Pho Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup)

I bought a Lodge Logic Dutch Oven on Amazon for $19.98. So eager to try out its heat rentention capabilities, I decided to make pho ga (Vietnamese chicken noodle soup). I normally make pho bo (Vietnamese beef noodle soup) but didn't want to make the trek to the grocery store to buy beef marrow bones. This same recipe will work for beef too.

(A small aside about Vietnamese pronunciation. The ? accent over the O in pho makes it sound like a question. So to pronounce it properly, say pho? as if you were asking a question. Remember pho? is your friend, not foe so don't pronounce it that way. :P )

I like my broth with lots of flavor from the spices so adjust yours accordingly. Ingredients include cloves (studded into an onion), cinnamon, star anise, ginger, and garlic.


Then using a pair of tongs, char each item over a gas burner. The charring brings out the aroma in the spices.

You may wish to put the spices into a cheesecloth for easy removal. It also keeps the spices from falling apart in the broth. I use a slotted spoon to scoop out the spices later and don't mind small bits. (That's code for I'm too cheap and lazy to buy cheesecloth for the rare instances when I decide to make pho.) I just toss the charred spices into the pot with boiling chicken.


Lower the heat so the chicken cooks at a low simmer for several hours. Then turn off the pot and let it cool. Refrigerate overnight.


The next morning, fat and impurities will have solidified and risen to the surface of the pot. Refrigerating it makes for easier removal.

Then remove the chicken and shred into large chunks. Set aside.

Transfer the bones back into the pot. Let the stock boil again. Let it simmer again for several hours. The stock can simmer all day until ready to eat. But you can eat it soon if it has already simmered the previous night and again the next morning. When you decide you're ready to eat, take a slotted spoon and scoop out all the bones and spices until the broth is clean of any debris.

While your broth is simmering, you can boil water for the pho noodles. Pho comes fresh or in dried packages. My trick is to upend a rice bowl into the colander. This minimizes the area the

hot noodles would be poured into, thus helping to prevent clumping.

Now, when ready to eat, turn up the heat again so the broth is boiling. My grandma always said to use the biggest bowl you have, even if you don't plan to eat that much pho, because the bigger bowl will help retain the heat and keep your pho piping hot. This is more important with beef pho since the larger bowl will hold more boiling broth, thus cooking the raw beef. Not so important for chicken pho, but it's still nicer to have room for added condiments and herbs.

To assemble your pho bowl, start with noodles, add the meat on top, then ladle in the boiling broth. The broth will cook the meat. Condiments are usually Sriracha chili sauce and hoisin sauce. Then squeeze a quarter section of lime, add bean sprouts, basil, green onions, and sawtooth herb if you're lucky enough to have any.

Voila!

My verdict?

I still prefer pho bo, but it's not so bad for a first attempt at pho ga. The broth wasn't as clear as I'd like. That's mainly because I bought some cinnamon bark at the Vietnamese grocery store that seems to darken the broth a whole lot more than the cinnamon sticks I usually get at the American grocery stores. Not a problem when making beef pho, but seems a bit too dark for chicken pho.