Most famous Vietnamese dish: Beef Pho!

Pho or Vietnamese rice noodles soup needs little introduction nowadays as it has become the most famous dish in Vietnamese cuisine. CNN has ranked Pho at number 28 on their “World’s 50 most delicious foods”.

In Vietnam, Pho is served at home, in restaurants, food stalls, street hawkers, virtually everywhere. It can be enjoyed for breakfast, lunch, dinner or late night snack. No wonder Pho is considered as the country’s national dish.

Pho can be prepared with either chicken or beef, and the latter is the most common version. It’s believed that the word “Pho” (pronounced “Fir” like the tree) is derived from the French beef stew “Pot-au-Feu”. Actually Pho has been created in the Northern part of Vietnam long before the French colonial period, but has only become popular from the fifties.

Most families have their own Pho recipe and the flavors are different in the North or the South in Vietnam. Here’s my favorite way to prepare Pho, using Instant Pot.

My recommendation is to prepare Beef Pho the day before you decide to serve it for many reasons:

• The broth taste deepens and improves the next day,
• the cooked brisket can be refrigerated overnight and is easier to slice thinly,
• as the broth has completely cooled down the next day, it’s much easier to scoop and discard the layer of fat that has congealed on the surface, to ensure a clear soup.
• on the date of serving, you only need to reheat the soup and prepare the garnishes and blanch the noodles.

I must confess that I don’t always follow my own advice, because while cooking, the Pho broth smells so good that my family just has to enjoy it right away. So I have reached a compromise and usually prepare enough Pho to enjoy for 2 days. Definitely, the Pho is even better the next day!

The usual Beef Pho uses 2 main types of beef cuts: Brisket or Chuck in one piece (to cook with the broth), and top round or filet (raw and quickly blanched with the hot broth before serving). If you cook from scratch, you would also need beef bones (beef neck, knuckles or any soup bones). In my version, I have added short-ribs, oxtail and beef balls (purchased from most Asian supermarkets) but these are entirely optional. The short-ribs and ox-tail definitely add flavor to the broth.

The portions given are for 6 servings. Feel free to add more meat if you wish to have left-overs for the next day, but do not exceed a total of 8 lb of meat and bones, all combined, for an 8-quart Instant Pot. For a 6-quart Instant Pot, don’t exceed 6 lb of meat and bones.

In this picture, there’s a total of 8 lb of assorted meat and bone.

Put the meat in a colander, sprinkle with salt and rub it all over the meat then rinse well under running water.

When the meat is added to the instant pot, it fills 3/4 of the pot. But no worries. Add the charred onion, ginger, daikon and spices to the pot.

Use a measuring cup to add water to the maximum line of the instant pot (so you can keep track of how much liquid you are adding). Lock the lid and set to high pressure for 20 minutes. Altogether it will take an hour – 20 minutes to bring to pressure, cooking time of 20 minutes, and natural steam release for 20 minutes.

When the time is up and the steam is released, scoop the meat out (but leave the beef bones in the pot) and set aside.

Fill the pot with additional water (or beef broth) – As a rule of thumb, count 3 cups of water per serving. So for 6 servings, there should be around 18 to 20 cups of broth. Adjust seasoning, and set to Saute function, till boiling.

In my case, since I plan to have left overs, I have added liquid to full capacity of the 8-quart Instant Pot (after removing the meat), or around 30 cups, and adjusted the seasoning accordingly.

So this method is very flexible and should be fool-proof. Don’t be intimidated by the list of ingredients and steps. It’s really easy to make and involves little active time.