Little-Known Things About Phở

Let’s dig something interesting about this familiar dish out, from its origin to its flavors.

The history of Phở

Phở is supposed to be originated at the beginning of the 20th century. About its original birthplace, people have had different thoughts; some say Phở was born in Nam Dinh province while other believe it is Ha Noi city, where has turned Phở popular. Folktales told stories bout a Guangdong dish (China) named 公牛羞辱粉笔 /Gōngniú xiūrù fěnbǐ/, meaning rice noodles with buff. Another party said that Phở derived from an old Vietnamese food carrying rice noodles and buff, which later had been varied to rice sheet and beef. There is also a theory about how Pot-au-feu, a French-style stewed beef, got married with Vietnamese spices and herbs to become Phở.

Although there are numerous theories about how Phở has come, the most certain thing is that Phở originated from the North of Vietnam. After that, it went to the Central and in 1950 – after the failure of the French colony in Indochina and Vietnam had been split up, Pho travelled to the very South with northern immigrants. At that time, Pho started to change in flavors.

Nowadays, people cook Phở differently and so the taste is different, too. They differentiate by regional names, such as Northern Phở, Hue’s Phở (in the Central), and Saigon’s Phở (South). In ordinary, Northern Phở tastes mainly salty while southern Phở has its signature of sweetness. Furthermore, southern people use smaller noodles and usually serve Phở with spicy vegetables and beansprout.

Before, Phở’s choices of meat were among flank steak, chuck, tendon, and brisket but later, people have accepted both rare flank beef and chicken. Some restaurant even tried to mix Phở with duck meat but it likely failed. Besides serving with soup and noodles, Phở is also rolled with stir-fried beef, stir-fried with other choices of meat and vegetables in 1970s’, or fried around 1980s’.

Thach Lam – a Hanoian writer – wrote in The 36 streets of antique Ha Noi, “Phở is a specialty of Ha Noi not because only Ha Noi has it but because it only tastes good in Ha Noi.” A good Phở must be traditionally cooked with beef bones, “the broth is clear and smooth; noodles must be tender; brisket is crunchy; and lime, fresh chili, and onion are counted” and “fresh spicy leaves, northern pepper, a flavorful drop of lime, and especially a tip of Lethocerus indicus’s (a special type of insects which can produce oil) essence to make everything an irresistible mysterious.” In 1940s, Phở was very popular in Ha Noi. “That’s everyone’s breakfast, mostly officer and workers. People had phở for breakfast, lunch, and even dinner.” From the middle of 1960s to 1990, because of difficulties of food supply, Ha Noi and other Northern provinces had created phở without meat. During subsidy period in Ha Noi, people had started to use MSG in phở’s broth. After 1990s, phở had more side dishes, such as long donuts. No one can tell when phở has become so special with Hanoians. They have treated phở as an individual dish for every meal. Phở’s broth is cooked from beef bones but the choices of meat can be beef or chicken. Noodles have to be thin yet tender, and spices include green onions, pepper, chili in vinegar, and a piece of lime.

Traditional recipe of Phở in Ha Noi:

Ingredients for 3 – 4 servings:

- Ox tail 500g

- Beef rib 500g

- Beef shank 500g (or flank, brisket, or any preferred types of meat)

- Onion ¼

- Ginger (about 1.5 a toe size)

- Chinese onions 5 – 6 cloves

- Cilantro seeds 1 tsp (optional)

- Cilantro root 5 – 6 pieces

- Cardamom 1

- Anise 2 pieces

- Cinnamon 1 stick

- Sugar cane 2 sticks (about 10cm long)

- Salt or seasonings

- Phở noodles, chopped green onions and cilantro, chili sauce, hoisin sauce, lime

Procedure:

- Chop ox tails and beef ribs into pieces

- Keep the whole beef shank

- Soak all beef in salted water in 2 hours. Lately beef is not quite clean, especially the tail, so soaking them in salted water can reduce the smell and tenderize the beef.

- In the mean time, prepare other ingredients:

+ Grill all whole onions, Chinese onions, ginger, and sugar cane. We can grill them directly on the stove until they get brown and aromatic. Peel ginger’s skin after grilled while keep the whole sugar cane.

+ Wash all again with clean water. Chop onions in half or a quarter.

+ Smash or slice the ginger.

+ Wash the cilantro roots.

