. (If using stove, turn on exhaust fan and open a window.) After about 15 minutes, they will soften and become sweetly fragrant. Use tongs to occasionally rotate them and to grab and discard any flyaway onion skin. You do not have to blacken entire surface, just enough to slightly cook onion and ginger.
Let cool. Under warm water, remove charred onion skin; trim and discard blackened parts of root or stem ends. If ginger skin is puckered and blistered, smash ginger with flat side of knife to loosen flesh from skin. Otherwise, use sharp paring knife to remove skin, running ginger under warm water to wash off blackened bits. Set aside.
Parboil bones. Place bones in stockpot (minimum 12-quart capacity) and cover with cold water. Over high heat, bring to boil. Boil vigorously 2 to 3 minutes to allow impurities to be released. Dump bones and water into sink and rinse bones with warm water. Quickly scrub stockpot to remove any residue. Return bones to pot.
Simmer broth. Add 6 quarts water to pot, bring to boil over high heat, then lower flame to gently simmer. Use ladle to skim any scum that rises to surface. Add remaining broth ingredients and cook 1 1/2 hours. Boneless meat should be slightly chewy but not tough. When it is cooked the way you want, remove it and place in bowl of cold water for 10 minutes; this prevents the meat from drying up and turning dark as it cools. Drain the meat; cool, then refrigerate. Allow broth to continue cooking; in total, the broth should simmer 3 hours.
Strain broth through fine strainer. If desired, remove any bits of gelatinous tendon from bones to add to your pho bowl. Store tendon with cooked beef. Discard solids.
Use ladle to skim as much fat from top of broth as you like. (Cool it and refrigerate it overnight to make this task easier; reheat before continuing.) Taste and adjust flavor with additional salt, fish sauce and sugar. The broth should taste slightly too strong because the noodles and other ingredients are not salted. (If you've gone too far, add water to dilute.) Makes about 4 quarts.

Oxtail/Beef noodle soup (pho bo)
Makes 8 satisfying (American-sized) bowls
For the broth:
2 medium yellow onions (about 1 pound total)
4-inch piece ginger (about 4 ounces)
5-6 pounds oxtail/beef soup bones (marrow and knuckle bones)
5 star anise (40 star points total)
6 whole cloves (You can get the ready made tea bags if you are lucky to find them)
3-inch cinnamon stick
1 pound piece of beef chuck, rump, brisket or cross rib roast, cut into 2-by-4-inch pieces (weight after trimming) You can have the butcher slice any for you
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 ounce (1-inch chunk) yellow rock sugar or regular sugar 2 table spoons
For the bowls:
1 1/2-2 pounds small (1/8-inch wide) dried or fresh banh pho noodles -you can get these noodles at any asian store. Make sure they are fresh ones but if not the dry ones are fine too but you’ll have to cool those. It’s just an extra step that you don’t want.
1/2 pound raw eye of round, sirloin, London broil or tri-tip steak, thinly sliced across the grain (1/16 inch thick; freeze for 15 minutes to make it easier to slice) Like I said have the butcher slice it for you. It’s easier. Trust me.
1 medium yellow onion, sliced paper-thin, left to soak for 30 minutes in a bowl of cold water
3 or 4 scallions, green part only, cut into thin rings
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
Ground black pepper
Optional garnishes arranged on a plate and placed at the table:
Thai basil
cilantro
Bean sprouts (about 1/2 pound)
Red hot chilies thinly sliced
Lime wedges
Hoisin, Sriracha, fish sauce, roasted garlic in hot oil, sugar.