I had the privilege to meet and chat with Brian Nguyen, the founder of Quoc Viet Foods^® Incorporation in Westminster, California, the maker of Vietnamese pho and other soup bases. I find Brian’s story about how he started Quoc Viet pho soup base and where he wants to take his company quite fascinating. Here’s a recount of our encounter.

First a little bit about the company. Quoc Viet Foods^® specializes in manufacturing and distributing Vietnamese pho soup bases and other seasonings. The company is the first to use modern technologies to convert the traditional Vietnamese dishes into the convenient soup base form. Quoc Viet’s soup bases and seasonings are processed from natural ingredients and do not contain any preservatives. For those who think soup bases are cheap, MSG-laden imitation of the real thing, they haven’t try these products. In fact Quoc Viet’s pho and other products are so good you’ll get restaurant taste and quality at home. By the way, in the interest of full disclosure, I did not receive any compensation for writing this article.

Those who have been looking for quick pho recipes probably saw my post about Quoc Viet Foods’s pho soup base. In it I described how to make a batch of 20 plus bowls of pho in less than 3 hours. I took my time for that post, but my subsequent performance has improved to less than one hour. So you can say I’m a fan, and Quoc Viet Foods’ products should definitely be on your try list if you don’t want to deal with bones, oxtails, and 3-6 hours in the kitchen.

Quoc Viet Foods’ Formative Years

The company name is Quốc Việt Foods^® Incorporation. In Vietnamese, the word “quốc” means nation, state or country, and of course Việt is the majority ethnic group of people living in Vietnam. So Quốc Việt Foods^® is all about the traditional flavors and taste of Viet foods of the motherland. By training, Brian Nguyen earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Science in Food Sciences. He’s worked for major food companies so he had all the right knowledge, from food product development to testing, from production to packaging, and distribution. Only problem was, he had no product to call his own.

On many trips to the local supermarkets, Brian told me he often looked that Viet foods on the shelves that are made in Thailand and elsewhere, with questionable quality and authenticity. One can almost see the entrepreneurial mind at work, and like many entrepreneurs, Brian had this energy that was just waiting to explode into a great product for a waiting market.

It finally dawned on Brian Nguyen that pho is what he wanted to do. Already in existence were mediocre products at best, and Brian definitely had some ideas. Now I’ve written before that Vietnamese cuisine is not something easily duplicable into mass produced quantities. And when it comes to pho, the variation is something that is expected. It’s one reason why I’ve not been impressed with pho franchises. But I digress.

Back to Brian and his pho. His garage became his R&D and product development laboratory – think Steve Jobs, Apple computers, and garage. Local supermarket meat departments were his beef bone and oxtail suppliers. It came to a point that butchers knew his face, what and how much he wanted as soon as he approached them in their shops. And his neighbors started wondering about this family next door that cooked pho everyday, all day long. Brian’s family is Northern Vietnamese so it’s no surprise, but the real kicker was when he told me neither he nor his family liked pho!

It wasn’t until the business actually opened that the butchers and neighbors understood what he was up to.

Growth and Market Expansion

Quoc Viet Foods^® then began a journey of growth from a humble 900 square foot location in 2002, expanding progressively to larger facilities every few years, to the current 12,000 sq ft space.

With an excellent product line, an expanding pho market that continue to gain visibility and popularity, new products coming down the pipeline, Quoc Viet is poised for more growth in the coming years. You can now buy Quoc Viet’s products from many Asian supermarkets. For those who cannot find a local retailer, the company will make an effort to ship products directly as well, though it’s an exception rather the rule.

In addition to supplying to the supermarkets, Quoc Viet Foods^® also ships products to restaurants, hospitals, schools, and casinos. Recently the company also became an approved vendor to SYSCO, the ubiquitous distributor of food and related products and services to restaurants, nursing homes, hospitals, hotels, motels, schools, colleges, cruise ships, sports parks and summer camps – wherever a meal is prepared away from home. This is serious pho distribution channel.

New Products – Vietnamese Coffee and Tea

Vietnamese milk coffee Cà phê sữa (either đá or nóng – iced or hot) is great by itself or it can go well with or after a bowl of pho. Brian Nguyen informed me that Quoc Viet Foods^® is also bringing to market its own new products of coffee and tea. Branded Cafvina, the coffee that I tried rivaled many coffees you may find in retail shops, and can give Lee’s Sandwiches’ iced coffee some serious challenge. Cafvina brand coffee comes in whole bean, ground, concentrated or ready-to-drink varieties. Look out for them.

Visit QuocViet.com.

Quoc Viet Foods® Steadily Growing and Bringing Vietnamese Pho to the Masses is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

I wrote about Chef Didier Corlou before (see article “Chef Didier Corlou, A Passion for Pho and Vietnamese Cuisine“.) because I very much admire his tremendous knowledge and passion for Vietnamese foods, and for pho in particular. Recently I had a chance to interview the “Maitre de cuisinier de France” himself over email. Chef Corlou is a very busy man so I’m honored to have him spend some time to share his views on Vietnamese and French cuisine, his view on the state of pho, and his new culinary ventures.

First a little bit more about Chef Corlou. In a sentence, Chef Corlou’s resume could be summarized as noted on his homepage of didiercorlou.com.

After over 30 years of experience worldwide – in Africa, Asia, Europe and America – and 14 years as Chef of Sofitel Metropole Hanoi, I now offer you a variety of buffet, diner and cocktail menus, with exotic-themed or European, traditional or contemporary dishes.

“Le Chef” Corlou is a member of the Culinary Academy France and is a 5 Stars Diamond Award Chef. With extensive traveling, cultural and culinary experience from around the world, Le Chef is now working out of Vietnam, running his new Verticale restaurant in Hanoi, opening up On the 6 in Saigon, while managing a training center and catering business.

Here’s a Didier Corlou bio.

