The classic Vietnamese noodle soup has never been more popular locally -- or more available:PHO

Pho fever! The classic Vietnamese noodle soup has never been more popular locally -- or more available
15/01/2008

A bowl of beef phoThink you know pho? Maybe so. But pho doesn't rhyme with "toe." Oh no.The famed Vietnamese noodle soup, pronounced properly, sounds something like "fuh," rhymes with "duh," but with the vowel lengthened and lifted into a rising tone. "Fuh," said almost like a question, is a good approximation -- and the closest many of us will come to the correct Vietnamese.
But if pronouncing pho presents a challenge to Northern Nevada tongues, tasting pho does not.A decade ago, only Pho 777 and Golden Flower served the soup, which is built from rice stick noodles, stock simmered with spices, raw and cooked beef, and extravagant garnishes of fresh herbs and condiments. Today, at least eight pho restaurants are scattered throughout Reno and Sparks, with five of those opening in the last two years alone, and a ninth spot about to debut in the Northwest.Pho "is the new Indian food," said local pho-natic Ryan Jerz. In other words, like vindaloos, pad Thai and kung pao chicken before it, pho has emerged from ethnic enclaves to become America's ethnic comfort food of the moment.What's behind this rise in popularity?Increased American travel to Vietnam, for one, along with shifting patterns of Asian immigration and, of course, the appeal of pho itself, which seems to be enjoyed by many folks who wouldn't otherwise dream of ordering fermented fish, chilled meatballs, spicy curry or any other Vietnamese food."All over the world, pho is the most popular dish of Vietnamese cooking," said Caroline Ngoc Kimmel, an Asian cooking expert and instructor from Reno. "When it's introduced to other cultures, people respond because it has everything: vegetables, noodles, protein, fresh herbs, broth, citrus and the aroma from the broth that wakes up your senses. Pho is comfort and health in a bowl."By designThe Vietnamese eat pho morning, noon and night, often at low tables in and outside of humble pho joints. Numerous incarnations of pho, featuring different meats and other ingredients, are cooked across Vietnam, but when Vietnamese folks refer to pho, they typically mean beef pho, or pho bo.Nothing in pho is accidental, even though much of the garnishing and seasoning is left to individual taste.Flat rice stick noodles are used because they offer more surface area than round noodles for broth to adhere to and permeate. Squirts of fresh lime juice help cook raw slices of steak and cut the richness of beef fat. Beans sprouts and fresh herbs prevent pho from becoming too heavy with protein and carbohydrates. Crevices, fissures and furrows in tendon and tripe collect broth for imminent release in the mouth.Broth standardsBroth is the foundation of pho. Roasted oxtail and beef bones are simmered with roasted vegetables and toasted aromatics like black peppercorns, stick cinnamon and star anise; as they simmer, the bones surrender their flavorful cache of marrow.In some kitchens, according to cookbook author and Asian cooking expert Joyce Jue, "flavor comes from charring shallots and garlic on skewers over fire. It gives you smokiness without being too smoky."Ideal pho broth is laced with anise and beef aromas and flavors, but not overwhelmingly so, and is flecked with sparks of ginger, onion and shallots. The best broth should be rich and deep without sacrificing any of the essential delicacy of pho.The broth should also remain unclouded, a quality partly achieved by diligent skimming and straining. Timing also matters."You have to know when to adjust the temperature and when to pull the broth from the stove," said Lila Ly, whose family owns Saigon Pearl, a restaurant many aficionados say serves the best pho in town. "You want the broth to be clear enough so that with the beef, it doesn't darken too much and look old."Beef demographicsMenus around town number the pho according to the combination of steak, brisket, flank, tendon, tripe and beef ball the soup contains; the first combination listed is usually the all-in-one, or what Bryan Gregory, a dedicated Reno pho-boy, calls the "fully loaded."Restaurateurs report that pho newbies, perhaps not surprising, tend to choose simple pho made only with rare steak; chewy connective tissue and dense beef balls formed from beef paste are avoided. Asians, on the other hand, often opt for the fully loaded.Rules of slurpWhatever the pho specimen, the experts said that many of us were eating it incorrectly, at least by traditional standards.Take those bunches of basil that arrive with the pho. You're supposed to pick off the leaves before tossing them into the broth. The stems, if eaten, make some people ill.And forget squirting rivulets of chili and hoisin sauces (especially hoisin) into the pho, a hideously common infraction"When you add too many things, you disguise the flavor of the broth," Kimmel said. "It suggests you're not too sure about this broth."Instead, sauces and pastes should be combined in a small sauce dish. Beef cuts and parts can then be dipped in the sauce before being hoisted, via chopsticks, onto the soup spoon cradling some noodles, herbs and a bit of broth. Based on observation, very few non-Asians in Northern Nevada can tuck into their pho in this elegant but dexterously challenging manner. Gregory, however, is one.The admitted pho fiend -- he orders the “fully loaded” two or three times a week at Saigon Pearl -- learned authentic pho consumption while he was a college student in Seattle, where “on every corner there’s a pho restaurant.”Back in Reno, Gregory doesn’t event pause as he mixes sauces and chili paste like oils, cooks slices of raw steak one by one in hot broth, and submerges a sheaf of bean sprouts beneath broth and a snarl of noodles to soften and flavor the sprouts.“It’s automatic the way I eat pho,” Gregory said. “It’s muscle memory now.”"A bowl of beef pho, the classic Vietnamese noodle soup, is garnished here with sweet basil, purple basil, bean sprouts, circlets of raw onion and slivered red chilis. Squirts of juice from fresh limes, lower left, cut the richness of beef fat. Aficionados often spike spoonfuls of pho with red chili sauce, lower right."
From :binhthuantoday.com