[Sca-cooks] TRYING TO FIGURE OUT A BROTH

[Sue Clemenger]

I wish I knew my boss well enough to ask him <g>! (he's Vietnamese).
I do have one slender, Vietnamese cookbook, but all the recipe titles
are in English, so I don't know if the beef-and-noodle soup in it is the
same as yours (although it certainly sounds similar).
Here it is:
BEEF & RICE-NOODLE SOUP
1 (3 lb.) oxtail, cut into pieces
2 stalks lemon grass, chopped
1 large piece ginger root, peeled
1 onion, sliced
5-6 whole star anise
6 cloves
1 cinnamon stick (optional)
1 T sugar
1 t salt
2 T fish sauce (nuoc mam)

1 lb. flat rice noodles, soaked in hot water for 10 mins., then drained
8-10 oz. sirloin beef steak, cut into small, paper-thin slices

Prepare the broth:
Cut off as much of the fat as possible from the oxtail pieces.  Simmer
it in a large pot with 9 cups of water and the lemon grass, ginger root,
onion, star anise, cloves, and optional cinnamon.  Simmer about 2.5
hours, skimming scum from the top as necessary.
Strain the broth and discard the oxtail and flavoring ingredients (save
the meat from the bones for another recipe if you like).  Add the sugar,
salt, and fish sauce to the clear broth, bring back to a boil, and
simmer for 2-3 minutes.  (At this stage, the broth can be cooled and
refrigerated for a few days.  The fat can be removed from the top and
the broth reheated ready to use.)

When ready to serve, bring the broth to a full, rolling boil.  Place a
few slices of beef steak on top of noodles in bowls, and pour broth over
that (filling each bowl about three-quarter's full).
Serve with accompaniments (bean sprouts, shredded cucumber and lettuce,
thinly sliced onion, seeded and chopped small, red chilies, lime wedges,
cilantro, mint, and basil leaves, and chili sauce).
Recipe notes that if you want the beef more cooked, simmer the slices in
the broth for a few minutes.
--maire


Robyn.Hodgkin at affa.gov.au wrote:
>
> One of my favourite dishes of all time is one made by a local Vietnamese restaurant here in Canberra. Pho Tai (I hope that spelling is correct) is a rare beef noodle soup.
>
> You are served with a big bowl of fragrant soup with lots of noodles and  thin slices of raw beef added just before serving; these cook in the soup as you eat.  On the side you are given a dish with beansprouts, lemon wedges, vietnamese mint, and fresh-sliced tiny chilis.
>
> A pair of chopsticks, a soup spoon and a box of tissues take up the rest of the table... you add your own blend of bits and pieces to the soup and then dive into pure gastronomic ecstacy.
>
> Thats it!!! I just have to have Vietnamese for dinner tonight!
>
> I have no idea what is in the fragrant ever-so-slightly-sweet broth, but it is soooooo good!  If you can tell me what their secret is, I will be SO happy...  I get the feeling there is star anise in there, but only a touch... the closest I can come to describing it is that its kind of like someone has made a soup including Japanese pickled ginger.
>
> Kiriel
>
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