[Sca-cooks] TRYING TO FIGURE OUT A BROTH

[Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Heleen Greenwald:

>I once had a Vietnamese noodle soup called, I believe, *Pho*. The
>clear broth was very delicate and a touch sweet. I have been trying
>to figure out what was in that broth so that I can duplicate it.
>Could it possibly have been a lobster broth?  Any ideas?

It might be a light, white (white in the sense that it is not dark,
not literally white) beef stock. Chicken and seafood versions do seem
to exist, but I suspect at least some of them are made with white
chicken or beef stock, with a variety of meat and vegetable garnishes
determining the "official" nature of the finished soup.

A little Web research seems to suggest that it is a commonly held
belief (true or untrue) that beef is sort of the default setting,
sufficient to make the use of something other than beef
comment-worthy. For example, somewhere out there is a report that a
subsidiary of Campbell's Soups is making a commercial pho broth base,
and the report found it necessary to state that the stuff is made
from chicken instead of beef.

It may also be a regional thing. For example, in Chinese restaurants
we see beef, pork, shrimp, chicken, sometimes lamb and various
others, and in places like Kosher Chinese restaurants, veal, but in
the homes of Chinese-Americans whose ancestry is Southern Chinese
(whence, it is alleged, come most of the people now living in SE
Asia), beef seems to be the preferred default meat. Of course, this
may be because they're in America.

You might try a simple white beef stock, made from unbrowned bones
(start with raw for best results). There may be stuff like ginger,
scallion, and lemon grass involved. White beef stock is inherently
sweet, and my own [limited] experience suggests that the kind of
vegetable aromatics so common in Europe and America, like onion,
carrot, and celery usually don't make it into Asian stocks in the
stock-making, simmering stage.

One pound of meat and bones per quart of water, bring to a boil,
skim, reduce heat and simmer eight hours or so, skimming every so
often.

A pork and/or chicken broth enriched with shrimp shells is also
great, but not something we want to talk about the day before the
first night of Passover. ;-)

Which reminds me. What are the people who do this, doing in re Seders and such?

Adamantius, perennial Seder guest