noodlepie

Pricing Pho

Have no idea if this is correct, but it entertained me,

Let's do the cost estimation (restaurant supplies rate):

FOR BROTH AND MEAT (ENOUGH FOR 20):

   7 pounds beef bones with marrow ($4)
   5 pounds beef brisket ($15)
   6 pounds oxtails ($24)
   6 pounds beef back ribs ($5) + (2)

1 medium onion, peeled and charred directly over a gas burner 9 pieces star anise 6 cinnamon sticks 7 dried cardamom pods 10 whole cloves 1 tablespoon black and white pepper (whole kernel) 1 ounce licorice root (optional) 4 small long white radishes (daikon), peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks ($2)

   3 pounds celery, washed and trimmed at base, cut into 2-inch pieces ($1)
   2 teaspoons salt  3 small rock-candy crystals

   FOR 8 BOWLS:

   11/2 pounds 1/4-inch wide dried rice sticks (banh pho) [($1) + ($1)] X 3 = $6
   3 scallions, thinly sliced  1/4 cup shredded cilantro  1 medium onion, sliced paper-thin  Freshly ground black pepper

   ACCOMPANIMENTS: ($2)

4 fresh red or green chile peppers, sliced 3 limes, cut into wedges 1 bunch of fresh mint, separated into leaves 1 bunch of Thai basil, separated into leaves 1/2 cup hot chile sauce 1/2 cup hoisin sauce

   1. Rinse the bones with cold water and soak for 2 hours in a pot. Drain.   

2. Place the beef brisket, oxtails, beef back ribs and beef bones in an extra large stockpot. Add water to cover and bring it to a boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Drain. Rinse the pot, bones and meat.

3. Bring the bones and meat back to the pot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, skimming the surface to remove the foam until it ceases to rise. Add 2 quarts more cold water and bring back to a boil. Skim off all of the residue that forms on the top. Set the heat to low and simmer for one hour.

4. Tie the charred onion, star anise, dried cardamom, cinnamon sticks, cloves, white and black peppers and licorice in a cheesecloth. Add the spice bag in the simmering broth. Simmer for 1 hour.

5. Add celery and radishes and simmer for another hour. Remove the beef brisket, oxtails and back ribs, allow to cool and pull the meat away from the bones and reserve it. Thinly slice the beef brisket. Slice the rib and oxtail meat into small chunks. Set aside.

6. Simmer stock for one more hour, then remove and discard all of the bones. Strain the broth through a strainer lined with a cheesecloth into a clean pot. Add the fish sauce, salt, black pepper and rock-candy crystals, and bring the broth to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer the broth. Broth can be prepared ahead to this point and refrigerated.

7. When ready to serve, bring 5 quarts of water to a boil. Drop the noodles in the boiling water. Drain immediately.   

8. Combine the sliced scallions, shredded cilantro and sliced onion. Set aside.

9. Divide noodles in large soup bowls. Top the noodles with meats. Ladle hot broth over the meat and noodles. Garnish with the scallion mixture and black pepper. Serve with the accompaniments on the side as desired.

==================
Sub-total: about $60

Lacking of rare beef ($10)

Total: $70 + Energy ($10) + labor ( $30) = $110

$110/20 bowls ==> $5.50

NO PROFIT! THIS RECIPE SUCK FOR A BUSINESS!                                          

It's based on something I linked to over two years ago.

Pho Radio

I haven't listened to this yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Andrea's latest newsletter alerted me to an hour long call in radio show on Seattle NPR affiliate 94.6FM KUOW where folk call in to recommend their favourite phocations in the Seattle area. I've never been to Seattle, but I've eaten plenty Pho,

In the Pacific Northwest, restaurants selling Pho are popping up everywhere. The Vietnamese noodle soup is the ultimate healthy fast food. But are all bowls of Pho the same? For the Weekday staff all new pho places are held against Thanh Vi on University Way NE. We have yet to find any bowl better. So, enlighten us. Where do you like to eat pho? Today Weekday creates a list of great pho places, with your help. audio link.

Guests: Andrea Nguyen is a Vietnamese cooking teacher and the author of the cookbook Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. Hsiao–Ching Chou is the food editor for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Pho Thin, 13 Lo Duc St, Hanoi

Interesting to see a review of Pho Thin at 13 Lo Duc street in Hanoi in the Vietadvertorialnam News,

"I have a confession to make: for the first three months I lived in Hanoi, I didn’t especially like pho... But then I tried Pho Thin at 13 Lo Duc Street. After my first bite (slurp?), I knew this was not just any pho. It tasted entirely different from any I’d ever tried: the beef was lean and tender, the broth flavourful and aromatic. I dived into my bowl and ate until not a noodle remained. As I discovered on a subsequent visit to Pho Thin at 8.30am, I’m far from the only one who thinks this is the best pho around."