• 1956. Born in Henebont, France.
• 1976. Africa, the Big Start: discovering of Ivory Coast and its lagoon from Abidjan.
• 1977. Entering to the ACCOR group: Caribbean, Bora Bora, the Comoros. With the regions and countries, it’s the meeting with the green papaya, giant mussels, wild pig, ginger and vanilla…
• 1991. Arriving in Vietnam…
• 1992. The cuisine simmers with Sultans in Malaysia, Fidel Castro or President Clinton, crowning of Prince Sihanouk; Chef at Sofitel Metropole where he managed a French and Vietnamese restaurants…
• 2003. Winning Gourmand World Cookbook for “Didier Corlou’s Vietnamese Cuisine” and publishing “Cooking with Chef Didier”…
• 2005. Opening of L’Escale restaurant in Siem Reap, Cambodia…
• 2006. Consultant, advisor in gastronomy for Sofitel Metropole and for many projects in Asia; Prepared dishes for President Bush at the APEC Summit…
• 2007. Guest Chef at Le Notre School, France;
Opening of “La Verticale” restaurant in Hanoi, Vietnam – ranked top 100 world best new restaurants by Conde Nast magazine in 2008; Opening of Corlou Catering, Pastry, Cuisine in Hanoi, Vietnam…
• 2008. Guest Chef at “World Gourmet Summit 2008” in Singapore; Guest Chef at “Hotel New Otani Osaka”, Japan; Guest Chef at Le Notre School, France for the new fusion cuisine; Publishing “A la verticale des epices” and “Five seasons – a Vietnamese collection of Gastronomic Journey”…
• 2009. Guest Chef at Diner de gala Escoffier, Shanghai, China; Guest Chef at TRU Vietnamese and Thai, Hongkong; Guest Chef at Ikarus in Hangar-7, Austria.

Chef Corlou has recently received the “Star Diamond Award” from the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences.

Let’s get on to the interview. I use text in brackets [...] to clarify the message as needed.

Lovingpho (LP): Do you consider yourself a French chef specializing in Viet cuisine, a Viet chef specializing in French cuisine, or maybe somewhere in between, or competely outside of the range of these descriptions?
Didier Corlou (DC): I am a French chef who [is] fascinate[d] in the gastronomy of all the world, and has an advantage in Vietnamese cuisine.

LP: What were the factors that drew you to Vietnam in general, and Viet cuisine in particular?
DC: The first reason is to discover, of course, the Vietnamese cuisine. However one more important thing is the habitants. All these factors make me stay with this beautiful country.

LP: What were some of the most important factors/ideas/concepts during your training that you deem important/critical for your knowledge and success today?
DC: I don’t consider myself a successful chef. However, in my oppinion, the most important factors lie on the way you present your work with a strong will and the desire for learning new things.

LP: If you can share some of your proudest achievements at the Sofitel Metropole Hotel, what would they be?
DC: During more than ten years working at Metropole, I am glad that I’ve built up the standard of Vietnamese cuisine.

LP: What would you select as some of the most important Viet dish(es)? And why? And what are some of your favorite Viet dish(es) you like to enjoy yourself? And why?
DC: For me, Pho is the most important and also my favorite Vietnamese dish, because it is very delicious, but not expensive. You can find it everywhere.

LP: What would you select as some of the most important French dish(es)? And why? And what are some of your favorite French dish(es) you like to enjoy yourself? And why?
DC: It is difficult for me to say which French dish is the most important. Each region has its own regional product and speciality. So it depends also which French region I am standing to answer the question what is my favorite French dish.

LP: How many years have you followed pho development, or developed pho yourself? And how have you seen pho changed during this time?
DC: [Since] my arrival in Vietnam, I have seen a lot of progress of Pho with better quality and more delicious [ingredients]. Moreover, each region now has developed its own Pho according [to] its own regional product. For instance, now we have Pho with prawn in the regions near the sea, Pho with vegetables in Dalat, and Pho with foie gras… [!]

LP: What are some of the worst/unacceptable pho preparation techniques that you have encountered?
DC: Everyone has own technique but the most important thing to have a good taste of Pho is the broth. In my oppinion, the worst technique is adding the glutamate-Maker of food seasonings [monosodium glutamate] in the broth and I [would] never do it. I make my Pho with Vietnamese spices (Cardamom, star anis…) instead of glutamate.

Chef Corlou’s Pho With Salmon!

Chef Corlou’s Cooking Class – Making Banh Cuon

LP: What do you think is the difference between pho in North Vietnam versus pho in South Vietnam today, or are there differences any more? And if so which do you personally prefer?
DC: North of Vietnam is the origin, the cradle of Pho. Generally, the Pho of the northern [is] featured by the salty taste, and the South by sweet. And Pho in the South is paired with more herb[s] than in the North.

LP: Can you share your thoughts on pho development outside of Vietnam, specifically in Australia, Europe and in the U.S.?
DC: Pho is more and more developed not only in Vietnam. There are 2 Vietnamese dishes that I see developing strongly outside of Vietnam: Pho and “Bun Bo” – Fresh noodle with beef. I see in France, there is the “Pho complet” – The Pho with prawn, pork and beef…in a bowl. It is very good.

LP: Do you see a problem/issue with pho being developed within Vietnam and outside of Vietnam in parallel, at the same time? Will they diverge into something different?
DC: I don’t think the development of Pho is [in any] threat, we must leave Pho [to] progress, we can not put it in the museum. [Everyone] can have his way of cooking Pho [as] he [wishes]. However [even if] Pho has developed to other kinds like “pho cuon”, “pho chua” , “deep fried pho”… no one [should forget] the tradittional Pho.

LP: It is difficult for restaurateurs and business people not to jump in to franchise foods that are popular and if there exists a market for them. Can you share your views on franchised pho?
DC: As you can see, the “Pho 24” is very successful with the franchising. It is no problem if we can market the Pho, but it must follow a recipe. Also, it [still] exists [in] many small restaurant[s] in the street [which are] very popular. I really appreciate that.

LP: Do you have one and only one recipe for pho, or do you advocate several different recipes? What are your reasons for your preference(s)?
DC: I have a basic recipe for cooking Pho. When cooking the “Hanoian Pho”, I respect strictly to this recipe. However, I still create my own style of Pho based on the products [I find]. For example, I can change some spices in the broth but just a little to have a matching between the broth and the products [/ingredients].

LP: Today pho is just fine the way it is for many people. Where do you see pho heading in the future?
DC: Pho is for everyone, [anytime] and easy to eat though it takes a long time to cook. In my opinion Pho is a potential [platform] to develop [further].

LP: Given so many types of foods to choose from, how often do you enjoy a bowl of pho? And if you do, where would you go for pho?
DC: That’s right we have now many types of foods, but for me one bowl of Pho a week in a small traditional Hanoian Pho street is ideal.

LP: Please share with our readers your current endeavors with La Verticale, OnThe6, and your Training Center.
DC: At this moment I want to concentrate on La Verticale and try to put the spices of Vietnam in the right place like they deserve. In Vietnam, we have many spices, we have 54 minorities with a lot of minority spices. The King people is majority but do not know how [to] use these spices. They use more herbs than spices. [Editor's note: King people are an ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, originating from what is now northern Vietnam and southern China, according to Wikipedia on Vietnamese People.]

I want to continue developing the new Vietnamese cuisine; also, to share my cuisine with people who [are fascinated by] Vietnamese cuisine. I [have] issued the collection “Five [seasonings]” with Vietnamese traditional recipes and modern recipes. The [training] center always has these available.

LP: Finally, they say a Frenchman must have wine with every meal. What would you choose that may go well with pho?
DC: It is a interesting question! Normally, at the restaurant, it is difficult to have the matching wine with soup. But for the Pho, it is great to have a glass of Merlot red wine before eating but never beer! The red wine will put up the taste of Pho. However, do not drink while eating the Pho. After, the tea is good idea.

I’d like to send a big thank you to Chef Didier Corlou for this interview, and also to his assistant Ms.Luong for her help coordinating it. All photos courtesy Chef Didier Corlou.

An Interview with Chef Didier Corlou on Vietnamese Pho and Cuisine is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

Updated 09-27-09. There’s nothing like enjoying a bowl of pho at your favorite pho shop with your pho companions. But there are times, for various reasons, you’d like to make pho yourself at home. Most authentic pho recipes like Andrea Nguyen‘s or Didier Corlou‘s call for cooking the bone and meat in broth for up to 2.5 to 3 hours. Adding other preparation time, including the time to bring water to boil, and you’re looking at maybe 4-5 hours total cook time. So for those who want to take a shortcut and shave off a few hours, try the Quoc Viet Foods Beef Flavored “Pho” Soup Base option.

Quoc Viet Foods makes shelf storable soup bases, seasonings, coffee and tea. When it comes to authenticity, it’s always a challenge to find ready-made food products, including Vietnamese pho. Yet Quoc Viet seems to achieve the impossible for pho, that is to “convert the traditional Vietnamese products into a convenient form” while maintaining the flavor expected of such product. This means for those who never made pho or tasted pho, they can now get very close to the real thing, easily.

You can read more about my other post on Quoc Viet Foods. But enough about the company. Let’s get to the goodness of their Beef Flavored “Pho” Soup Base.

The package comes in a compact round plastic container. The wraparound label clearly describes the content and includes an ingredient list, nutrition information and cooking directions in English, Viet and Chinese. While the nutrition info states that there are 32 servings per container, the cooking directions indicate it makes 20 bowls. Confusing, but still very nice! At a price of US$ 6.99 per container, I’m paying US$ 0.35 for the broth in each of my pho bowls, excluding a few other ingredients of course.

Inside the container are the powdered soup base with marrow, and 2 bags of spices. The soup base is the key part of the pho broth and is essentially your “instant” bone/bone marrow solution that you didn’t have to cook for 2-3 hours. It also packs plenty of beef fats which you can skim off at serving time if you wish. The spice bags are your normal star anise, cinnamon, and various other spices. What’s awesome about the soup base/spice bag combination is they give you all you need for the broth, including all seasonings that you need-I added some fish sauce but it’s really not required. The only other 2 things you’ll need are the ginger and onion which should be charred or grilled before use in the broth.

Quoc Viet Foods Beef Soup Base	Quoc Viet Foods Beef Soup Base Nutrition Facts
Quoc Viet Foods Beef Soup Base Cooking Directions	Quoc Viet Foods Beef Soup Base Package Content

The direction is very easy to follow. You’ll have to buy your preferred meat to cook, but this whole process entirely does away with having to buy the bone/oxtail and cooking them to get to the marrow, and to purchase the spices separately. For my broth I bought 2.8 pounds of beef flank, a piece of ginger and a medium size onion. The required ingredients list and cooking directions can be viewed from the photos below, but here’s a recap:

REQUIRED INGREDIENTS:

• 3-4 lbs, beek flank or brisket,
• 1 lb, beef tendon*,
• 1 bulb, onion,
• 2 pieces, ginger.

DIRECTIONS:

• Blanch meats for 15 minutes. Discard solution and rinse meats.
• (Step not in package direction): Char or grill the onion and ginger pieces. I cut my onion in half, but it’s your choice to do so or not.
• Put meats, onion, ginger, in a large pot and add enough water to cover meats. Boil at medium flame for 1 hour.
• After 1 hours, add spice bags and content of soup base. Do not tear spice filter bags.
• After 15 minutes, remover filter bags. Boil at medium flame until meats are softened.
• Remove meats, onion and ginger pieces.
• Adjust water to 2 gallons or to taste.
• Bring to boil and serve.

* The meats and tendon are optional, or you can also substitute/add tripe, meatballs, etc. depending on your preference, just as you would order in a restaurant. See my “Tips on Ordering Pho Your Way.”

For me I ended up with so much broth that I had to divide into 3 smaller containers, put 2 in the freezer and enjoy the third portion over a few days. Again the key was the soup base which is all inclusive. There are no seasonings required as the soup base is super concentrated, and you can add water to adjust to taste. My total cooking time was about 3 hours, but that’s just me because making and eating pho is a religion for me so I took my time. For others who just want to get quickly to a nice steaming bowl of pho with chopsticks and spoon in hands, you can probably do it in 1.5 hours or less. An alternative is to use a smaller portion of beef (hence cutting down cooking time further) and/or use pre-cooked meatballs instead. By the way, for those unfamiliar with meatballs, you don’t cook them in the broth for the whole duration. Just heat them in the broth just before serving.

Finally I rate my pho broth creation using Quoc Viet  Foods’ Beef Flavored Pho Soup Base as follows:

• Quality and taste: 8/10.
• Convenience: 10/10.
• Affordability: 10/10.
• Total value (quality & affordability): 9/10.

You can find this and other Quoc Viet products in many Viet and Chinese food markets in the 50 U.S. states, Denmark, Canada and Japan. Quoc Viet’s website indicates their products include

1. Chicken Flavored “Pho” Soup Base
2. Beef Flavored “Pho” Soup Base
3. Beef Stew Seasoning
4. “Hue” Style Beef Flavored Soup Base
5. Chicken Flavored Soup Base
6. Pork Flavored “Hu Tieu” Soup Base
7. Pork Flavored Soup Base
8. Tamarind Soup Base
9. Vegetarian Soup Base
10. Crab Flavored Soup Base
11. Thai Tom Yum Soup Base

Unfortunately Quoc Viet is a wholesaler and does not sell directly to consumers over the Internet. The company is also very active at local demos, festivals, and charity fund drives, so if you’re lucky you can catch them in action serving pho to hungry pho fans at these events.

Quicker Beef Pho Recipe with Quoc Viet Foods’ Pho Soup Base is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

Updated 04-25-10. This Pho Hoa is now closed, as far as I know, since the end of 2009.

Pho Hoa is a franchise serving pho dishes in various parts of the world. While I doubt if Pho Hoa offers anything more special than a good pho shop or restaurant, the company’s main marketing and franchise theme focus is on the healthy nature of their pho.

Pho Hoa is a company centrally based in California, U.S.A. It now has locations scattered throughout the country as well as in Canada and various countries in Asia, such as Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore. Most locations are set up in areas with large Asian populations, offering an excellent rendition of global pho to a large customer base even in Montreal and New Orleans. Pho Hoa has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1983, when the first Pho Hoa branch opened in San Jose. What used to be a small restaurant with a small kitchen and very few seats now offers franchising opportunities across the globe.

All the dishes served in the Pho Hoa franchises are carefully planned to ensure that each meal is a balanced meal for the customers, according to the company’s website. Offering an extensive menu of various pho dishes, Pho Hoa can be the ideal pho franchise that promises great benefits to customers and to franchisers alike. The company is open to those interested in a Pho Hoa franchise, with a form already made available on the Pho Hoa website.

With a fairly decent pho recipe and the commitment to healthful cuisine, Pho Hoa has artfully positioned pho dishes as the top choices for health conscious eaters. To diners who are familiar with pho, however, Pho Hoa’s pho is not necessarily any more healthy or special than their other favorite pho places. In fact to those who enjoy pho regularly, branding Pho Hoa’s pho as healthy, low-calorie with the choicest of meat cuts, as proclaimed by Pho Hoa itself, may sound somewhat foreign and even forced. There may be many different pho recipes used by different chefs, but the end result should be about the same in terms of fat content and calorie count no matter where you go. I would say the only concern among regular pho eaters regarding their pho, next to the fact that if the pho tastes good to them or not, is that if a restaurant uses more or less MSG or monosodium glutamate in the broth. But I digress.

Reviewing Pho Hoa’s menu reveals the many typical pho combination and permutation of ingredients together with other classic Vietnamese fare. Aside from the pho, Pho Hoa also offers an assortment of appetizers, rice plates, vermicelli bowls, and beverages to accompany them. So there’s really nothing special there. But the fact that Pho Hoa clearly groups their pho menu into “For the Beginners,” “Just the Regular,” and “The Adventurer’s Choice” tells me that Pho Hoa’s marketing goal is to attract the uninitiated to try pho for the first time. There’s nothing wrong with this and in fact it is almost an absolute requirement for a franchise to do this in order to continue to develop, expand and survive in new markets.

I never did a full review of Pho Hoa as a franchise with proper ratings and points on a bowl of pho, but did give a narrative review of one Pho Hoa restaurant in Little Saigon. You can read about it in this article “Vietnamese Pho: Franchised and Going Mainstream?” My friend Mason also just did a review of Pho Hoa Berkeley.

On a side note, Pho Hoa the franchise is not the same as a number of independently-owned Pho Hoa restaurants that still exist in many Viet communities in the U.S. Here’s a photo of one of the non-franchised Pho Hoa in Linda Vista, San Diego CA.

Pho Hoa Franchise: Purely Pho, Purely Healthy is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

There are three elements that make up a bowl of Vietnamese pho: the broth, the rice noodles and the meat. If you are a pho lover, you may be a fan of the noodles or of the way the meat, herbs and spices play together in your mouth as you slurp your pho to the last drop. There’s no denying that the pho broth is the most important element of Vietnamese pho. Pho broth is the soul of the dish. It is what makes the dish Vietnamese pho.

Giving Meaning to the Soul of Pho

Can you imagine Vietnamese pho without its broth? It is probably impossible to do so. You may try to cook up all kinds of soups, pour it in the bowl and try to call it pho. You may resort to be creative with different meats and adding new herbs and garnishing to the mix, but it’s just not pho. The pho broth is what gives the soup its distinct character. And there’s only one taste of pho broth.

In fact, the key to a successful bowl of pho is the creation of a good pho broth. Pho lovers judge the bowl of pho served to them in a restaurant by sipping the broth first without putting in any seasoning or garnishing. If there’s any doubt about the quality of a bowl of pho, just take a sip of the broth to find out. If the pho broth is good, we feel immediately at home; the familiar, the warm, the good, the satisfying. But if the broth is not up to expectation, the pho eating experience becomes labored, beside the fact that one is wasting the time and money with this darn bowl of pho.

You’d be surprised, but it’s far too easy to make a bad bowl of pho. The only way to do it is to make the pho broth unpalatable. You can be forgiven for serving undercooked or overcooked banh pho (the pho noodle). You can be forgiven for not having all the right meat types or garnishing. But mess up the pho broth and your pho is ruined. Conversely, serving a great pho broth will make up for your other shortcomings many times over. There is no perfect technique for making it, but what technique is there must be done carefully to create the perfect broth, with the right taste.

How to Make Pho Broth

There is no single perfect technique for creating good pho broth. The Vietnamese always say that the best pho you will ever taste is the one cooked by your own mother (plus maybe one or two favorite restaurants), and she will have her own ideas of how good pho broth is made. These ideas, in turn, are ones that have been handed down to her by her own mother. Thus, no two bowls of pho made in two separate kitchens will ever taste the same.

But most pho recipes you will find have many common elements, from the ingredients that go into the broth to the length of time required in making the broth. Vietnamese culinary experts Andrea Nguyen‘s and Mai Pham‘s beef pho recipes call for the following ingredients:

• Yellow onions
• Ginger
• Marrow-rich beef bones and beef knuckle bones
• Additional beef chunks
• Star anise
• Cloves
• Salt
• Fish sauce
• Yellow rock sugar

Here’s a generic process. Many recipes call for preparation using two stockpots of boiling water. The beef bones and chunks are parboiled in one pot in high heat for up to five minutes. This is to remove all the fat and impurities in the beef. Andrea Nguyen recommends rinsing the bones in warm water before being transferred into the second stockpot, while Mai Pham says that it is fine to just transfer the bones and the chunks without rinsing.

In any case, the second stockpot is kept at a simmer for an hour and a half, with any scum rising to the top ladled out regularly. The spices are then added, either as they are or wrapped in cheesecloth. Before they are put into the broth, the onions and the garlic need to be charred in open flame. Mai Pham recommends toasting the star anise and the cloves lightly in a dry pan before they are put into the pot. Again techniques vary, but one can see the care and variations involved to make a good pho broth.

After the hour and a half has passed, the boneless beef chunks are removed. The remaining broth is allowed to simmer for another hour and a half or so. The pho broth is then strained and then seasoned with fish sauce, salt and rock sugar. At this point, the pho broth should look clear and free from impurities. It is perfectly acceptable for it to taste strong and even salty at this point as well because the taste will be toned down once the broth is poured over the unseasoned rice noodles and meat.

The recipe described above is the most generally accepted way of cooking pho broth. But since no two bowls of pho made from two separate kitchens ever taste the same, techniques on how to make the broth vary from kitchen to kitchen. Some cooks, for instance, do not put fish sauce in the broth but instead leave it up to the eater to season it as he or she pleases. Some cooks also skip on adding beef chunks into the simmering broth and rely on the flavor of the marrow dissolving into the broth.

Time Is Essential in Cooking Pho Broth

Perhaps the one thing that turns people off from making their own pho at home is the amount of time it takes to create the pho broth. There are stories of people hailing from Vietnamese immigrant parents all over the Internet, which say that their own mothers have given up making pho because of the time needed to cook it. If they want pho, they all go to a restaurant that serves pho to fulfill their craving for the dish.

How long should it take for beef bones to simmer in order to come up with a good pho broth? Mai Pham and Andrea Nguyen both recommend at least three hours to simmer the broth, but there are other recipes that state that the beef bones must be boiled gently for six to eight hours. For restaurant-quality pho, the time required to simmer the broth can take up to 12 hours or more.

Why is it necessary for the boiling to take that long? The explanation is simple: It takes time for the marrow in the bones to dissolve into the water. You cannot force it with shorter but harder boiling because a hard boil distorts the flavor of the pho broth. The flavor of the marrow is the essence of the broth; it must be brought out gently and doing so takes time.

The time it takes to create pho broth is definitely worth it, though, and you will end up with a broth that is so tasty you will want to slurp up every last drop. Some people resort to buying so-called pho broth cubes or canned pho broth, but the taste is just not the same. It is thin and watery compared to homemade or restaurant-made pho broth. I know, I know. Those are just quick fixes for a quick pho but I just had to mention them.

Pho is not pho without its broth. The broth is the element that gives pho its life and soul. If you can enjoy the pho broth wholeheartedly, then the rest of the ingredients in the bowl will be enjoyable too.

Pho Broth: The Soul of Vietnamese Pho is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

Updated 04-10-09. Chef Didier Corlou is one of the well-known Pho authorities that you will likely come across around the web. Chef Corlou is the former executive chef of Hanoi’s Sofitel Metropole Hotel. He served at the hotel for more than ten years, during which he established his presence as a French chef with an innate love for Vietnamese cuisine, especially the pho soup noodle. Currently, the 5-star Diamond Awardee French chef runs his own business: the Verticale restaurant, also in Hanoi.

In 2003, Chef Didier Corlou published a booklet regarding a seminar series specifically on the famous Vietnamese cuisine staple, the pho soup noodle. The seminar series was organized by Chef Corlou himself with the cooperation of the European Commission to Vietnam. The seminar series, being specifically centered on the pho dish, is a testimony of the growing popularity of the famous Vietnamese dish, and Chef Corlou’s direct and spearheading involvement in the series is proof that the chef is a well-known, highly credible, and well-recognized authority when it comes to Vietnamese pho.

In the booklet, Chef Didier Corlou wrote a feature entitled “Pho’s Art,” in which he explains the most important and sometimes neglected and taken for granted parts of preparing pho. In the feature, the chef sought to communicate that preparing pho is not like preparing any other meal; in fact, Chef Corlou, with the title alone, considers the act of making pho an art.

The preparation process is also not the only work of art in the matter, as “Pho’s Art” further implies. Chef Corlou writes that the mere experience of eating pho in a packed pho shop, mixing in the various ingredients and garnishes, stirring the soup, and finally taking your first spoonful of the broth an art or a “ritual,” as he called it. Furthermore, the pho-loving chef advises not to leave fresh pho noodles for more than 5 minutes without eating them. According to him, the pho noodles easily lose texture within 5 minutes.

Chef Corlou also further establishes his knowledge and credibility regarding the subject by explaining how the pho dish made its way into the Vietnam mainstream. The feature explained how pho went from being a breakfast dish to an all-day meal that can be eaten even at lunch and dinner. There is also a summary of pho’s history. It is clear from the feature that Chef Didier Corlou, who also dubs pho as the best soup noodle in the world, has informed himself thoroughly on the matter and has immersed himself completely into the world of pho, so who better to trust when it comes to pho recipes?

The booklet also contains the chef’s own pho recipe, the one that Chef Didier Corlou himself authored, and also the same one that he serves in his Hanoi-based restaurant. The recipe can serve approximately ten persons. Some of the ingredients are pho noodles, beef bone, beef rump, beef fillet, shallot, old ginger, star anise, cinnamon stick, cardamom, lime, spring onion, fresh herbs such as coriander and mint, as well as fresh chilli, salt, and pepper for taste. The procedures have been kept short and simple, making them very easy to follow. Chef Didier Corlou also adds a note for when you prefer to use rare beef or add spuncules or sea worm for added taste. His recipe is probably one of the best-tasting pho recipes you will find on the web.

For a look at Chef Didier Corlou’s pho recipe, visit Andrea Nguyen’s blog article titled “Pho by Chef Didier Corlou.” There are some interesting discussions on pho there, and the recipe can be found toward the end of the page.

Chef Corlou’s Vietnamese Cuisine (or Ma Cuisine du Vietnam in French) is a food-lover’s collection item and is sold exclusively at the Sofitel Hanoi. Another book, Corlou’s Vietnamese Home Cooking, is more widely available. Both books pay homage to the Vietnamese culinary art that Chef Didier Corlou is obviously very fond of that his passion shines right through.

So you can’t buy Ma Cuisine du Vietnam unless you go to Hanoi, but you can definitely purchase Didier Corlou’s Vietnamese Cooking (Cooking (Periplus)) at Amazon.com. Visit didiercorlou.com.

All photos courtesy VietNamNet.net, which has lots more images showing Chef Didier Corlou in action.

Chef Didier Corlou, A Passion for Pho and Vietnamese Cuisine is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

Updated 05-02-10. Among all the Vietnamese dishes that came to the attention of the people in the western hemisphere, nothing else has received such tremendous acceptance as pho. Pho is considered as the national dish of Vietnam, and it has captured the fascination of so many people in the west because of its deceptive simplicity and its complex flavors. Pho is the perfect comfort food – warm, hearty and deliciously refreshing. In Vietnam it’s the common people’s food. It’s street food.

Pho can also be seen as a mirror that reflects Vietnamese heritage and way of life. A dish that is steeped in tradition, pho is closely tied to Vietnam that the history of pho can read as a parallel to the history of its country of origin itself in the last hundred years. With the migration of Vietnamese across the globe after the Fall of Saigon in 1975, the national dish of Vietnam came to grace the tables of people of different heritages, thus leading to the colorful evolution of pho throughout the years. In this article I’ll discuss pho, its history and what makes pho many people’s favorite dish.

What Is Pho?

Of course, before I go into the history of pho, we should first tackle a more fundamental question about pho, namely: What in the world is pho?

Many readers know exactly what pho is. Articles on pho that you find around the Internet define the dish simply as Vietnamese noodle soup, traditionally made with beef or chicken broth that is flavored with various spices and topped with various herbs. But this definition seems far too simplistic because it does not really capture the rich and intense essence of beef in the broth that can only be achieved by simmering marrow-rich beef bones on low heat for at least three hours. It does not describe the complex layers of flavor created by the herbs and spices in pho. It does not illustrate the many textures created by the chewy rice noodles, the tender beef slices and the crunchy bean sprouts in the soup.

At the very least, the description “noodle soup” may be a misnomer. Soup implies that the dish is a side dish, but in fact pho itself is the main course. Pho is a noodle dish, and not a soup dish. So if you catch the phrase “noodle soup” somewhere on this side then it’s only because I let my guard down for a moment there. Pho should be called “Vietnamese noodle” or “soup noodle” because it is a noodle dish.

You cannot expect two bowls of pho made in two separate kitchens to ever taste the same. There are many recipes of pho existing out there, with each recipe somewhat different from each other. But those are only the published ones. There are countless others that are closely held by professional chefs running popular pho restaurants, and we’ll never know what they are. So techniques in cooking and preparing pho vary from chef to chef. Variations can also depend on what type of pho is being prepared. For instance, pho bac, which is pho from the northern regions of Vietnam, is made quite differently from how pho is prepared in southern Vietnam.

The history of pho stretches only a hundred years back in Vietnam’s recent past. But just as those hundred years have shaped Vietnam into the country it is today, so do those hundred years have shaped the way pho has become. Three events in Vietnamese history have marked the history of pho. They are

1. The unification of Vietnam under French rule in 1887,
2. The splitting of the country into North and South Vietnam in 1954, and
3. The Fall of Saigon in 1975.

Here’s an article on “What is Vietnamese Pho: Think You Know? Think Again,” which discusses what is and what is not pho.

The Murky Beginnings of Pho: a French Connection?

Despite the fact that pho is a reflection of the culture and history of Vietnam, no one really knows how pho came to be. Restaurateur and author Mai Pham’s research on pho, as cited in Vietnamese culinary expert Andrea Nguyen’s blog, stated that there is nothing written about the early history of pho. All there is left are oral traditions handed down by elders. It is, however, agreed upon by many experts in Vietnamese cuisine, including Ms. Pham and Ms. Nguyen, that the history of pho began in Hanoi in northern Vietnam and that it started when the French colonized the country in the late 1880s.

In the SpiceLines interview on Ms. Nguyen, she said that before Vietnam was conquered by the French, the Vietnamese people did not slaughter cows for food. Instead, they used these animals to till their rice fields and as beasts of burden.

The general theory held by most Vietnamese culinary experts is that the word “pho” is a corruption of the French “feu” or “fire.” Pho could be a Vietnamese adaptation of the French soup “pot au feu” or French beef stew, which the French brought to Vietnam when they came to rule the country. But let me take this theory further into something more concrete to possibly reflect facts. It is this: Vietnamese love to take foreign words and use them as our own, but with a Vietnamese accent. Thus “feu” became “Phở.” But there’s more. It’s always been a popular knowledge that the French, specifically a man named Jesuit Alexandre de Rhodes in the country between 1624 and 1644, helped convert Vietnamese written language from a variant of Chinese characters into the modern age with translations using the Latin alphabet system. So the French connection to pho and Vietnamese language is much more intimate than casual, and it’s not unthinkable that pho did come from feu. Read more on the Vietnamese alphabet.

“Pot au feu” literally means “pot on the fire,” signifying the long hours required to create the soup. Just like with pho, cartilaginous, marrow-rich beef bones are used to make the broth of the pot au feu. These bones are left to boil and simmer in water on low heat for at least three hours, and the scum and foam formed by excess grease from the bone marrow are skimmed and discarded.

Another similarity that pot au feu shares with pho is the fact that ginger and onions are also roasted in an open flame before they are added to flavor the broth. Vegetables like carrots and turnips are used to top pot au feu. In pho, these vegetables are replaced by bean sprouts and herbs, with a little lime juice added in for taste.

