Please accept this Official Entry into the "Vietnamese!" TD.
This is my entry titled, "Smoked Beef Pho".
My name is Kathy and I am addicted to pho. :mrgreen: Special thanks to my pho mentor, Buccaneer, for without you I'd still be making that mediocre stuff instead of this excellent bowl.
I pulled what looked to me like a small beef roast that my butcher labeled as "Steak Tail" with "Smoke" underneath. I've never heard of steak tail before but it looked like a small roast and if my butcher says it's good for smoking, I'm not arguing.
Was I surprised to see it unfold into this! :shock: I made a rub of Chinese 5 Spice, granulated garlic and ginger and left the meat to rest in the fridge one day. I use very little salt when cooking, my partner struggles with edema, so I add salt to my finished bowl rather than the ingredients, rub or pot. If you use salt please add it to the rub.
Next day I started on the broth and the 'aroma'. Since we have a special crock pot TD I decided to try making my broth that way, too. I couldn't find the two we have somewhere so went to a few second hand stores and discovered this vintage avocado beauty that was made in Montreal, Quebec. :mrgreen:
Before making the broth it is important to boil the bones 10 minutes, toss the water and clean the scum off the bones with water. Buccaneer also introduced me to Helen, a young woman who makes youtube videos of Vietnamese cuisine. She promises no flavour is lost in such a short time and it greatly reduces the need to skim the broth as it cooks. One hallmark of good pho is a clear broth. I put my beef bones in a 16 litre/quart pot and after 10 minutes boiling emptied the pot onto a sink sieve.
When the bones are clean of scum put them back in a pot for the stove, crock pot or roasting pan for the oven. I like to make the broth a day ahead in a roasting pan overnight in the oven around 220F or so. I found out the hard way if I try to shorten the cook time by raising the oven to 350F the marrow melts and makes the broth muddy. Cover with water about 2 or 3 inches above the bones. Helen puts her beef meat in at this point but I was smoking my beef so I didn't. When I told Buccs I had beef tail in the freezer he said it would create great flavour. I decided to use it for this cook and when I thawed the package I was surprised to see a distinct tail. I cut off the thin part of the tail for my dog and put the wider part in the pot. Because this crock pot is small I also made a batch of broth in a roasting pan in the oven.
Peeled one onion and split it between the crock pot and roasting pan. I also split salt and sugar between the two, the suggested amount is 1 tsp each of salt and sugar but I used less.
Now it's time to focus on the aroma. Two pieces of ginger about the size of your thumb, three pieces of star anise, two cinnamon sticks the size of your finger, two to three pieces of cardamom and one onion still in its peel. Cut the ginger and onion lengthwise, no need to peel it. I adjusted the proportions of aromatics into one large and one smaller parchment teabag to reflect the different volumes of the crock pot and roasting pan. Char the aromatics on an open flame, electric stove burner or in the oven. Scrape off char from the onion to help keep the broth clear. What a delight cinnamon sticks and star anise are when they catch fire and burn like incense. The ginger skin and hairs and the onion skin will catch fire, tamp the fire out with your tongs or throw separated burning pieces in the sink. When done wrap in cheesecloth or a parchment pouch as a tea bag and nestle it under the bones to anchor while cooking. You can cook the broth anywhere from 3 hours to overnight, just be sure to keep the temperature in the 225F to 250F range to prevent the marrow from melting.
Once the broth was cooking I started the kamado and smoked the steak tail at 250F for just over 2 hours and pulled it at 170F. Because the grain of this cut runs lengthwise it helps to section it for cross-grain cutting. It looks a lot like brisket.
About 6 hours later I removed the bones and tea bags from the broth and ran it through a sieve. Then I used a fat separator to further clean up the broth. Returned the broth to the crock pot and added the beef slices and 1 Tbsp of fish sauce to heat up. When making pho always preheat your soup bowls either with hot water or in the warm oven after it's just turned off from making the broth. Once I learned that my days of eating lukewarm pho ended.
To finish I boiled pho noodles about 5 and one half minutes. Carol likes the medium size noodles so I used those. If you like thinner noodles cut down the boiling time. I used to have a lot of trouble making asian rice noodles until Buccaneer told me to check them every minute with a pinch because it's a narrow margin between undercooked and overcooked. Since using that piece of advice I'm getting better and better at judging their doneness. Garnishes are blanched bean sprouts, Thai basil, squeeze of lime and Sriracha in my bowl.
Please use the photo below for voting.
That was excellent pho. I love the different textures of the noodle mass, bean sprouts and meat. I love the balance of sweet, salt, heat, spice and lime against the wondrous flavour of Thai basil. I just love pho.
I smoked the steer tail for a bit to ease off the rawness but maintain bone integrity against splintering. I don't know who loved what they were eating more, me or my dog.
Thanks for looking! :grin: