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Vietnamese Pho broth ©️ Nel Brouwer-van den Bergh

Beef broth for Pho

3.50 from 2 votes
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Cook Time 13 hours
Total Time 13 hours
Course Soup
Cuisine Vietnamese
Servings 18

Ingredients
  

Ingredients for the broth

  • 4 beef bones (3.5 lbs, 1.7 kg) may still contain meat
  • 3 lbs beef flank (1.4 kg) breast meat
  • 1/4 chicken (1 lb) include the bones
  • 1/2 tbsp table salt
  • 3.2 oz (90 g) dried ginger
  • 0.7 oz (20 g) cinnamon bark
  • 6 star anices
  • 3 cloves
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 3.2 oz (92 g) sugar
  • 2.2 oz (64 g) sea salt
  • 4.2 oz (120 g) fish sauce
  • 2.1 oz (60 g) halved and grilled fresh ginger
  • 1.5 large onion (grilled on the fire or in the oven)

Instructions
 

Making the broth

  • Place the bones, the beef meat and the chicken in a large pan and add so much water that all is submersed. Add the table salt and let stand for 2 h
  • After 2 h, discard the water and clean the bones under running water
  • Place the bones, beef meat and chicken back in the pan and add one and 6/10 gallon (6 litre) of water. Mark or measure the liquid level
  • Warm the cumin and fennel seeds in a skillet and grind them in a mortar and pestle
  • Place the dried ginger, cloves, cinnamon stick, star-anise, ground fennel seeds and cumin seeds in a cheese cloth and close it with a rope and place in the pan
  • Put the pan on high fire. Remove scum continuously and when the water is boiling (roughly after 30 min) reduce the heat and let the broth simmer for 1 h. Continue to remove scum
  • After 1 h, add the sugar, the sea salt and the fish sauce and continue to simmer for another 2 h
  • After a total of 3 h simmering, remove the beef meat and cover with some broth. Let it cool down and reserve for the Pho dish
  • Bring the liquid level to the original level by adding water and place the lid on the pan. Let very slowly simmer for 7 hours or over night. The broth should hardly move.
  • After the 7 hours, carefully filtrate the broth through a clean cheesecloth and discard the herbs and all bones. Chicken meat can be reserved

After filtration

  • Place the charred onion without the peel and the grilled ginger in a cheesecloth and immerse that in the broth. Let the broth simmer for another 2 h
  • Thereafter remove the cheesecloth and let the broth cool down
  • Divide the broth in smaller portions and store in the fridge or freezer. The beef meat is sliced in 2 mm slices and used in the pho. Use 1-2 slices per bowl. Freeze the remainder until use.

Notes

Method: simmering
Food allergy & intolerance information: traces of fish sauce (anchovy based)
Keyword Broth, broth for Pho, Pho, vietnamese Pho broth