Pho Bac: Pho of the North

Another theory that Vietnamese cuisine experts agree on is that the birthplace of pho is northern Vietnam, near Hanoi. Given the theory that pho is a Vietnamese adaptation of the French pot au feu, it is not surprising to think that pho originated from the north.

Hanoi has always been the center of political power in colonial Vietnam, with only a few short interruptions. The city has always been the seat of Vietnamese kings and emperors since 1010, except during the rule of the Nguyen dynasty, when the capital was moved to Hue. When the French conquered Vietnam and established the colony they called the French Indochina, they made Hanoi their capital city.

The French brought pot au feu to Vietnam and introduced the idea of slaughtering cows for food to the Vietnamese of the north. The northern regions of Vietnam are not as rich as those in the south, and food scarcity is not a stranger to a northern Vietnamese household. The northern Vietnamese get their food where they can find it, and they learned to take the beef parts and bones that their French conquerors did not want for their table. It is widely believed that this is how pho of the north, called pho bac, came to be.

Pho bac has an intense and delicate flavor that is entirely different from pho nam, which is pho of the south. The focus of pho bac is on the taste of its clear and simple broth. The star anise and other spices commonly used in pho serve as subtle undertones of flavor rather than complex layers. The main ingredients in pho bac are the rice noodles and the thinly sliced rare beef cooked quickly in the hot broth. You would not find a bowl of pho bac topped with the popular herbs and garnishing found in pho nam or in pho outside of Vietnam.

Even today, northern Vietnamese and pho purists consider pho bac the true pho. It is not uncommon to find a person from northern Vietnam or a pho purist to turn away from lavish preparations of pho nam or from pho that is not made from beef stock. Some of them find such preparations shocking and even disgusting.

Pho Nam: Pho of the South

French rule did not last in Vietnam. The Second World War saw the country known as French Indochina fall under Japanese occupation, although the new Japanese rulers retained their French administrators. But France was not to regain her full political influence on Vietnam. After the war, a series of events led to the splitting of Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam in 1954. North Vietnam, which is Communist country, kept Hanoi as its capital. South Vietnam is a democracy centered on Saigon (or Sài Gòn).

Thousands of North Vietnamese fled the Communist rule, and escaped across the border to South Vietnam. These refugee families took with them their cherished pho recipes and introduced pho to their brethren in the south. Here, pho is to make a turn that eventually shocked pho purists from the north.

Unlike in North Vietnam, food is rich and abundant in South Vietnam. Herbs and other ingredients are used liberally. The Vietnamese of the south put their taste for the lavish on the frugal pho bac to create the classic pho nam. They put more spices in their pho than their northern counterparts. They experimented with other beef parts, and even used other ingredients such as chicken and tripe. They added bean sprouts and herb garnishing as topping on the soup. They were also very liberal about the use of fish sauce and hoisin sauce to flavor their pho.

Pho flourished, and due to its versatility and popularity, Vietnamese eat pho everyday, at any time during the day. Pho vendors do business everywhere, from pushcarts to neighborhood street stalls, from pho restaurants to elegant bistros. But most importantly, pho is the food of the working people.

The Fall of Saigon and the Evolution of Pho

Conflicts between North and South Vietnam continued long after 1954. These conflicts were fueled by the Communist superpowers, namely the Soviet Union and Communist China, who gave their support to Communist North. Into the fray also came the Americans, who favored the Democratic South Vietnam. The conflicts became known as the Vietnam War, which raged full scale from 1963 to 1973, and ended in the Fall of Saigon in 1975.

The Fall of Saigon saw masses of Vietnamese people flee for their lives to various corners of the world. Many of them were accepted to the United States mainland in the few years immediately after 1975, while many others tried to escape in rickety boats as “boat people” for 15 or more years to come. These Vietnamese boat people created colonies in neighboring countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, although some even reached as far as Australia and even Europe.

Among the treasures that Vietnamese refugees brought with them from their homeland were their cherished pho recipes. Soon enough, restaurants serving pho emerged in the communities these Vietnamese migrants established in their country of exile, and these restaurants introduced pho to their non-Vietnamese neighbors.

As time went on, an evolution of pho was seen outside of Vietnam. Although the basic ingredients were retained, pho recipes were adapted to suit whatever ingredients were available locally. Non-Vietnamese who attempted to create their own version of pho also used techniques and ingredients that are far away from the traditional methods of creating pho.

One cannot stop evolution. Personally, I admire the creativity of these chefs, but if you want good pho, then go where the crowd eats. Chances are they eat the more authentic kind.

Vietnamese Pho Today

Outside of Vietnam many Vietnamese culinary experts have taken upon themselves to protect pho and help it retain its traditional identity. Pho has nonetheless taken on an adaptive nature. Many other versions of pho have emerged outside of Vietnam that contain seafood and pork and are called “pho” by their creators. Such dishes actually already exist in Vietnamese cuisine, being called “hu tieu” with different local variations.

For the pho connoisseurs, these so-called seafood or pork pho recipes cannot be considered pho in the strict traditional sense. In any case, the fact remains that pho has captured the fascination of people from all over the world because of the appeal of its distinct and layered flavors. There’s no question you’ll find great tasting and authentic pho in many of Vietnam’s local pho shops. But wherever you are in the world – whether in the United States, in Europe, in Australia or even in other Asian countries – you are sure to find a Vietnamese restaurant that serves pho as well, the authentic kind.

Also see “Pho in the U.S.: Sweeping North America Since 1975.” For an excellent recount of the Vietnamese experience and history of Little Saigon, see “Little Saigon, Orange County – California” by Wandering Chopsticks.

I hope you enjoyed reading this article and welcome your comments, corrections and suggestions. Share them with us in the comments below.

The History and Evolution of Pho: A Hundred Years’ Journey is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles

Lovingpho.com’s top pho recipe picks are now available. Go directly to “Top Pho Recipes You Must Try Yourself.”