I'll admit I used to think this way until I visited Saigon... since when I was converted/enlightened/brainwashed - take you pick. (UPDATE: Sticky Rice has the full skinny - see comments). I noticed one factual error in Julie Ginsberg's review and I've corrected the sentence. See below,

"We do business with our hearts," he said. "Our priority is pleasing our customers, not making money or spending so much as one measley little shilling of our money on doing this shit pit of a soup shack up or  letting rentokill loose for an hour or two. No siree. You want comfort then you can bugger off to the Hilton."

Do you love Pho?

Cuong Phu Le writes to tell us about a Pho exhibition he plans to tour around Australia and then the world. He adds, "If you could help me to spread the word, that would be fabulous so that I could collect more new ideas and stories around this infamous dish." Have you got a story about Pho? A memory? A favourite place, where is it, why is it your favourite? Drop a comment. Or email Cuong on cuong(at)casulapowerhouse(dot)com

"I Love Phở is an innovative Community Cultural Development project that featured at Liverpool Regional Museum in June 2006 with a great success. Casula Powerhouse has been researching and developing this project over the last three years.

The project uses Phở as a provocative, political, social and cultural metaphor to investigate the process of migration and Vietnamese diaspora. I Love Phở aims to create open dialogues among visual artists, local communities, writers, academics, restaurant owners and broader audiences exploring issues of identity, history and diaspora over a bowl of hot Phở."

There's no dedicate website or blog, but you can download a pdf with more about the exhibition. There's more about Cuong on VIR and at Viet Q.

Phorati

A quick soup scan through Technorati informs me that there are more than a few people nattering about pho, the ubiquitous Vietnamese beef noodle soup. Three links worth noting for pho fans,

Husband and wife bloggers Faizis cooked up a version of pho in Singapore and they have a very detailed looking recipe.

Kalyn has a post at BlogHer with quotes and links out to various pho eating and cooking bloggers.

From Kalyn I arrived at Food Lover's Journey. This blog is written by Anh in Australia who describes herself as "a Vietnamese girl who loves to cook". She appears to have a penchant for Vietnamese cooking, although she cooks dishes from all over the place. There aren't too many Vinarecipes up there at the moment - she's only been blogging since October 2006 - but what she does have looks rather good.

If you know of a decent Vietnamese food based blog, let me know. I'm hoping to get my cook's hat on very soon to attack Andrea's mega Into the Vietnamese Kitchen book. Meanwhile, if you're a total pho head, scour the Technorati pho search.

Guest post: Thai Son, Baxter Street, New York City

In a first, and quite possibly one and only unique post, ex-Saigon resident and blogger NoStar Where reports from New York City. NYC, as it's often called, is a big city in a country called America. Mr. No Star Where, is now resident there and is looking for someone to hire him. Any takers, hit the comment box or email me.

Since arriving in New York City from Vietnam late this Spring, I've been fattening myself on slices and bagels, with nary a bowl of Bun Cha or Bun Mam in sight. That all changed last week. I hopped on the subway, though I pretended it was a Honda Wave, (How did you do that? - Ed.) and scooted on down to Chinatown. After surveying the area, searching tiny alleyways, passing fish markets and stores that sell 7 t-shirts for $10 USD, we settled on Thai Son, a Vietnamese restaurant at 89 Baxter St, between Bayard & Walker St.

We said Xin Chao to the waiter who just looked at us funny, ordered Pho Tai for me, Pho Chay for veghead Alison, and our Saigon fave, Chao Tom to share. To drink, we ordered, yes, get this, Bia Saigon. I assumed the restaurant would have 33 (that's the export version of 333) but Bia Saigon, wow, this place was legit, a fact we already confirmed when we saw the large family of Vietnamese-Americans sitting next to us, the whole family, from old grandma to the young kids all sharing a meal under a tacky lacquer painting of the Vietnamese countryside. It could have been a restaurant in Vietnam, if not for the table of NYU hipsters sitting on our left.

Onto the food. Now I'm not one to expect the same style of Vietnamese in NYC Chinatown as you'd get from the streets of Vietnam so I approached the meal with an open mind. I've eaten enough Vietnamese food in the States to expect the worst. Sure the Pho in Falls Church is divine and the Banh Mi in Oakland is fantastic, but go to your average joint in the U.S., and spring rolls are about as good as it gets. So how did it rate at Thai Son?