+ Roast anise, cinnamon, cardamom, and cilantro seeds. Put all roasted spices into a tea bag.

- Wash ox tails, beef ribs, and beef shank again.

- Bring all meat to boil the first time to deep clean the meat; wash the meat again. Repeat 1 or 2 times until beef is totally clean.

- Cook ox tail, beef ribs, and beef shank with 4 – 5 bowls tap water on high fire. Skim.

- Put all prepared spices into the broth (onions, Chinese onions, ginger, sugar cane, cilantro root, and the roasted bag).

- Relish the broth by salt or seasoning but not fish sauce since fish sauce can cause a sour after-taste.

- Stew about 1.5 – 2 hours. It can be faster with pressure cookers.

*** Note: Beef shank need to be taken out first to keep its tenderness and texture. After cooked, soak in cool water then slice.

- Skim during cooking if necessary. Use boiling water to add in the broth if necessary (do not use cool water).

- When ox tail and beef ribs are tender, season the broth with salt or seasoning. The broth can be a little bland and diners can relish their bowl with fine fish sauce.

- Qualified broth has yellowish color, clear yet tallowy. The broth should taste dense and flavorful from bones, sugar canes, and other spices.

- Prepare noodles and side vegetables (sliced whole onion, chopped green onion and cilantro).

- Blanch the bowl and noodles before serving. Hot Phở is always the best.

- Place noodles, meat, and spice leaves onto the bowl; pour boiling broth over. Serve hot with chili sauce and fresh lime.

Requirements:

- The broth is clear, sweet, and flavorful.

- Noodles are chewy; beef (shank/flank/brisket) are tasty and tender.

Well-known Phở restaurants

There are many Phở restaurants in Ha Noi where traditional recipes have run in family for 3 generations, such as Phu Xuan (Hang Da street), Phu Thuong (Tay Ho), Bac Nam (Hai Ba Trung), Nam Ngu (phở with chicken), Thin, 10 Ly Quoc Su, and Bat Dan. Besides restaurants, Ha Noi once had phở vendors, who carried phở around and served it right at your door. They carried 2 bamboo weaved baskets – one was for ingredients, bowls, chopsticks, and spoon and the other was for a big container of broth on charcoal. Before 1980, those carrying phở had wandered from busiest streets to smallest nighty alleys with their cries. Nowadays, that feature vendors have faded away since there are so many common phở restaurants.

People from north transmigrated to the south and settled there after the Geneva agreement, bringing their phở over and from here phở was changed. In the south, especially Sai Gon, choices of meat in phở are well-done/rare flank steak, shank, brisket, and tendon. Besides, diners can also ask for an extra bowl of rich broth if they want to.

Southern phở usually goes with hoisin sauce, red chili sauce, fresh chili and lime, and vegetables (beansprouts, sliced onion, basil, and other types of herbal leaves). Those fresh spicy vegetables can be served to each bowl or placed ahead on dining tables. The broth here is not quite transparent but it is sweeter and richer; instead of using MSG, southern people prefer chicken bones, fried squids, grilled whole onions and ginger to make the broth more flavorful.

There are quite many famous phở restaurants in Sai Gon before 1975, such as Cong Ly, Tau Bay, Tau Thuy, Ba Dau, Pasteur Street (many restaurants specialized on beef), or Hien Vuong Street (chicken phở). Most of them stay till but younger generations couldn’t pass the robust tense flavors of their grand’s original phở. Some other modern restaurants are 5-star Phở, Quyen, 2000, or Hoa Pasteur.

After 1975, Sai Gon phở crossed over the border to the US, Canada, and Australia. Only in the US, unofficial statistic had shown that Vietnamese phở restaurants got an income of $500 millions per year.

Thoughts of Phở

Ha Noi is the city with highest density of phở restaurants from luxury to casual, from main streets to dead-end alleys, and even right on the pavement.

Hanoians might have phở all day, for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and supper. They can have phở for days and months through years. You can’t hear any Hanoian says that he no longer wanted to have some phở. Even if he gets bored, it just lasts a couple days, like a couple gets mad at each other but at the end of the day, everything should be back to normal.

Hopefully, people would understand more about phở and phở bò (with beef), a casual common yet delicate dish of Viet Nam. Every time when we sit and enjoy a bowl of phở, we will feel Vietnamese culture and savor all the essence of Vietnamese cuisine.

By Wanderlust Tips