Illustrative AI food photo: a bowl of beef pho with rare beef, rice noodles and herbs, with bean sprouts, Thai basil, lime and chili on the side

Guides · Cook it at home

Pho is not a hard soup. It is a slow one. Almost everything that makes a great bowl happens before the noodles go in: bones blanched so the broth stays clear, onion and ginger charred until they smell sweet and smoky, and whole spices toasted just long enough to wake them up. Then the pot sits at the barest simmer for most of an afternoon.

This version is built for a home kitchen in Canada. It uses beef marrow and knuckle bones and brisket, which you can find at any Asian supermarket or butcher counter. It also gives a pressure-cooker shortcut for weeknights. The broth freezes well, so it makes sense to cook a full pot.

Ingredients

Broth

  • 2 kg (4½ lb) beef marrow and knuckle bones
  • 700 g (1½ lb) beef brisket, in one piece
  • 2 medium yellow onions (about 450 g / 1 lb), halved, skins on
  • 1 piece fresh ginger, about 100 g (3½ oz), halved lengthwise
  • 5 whole star anise
  • 1 cinnamon stick, about 8 cm (3 in)
  • 6 whole cloves
  • 1 tbsp (15 ml) coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp (5 ml) fennel seeds
  • 1 black cardamom pod, lightly cracked (optional)
  • 5 L (21 cups) cold water
  • 60 ml (¼ cup) fish sauce, plus more to taste
  • 25 g (2 tbsp) rock sugar or granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp (15 ml) kosher salt, plus more to taste

Bowls

  • 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) dried flat rice noodles (bánh phở, about 5 mm / ¼ in wide), or 900 g (2 lb) fresh
  • 300 g (10 oz) beef eye of round or sirloin, partly frozen and sliced paper-thin
  • 1 small white onion, sliced paper-thin and soaked in cold water
  • 4 green onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
  • 200 g (7 oz) bean sprouts
  • 1 bunch Thai basil
  • 2 limes, cut into wedges
  • 2 or 3 bird's eye or jalapeño chilies, sliced
  • Hoisin sauce and sriracha, for the table

Method

  1. Blanch the bones. Put the bones in your largest stockpot (at least 8 L / 8 qt), cover with cold water, and bring to a hard boil for 10 minutes. Drain, then rinse the bones and scrub out the pot. This removes the scum that clouds pho.
  2. Char the aromatics. Meanwhile, char the onion halves and ginger cut side up under a broiler on high, 6 to 8 cm (2 to 3 in) from the element, for 12 to 15 minutes. You can also hold them over a gas flame. You want blackened patches and soft centres. Rinse off any loose ash.
  3. Toast the spices. Toast the star anise, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, fennel and cardamom in a dry skillet over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until fragrant. Tie them in a spice bag or cheesecloth.
  4. Start the simmer. Return the bones to the pot with the brisket and 5 L (21 cups) cold water. Bring just to a boil, skim thoroughly, then drop to the lowest heat that keeps a few lazy bubbles breaking the surface. Add the charred onion and ginger, the sugar and the salt.
  5. Pull the brisket. After 1½ to 2 hours, when a skewer slides into the brisket with light resistance, lift it out. Plunge it into ice water for 10 minutes so it does not darken, then wrap and refrigerate.
  6. Add the spices late. About 45 minutes before the broth is done (roughly the 3¾-hour mark), add the spice bag. Spices that simmer for hours turn bitter and medicinal. Keep skimming fat and foam as needed.
  7. Strain and season. At 4½ hours, strain the broth through a fine sieve. You should have about 3.5 L (15 cups); top up with hot water if you are well short. Season with the fish sauce, then more salt or sugar. On its own the broth should taste slightly too salty, because the noodles and garnishes will dilute it.
  8. Prep the noodles and beef. Soak the dried noodles in cold water for 30 minutes. Slice the chilled brisket thinly across the grain. Freeze the raw beef for 20 minutes so it slices thin, then cut it as thin as you can across the grain.
  9. Assemble. Bring the broth to a rolling boil. Blanch the drained noodles in a separate pot of boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds, then divide among warmed bowls. Top with brisket, raw beef, onion, green onion and cilantro. Ladle the boiling broth straight over the raw beef so it cooks pink. Serve with the herbs, sprouts, lime, chilies and sauces on the side.

Tips

  • Clear broth comes from three habits: blanch the bones, never let the pot boil hard, and skim early and often.
  • To make it ahead, chill the strained broth overnight and lift off the solid fat. It keeps 4 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.
  • Pressure cooker: after blanching and charring, cook bones, brisket and aromatics on high pressure for 1 hour 15 minutes with a natural release. Then simmer the strained broth with the spice bag for 30 minutes.
  • Taste the broth before you reach for hoisin and sriracha. Many cooks dip meat into the sauces in a side dish instead of stirring them into the bowl.
  • For chicken pho (phở gà), use 2 kg (4½ lb) chicken backs and a whole chicken, simmer 2 hours, and keep the same spices at half quantity.

Where to buy the ingredients in Toronto

Asian supermarkets across the GTA, such as T&T, Btrust and Oceans, carry marrow bones, brisket, rice noodles, fresh herbs and fish sauce. So do the Vietnamese and Chinese grocers around Spadina Ave and Dundas St W, Gerrard St E and Finch Ave W. Many have pho bones pre-cut and labelled. Any good butcher will cut knuckle bones to order, and mainstream supermarkets increasingly stock star anise, rice noodles and Thai basil.

Elsewhere in Canada, large Asian supermarkets and Vietnamese grocers carry the same staples.

Prefer to eat it out?

Rather have someone else mind the pot? Pho Tien Thanh, Pho Ngoc Yen, The Lunch Lady and Renso (build-your-own pho).