This being America, the portions were big, at least the Chao Tom was. Two pieces of sugarcane with shrimp mash wrapped around, a plate of greens, and bowl of fish sauce. No starfruit or rice paper, which did disappoint but the Chao Tom did not. Impressively prepared, very tasty. The shrimp peeled right off the sugarcane and the greens were fresh. Then there were the two bowls of Pho. My Pho Tai was a reasonable dish. I've learned that the best Pho to be had in Vietnam or in the States, is in restaurants that exclusively serve Pho. The broth was a tad on the weak side, the noodles very thin, but the beef was tender and delicious.

Alison's Pho Chay, a dish that faces incredible odds of actually having flavor, was full of veggie's but the broth was weak. Without much hot sauce, it was a rather bland affair. Like drinking veggie stock with noodles but then again, I think most Pho Chay in Vietnam, minus one special location in Saigon, tastes about the same. It's tough doing a veggie version of this most meaty of dishes.

Will we be back? You bet, if only for the Chao Tom and Bia Saigon, plus I did notice Bo La Lot on the menu, and several other Southern specialties. Actually, compared to most Vietnamese restaurants I'vevisited in the States, this one scored pretty well. I just urge all Yank's to please not order the Chicken with Lemongrass or whatever other generic rice dish you see. Order something you can't pronounce and don't understand like Banh Xeo. That's where Vietnamese food is at. Ask the waiter for what his cousins in Saigon eat, and then order that. Be generous with the fish sauce and light on the soy. Without little plastic chairs, screeching pop, and sweltering heat, well, it's not quite the same but then again, if a New Yorker ever ate pizza in Vietnam, they'd probably wonder what atrocity has been committed against their most favorite of dishes.

Cheers for the report NoStar Where and all the best with the job hunt.

13. Pho Linh

You'll find Pho Linh at number 163/10 down a small alleyway leading off To Hien Thanh street in Saigon's District 10. I passed it yonks ago during the first Saigon streetcast movie and made the vaguest of mental notes to return one day. This morning my xe om driver suggested I'd like it. So here I am. It's pho fashioned the Hanoi way. No faffing, no frills, just straight up beef noodle soup from grandma's kitchen. A stern grandma. A grandma known to scowl and hand out a severe hiding to them's that don't sup their fill. Not the kind of pho you'd want an argument with. Head down, get the job done, and go. Hot, meatfilled, no namby-pamby Saigon snazzifery polluting this bowl. Pho Linh is a hard, honest, workmanlike pho and nothing more. It doesn't need to be.

Hic. 'Scuse me. 12,000VD with a tra da and a much needed wet towel. Smashing. Bonus condiment shot.

Saigon Pho Map

The website of the People's Committee of this fair parish has a Pho map of Saigon. Quite a small map - actually there is no map, just a list of six shacks - but there are some interesting tidbits of history like this one about Pho Tau Bay at 435 Ly Thai To street in District 1,

Pham Xuan Tien, manager and chef of Pho Tau Bay, says that in 1950 his grandfather opened his pho shop in Hanoi, which did not have a name. Tien's grandfather was given a pilot's helmet by a friend. He liked the helmet very much and often wore it. Diners called him tau bay, which means "aircraft," and he named his pho shop after it. In 1954, Tien's family moved south, bringing with them the pho trade.

Now what wouldn't I pay to go to a pho shop served by waiters in pilot helmets. Hang on a minute. Make that waiters in ao dai and pilot helmets. Or ao dai, pilot helmets and black leather boots. Now I'm just being silly... leather boots are just not practical enough for a hot city like Saigon or the sweaty environment of a steamy pho kitchen. While we're on the subject of pho maps. I read somewhere that there is a Pho Map of Hanoi. Does anyone have this map? Is it easily available in Hanoi? Online even? I want one. Here's some more from the People's Committee on Pho.

12. Pho Anh

Pho chin bo at Pho Anh, 10A Ky Dong street, District 3, Saigon. Splendid soup, tender as you like beef, spices quietly buzzing around in the background, thick cut spring onion, cilantro, coriander and fresh noodles. Been off the Pho for a while. Good to get back in the fold with this statesmanlike pho. Yes, I really do mean statesmanlike. Most Pho is thrown together without too much thought. OK - a modicum of brainpower. Noodles in first, meat on top, seasoning, soup. Whallop. But look here. I swear they've arranged my meat in a vaguely circular pattern.

The Circle of Pho. Hello Elton? Are you in there? This is excellent Pho. The cook tells me Pho Anh has been serving beef noodle soup from this location for 37 years. Well, it's about bloody time they got it right. Finally. Reminds me - Pho isn't exactly easy to make, see what I mean here. Will be back to this one. Nice. Very nice. Costs 10,000VD. More snaps.