• Prep Time:
  • Cooking Time:
  • Serves:

Vietnamese Beef Noddle Soup

  • Recipe Submitted by on

Category: Soups

 Ingredients List

  • 14-qt pot (feeds around 8-10 hungry homies)
  • 10 lbs. of beef bones (leg/shin/oxtail bones - more marrow the better)
  • beef balls or flank steak
  • 5-6" piece of cinnamon stick
  • 6 cloves
  • 8 star anise
  • 1 tblsp. of black peppercorns
  • 1 tblsp. of coriander seeds
  • spices (cinnamon stick, cloves, star anise, black peppercorns, coriander seeds)
  • 5-6" piece of ginger
  • 8-1o tblsp. fish sauce
  • 2- 2" pieces of rock candy sugar
  • 2 large onions (the softball size)
  • MSG - yes, MSG. you have to have it for this dish. Add 1/2 a tablespoon - that's all you'll need.
  • fresh rice noodles (i like the 'Kim Tar' vacuum-sealed brand with the pagoda on it)
  • fixings: bean sprouts, limes, green chili pepper, thai basil, Sriracha hot sauce and Hoisin sauce

 Directions

(1) First, add the bones into your pot filled with cold water and turn heat on high. Once it boils, let it boil vigorously for another 5 minutes. This process removes impurities in the bones and creates a raft of crap. Dump the water and rinse the bones in warm water, using tongs. Set bones back into pot, and again, bring water to a vigorous boil.

(2) While the water is boiling, use some tongs and char the onions and ginger over the stove. Char it for a good 5-7 minutes so that the onion becomes soft and flavors are released. Rinse the onion under warm water to remove the charred parts. Do the same thing w/ the piece of ginger, rinse it and then take a knife and give it a good whack to release more flavor.

(3) Once the water has reached a boil, toss in the onion, ginger, rock sugar, spices and fish sauce. Let it cook on SIMMER for at least 6 hours. Some recipes will tell you it's done in 2 hours - no way. It takes way longer than that to fully separate the marrow from the bones.

(4) After 6 hours, give it a taste and adjust accordingly. If you want it saltier, use salt and fish sauce. Sweeter, add small pieces of rock candy sugar. If it's too salty or sweet, start over by adding a little bit of water. The measurements given are for a starting ground. I found myself adding nearly double the amount of fish sauce and even more rock sugar. I even threw in a small piece of cinnamon and extra anise.

(5) Once the pho is ready, boil another pot of water. Make sure you soak your fresh pack of rice noodles in cold water for at least 15 minutes to 'wake' them up. Add the noodles to the boiling pot for no more than 8 seconds. Take it out and place in bowl.

(6) Serve with beef balls, fixings and hot/hoisin sauce.

 Share this Recipe

Recipes by Course

Recipes by Main Ingredient

Recipes by Cuisine

Recipes by Preparation

Recipes by Occasion

Recipes by Dietary

Sign Up and Create a Cookbook Today!

Please Sign in to your Account or Sign up if you are new user.

Who loves our Healthy Recipes?