Vietnam

Posted by worldcookproject on
Next up is Vietnam. Vietnam is probably one of the best known type of cooking of this region. There is a rich food culture there with influences form French and Asian cuisine.
Here are a few facts about Vietnam:
  • Capital: Hanoi
  • Population: about 90 million
  • Area:  332 698 km²
  • Currency: Vietnamese Dong

For my Vietnamese dish I made beef pho. Pho is a traditional vietnamese soup. The broth is a combination of beef cuts and bones cooked for hours and contain a lot of delicious spices. It is served alongside herb, sauces for dressing and a few pieces of beef.

Beef Pho

Ingredients:

For the broth:

  • 1 onion
  • 4 inch piece ginger
  • 1.5 pound beef shank with meat on
  • 1 pound oxtail
  • 1/2 pound beef chuck roast
  • 1/2 pound beef brisket
  • 2 star anise
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
  • 3 cloves
  • 1/4 cup fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt

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For the garnish:

  • 8 ounce pho noodles
  • 1/2 pound beef flank steak
  • Cilantro
  • Basil
  • Mint
  • 2 scallions
  • 1 lime
  • Hoisin sauce
  • Sriracha

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Directions:

The first step is to blacken the onion and the ginger. To do so, cut both the onion and the ginger in half lengthwise. Do not peel them. Place a cooling rack or any sort of grid directly above the burner on the stove and on high heat grill the onion and the ginger for about 10 minutes turning them every 2-3 minutes. They should end up being black.

In the meantime, in a large pot put the shank, the oxtail, the chuck roast and the brisket and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil on high heat and boil for 15 minutes. Discard the water, and rinse all the meat pieces well.

Measure all the spices and ingredients for the broth.

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In the same pot, return all the meat pieces and add all the other broth ingredients.

Fill the pot with cold water and bring to a boil on high heat. Once it starts boiling, reduce to a slow simmer, cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hour.

After an hour and a half, remove the brisket and the chuck roast. Reserve the 2 pieces of meat in a bowl with water and set in the fridge.

Keep simmering the broth with the rest of the ingredients for 5 more hours on very low heat.

After 5 hours, use a sieve to strain the broth and discard all the solid ingredients. You should be left with just the liquid broth. Optionally you can pick the meat of the bones and save it to add later.

Skim all the fat of the surface of the broth.

Prepare the pho noodles according to package instructions. Prepare all the sides. Cut the flank steak in very thin slices against the grain of the meat. Chop the scallions. Cut the lime in wedges and remove the stems of the herbs. Cut the reserved meat in thin slices.

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In a soup bowl, put some noodles, a little bit of each piece of meat and fill with hot broth.

Serve with all the sides.

Ăn nào!

 

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