Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble

"Making pho can't be that difficult, can it?"
"Nah....it's just a broth, few bones, water, bit of this, bit of that."

My first attempt at it started with me talking to myself. Then I wrote a shopping list, shot down to the market and picked up some pig bones, some this and some that.

Back in the kitchen, I filled up the pot with water, dropped the bones in, fired up the gas cooker and started messing about with the other bits. I bashed the ginger up, bruised the lemongrass and, along with the star anise, nutmeg and cinnamon sticks, half an onion and a bulb of garlic, they took a synchronised dive. Bloody simple!

The broth boiled, I skimmed the scum, turned down the flame, took to my book and drank two cans of Bia Hanoi. Two hours and one nap later, I returned to the kitchen for the moment of truth. The aroma was intriguing.

I put the spoon to my mouth.

It had a pungent herbal wallop that would kill a brown dog.

I'm going to follow a recipe next time.

Comments

[Easily Pleased]

LOL! i a not a recipe follower either. sometimes results in disasters, occasionally a miracle dish (that I can never re-create!)

great photo at the top, tho.

[Suburbia in the City]

What matters most of all is that you're trying new things right?

[helen]

you're supposed to char the ginger and onion first, over the fire or stove. then dump it into the pot.

[foodcrazee]

blanch the bone too. char the onion and ginger to clarify the stock. Just like consomme

[Matt]

your missing the secret ingredient - 10 heaped spoons of MSG!

i know when I've had a good dose, I get this weird feeling in the back of my neck and up and down my spine...can't be healthy.

[pieman]

I took one look at the recipe, linked to it and closed the door. No way... Have you seent he list of ingredients?

http://www.noodlepie.com/2005/01/stateside_pho.html

I then watched a friend make it. It took the best part of one day and he is a trained chef and Vietnamese to boot.

[Buddhist with an attitude]

Only poor people and fools try to make pho at home. It's complicated, time consuming and not worth the trouble, unless you cook for ten or twenty people.

[Sticky]

I know I'm foolish but these kind of long food processes sometimes get the better of me and there is a therapeutic element to cooking for me, even though I portray myself as more of an eater than a cook.
I will persist with this.

Pieman - I was wondering if you thought that recipe might be a sophisticated western twist on pho? I have spoken to Hanoians who occasionally do make it at home and the recipe in the north, I suspect, may differ significantly from that in your neck of the woods or for that matter, southern Cali. For starters, I doubt very much whether Hanoians would be adding the rock-candy crystals. What do you reckon?

[pieman]

No self respecting Hanoian would be seen dead with so much as an ounce of sugar in the pantry.

[Beachbumsb]

Sticky Rice,
Your recipe is mostly wrong. No self respect cook would use Pork bone , Garlic and Lemon grass for Pho. I do not know what it is you are cooking but it is NOT Pho. Good luck next time. Yes, Rock-candy crystals is a key ingredient in cooking Pho instead of MSG.

[Phuong]

My mum can cook Pho at home, it's really tasty!!!

[Kitchen units]

Only poor and some crazy trying to do at home. It's complicated, time-consuming and is worth the effort unless you cook for ten or twenty people.

[AnaDrol]

I just love your blog. It-s packed with great recipes. Thanks for sharing, will be coming back.

[Debt Management]

Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble is very delicious recipe. I am always eating it. It looking also fantastic. Its sounds like testy.

[Solvency II]

Complex and time-consuming, is deserve this effort but if you cook for ten or twenty people.