Updated 06-25-09. If people from all across the world are crazy about Vietnamese pho, that really comes as no surprise. Vietnamese pho, or simply pho for short, is a deceptively uncomplicated dish with very complex flavors and exotic textures. Its heartiness fills the stomach and its heat warms the soul. It is one of the best comfort food ever created.
Although pho is a classic example of Vietnamese cuisine, its popularity is not limited to Vietnam alone. Since the Vietnamese refugees left Vietnam in 1975, Vietnamese restaurants all across the globe offer their own variations of pho, cooked using their very own pho recipes. Even non-Vietnamese people have strived to learn how to make pho in their own kitchens because it is such a lovely dish to eat any time of the day and is not that hard to make. That’s right it’s not that hard to make, but you are required to put in the time if you want to do it right.

As many pho lovers already know, good pho depends first and foremost on the broth, which is what makes a difference between bad homemade pho and good pho, restaurant or otherwise. If you know how to make good pho broth, then everything else is just a matter of getting the pho ingredients from the markets.

The way pho is made largely varies on the skill and dedication of the person cooking it. Because of this, it is hardly a surprise that there are so many pho recipes to be found on the Web. Pho is versatile enough to lend itself to different variations but you have to know where the rule can be broken, and where it cannot.

Here are ten pho recipes you can try your hands at. Be advised that when it comes to making pho, or many other dishes for that matter, experience is key because you need to know if what you just made tastes right or not. Furthermore, this is not a top ten list, and the recipes are not presented in any order. I would consider a number of these “quick broth” recipes as home remedies, something you can do to tie you over until you can get the next real pho fix.

One thing is for sure though: if you really want to try and make pho yourself, then select a recipe from a Vietnamese chef, preferably a respected one. Except that there’s a certain French chef that knows a lot more about Vietnamese pho than many Vietnamese. I’ll share this tip at the end of the article.

The So-Sos and the Funnies

1. Pho Bo Soup. About.com is one of the most authoritative and reliable sources on the Internet, and its guide to Chinese cuisine, Rhonda Parkinson, featured a recipe of the beef pho. The recipe is not hers, however, but is by the author of The Vietnamese Cookbook, Diana My Tran. This pho recipe is good because it has all the ingredients and condiments necessary in making the classic beef pho.
2. Hanoi Beef Noodle Soup. This pho recipe from the Food Network is aptly Americanized in that one does not have to boil beef bone marrow to come up with the broth. Just buy cans of ready-made beef broth from the supermarket to make the soup. It also skips on the onions and the culantro, and requires boiling the beef and the bean sprouts instead of letting them cook in the soup while served.
3. Vietnamese pho. This pho recipe in the UKTV website by Jason Atherton is another easy-to-cook version of pho. It only requires putting beef broth cubes, ginger, peppercorn, cinnamon, star anise, and cardamom into a pot of boiling water. It also makes use of mint instead of cilantro, culantro and basil.
4. South Vietnamese Style Pho. This pho recipe from All Recipes makes the process of cooking pho look arduous, but it’s what’s required. Boiling the beef bones alone for the broth requires at least six hours, but as the author said, the longer the beef bones are boiled, the richer the flavor. The recipe makes use of radishes and sugar. The author also recommended serving the toppings separately from the noodles itself to suit the diner’s preferences.
5. Vietnamese Beef Pho. This version of the Vietnamese beef pho from the Steamy Kitchen blog is the blogger’s take on Andrea Nguyen’s classic recipe from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. Beyond the fact that the recipe sounds as authentic as pho recipes go, it is also an entertaining read.
6. Vietnamese Pho Noodles with Beef. This pho recipe featured in Epicurious is one straight from Mai Pham’s cookbook Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table. This is a classic pho recipe, although with the broth boiling process reduced to two hours instead of three or four.
7. Chicken Pho (Pho ga). All of the recipes named here so far use beef as the main ingredient, but this pho recipe by Tien Dinh of Pho in Las Vegas makes use of chicken. This version sounds like a shortcut to authentic pho, but it does boast of less fat and less time to prepare – less than 15 minutes.
8. Chicken Pho (Pho ga). This pho recipe comes straight from the blog of Andrea Nguyen, author of Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. It is still classic pho, except that instead of boiling beef bones to make the broth, the bony parts of the chicken are used instead. The chicken flesh is also cooked separately, instead of being cooked in the broth while the bowl is served, as it would have been if it was beef pho.
9. Vegetarian Pho Broth. This interesting pho recipe from SparkPeople makes use of tofu instead of meat or chicken. It is admittedly not an authentic pho recipe, and the flavor comes mostly from the boiled vegetables, the lime and the spices.
10. Pho with Shrimp. This is another semi-vegetarian adaptation of pho from SparkPeople. The broth is mostly flavored with the usual pho spices and with soy sauce. The shrimp is either boiled or stir-fried in olive oil before it is served with the noodles. I think this recipe is more of what we call “hu tieu”, a Southern Vietnamese cousin of pho, which uses the same noodle but with meats other than beef or chicken.

The Pros

Now that you’ve read all these interesting recipes, what would I recommend? Here are my picks and they’re actually not on the list above (ha ha, sorry):

• Serious pho chef wannabes should head over to Andrea Nguyen’s blog and see her articles on “Basic Pho Secrets and Techniques, “ ”Beef Pho Noodle Soup recipe, ” “Chicken Pho Noodle Soup recipe,” and “Advanced Pho Secrets and Techniques.”
• “Pho by Chef Didier Corlou,” also courtesy of Andrea Nguyen’s blog, has the recipe by this famous French chef that is considered the authority on Vietnamese Pho. On that page, scroll down near the bottom to see his recipe. Who is Chef Didier Corlou? I’m sure you can Google his name yourself, but here’s our take on Chef Didier Corlou.

In summary, beef is the traditional main ingredient of pho, but pho is also adaptive so it can be made in many different ways. No matter which pho recipe you choose, pho is a great meal to make, share and enjoy. Now if you’re still confused about what pho is, head over and check out the post titled “What is Vietnamese Pho: Think You Know? Think Again.” Enjoy.

A final note:: if you’d rather not deal with buying the bones and oxtails and simmering them for hours as called for by many recipes mentioned above, you can opt for making the broth the easier way. Just substitute the steps to make the broth with that described in this article “Quicker Beef Pho Recipe with Quoc Viet Foods’ Pho Soup Base,” and you’ll have a steaming pho bowl on your dining table much sooner.

Ten Pho Recipes from Around the Web is a post from: Vietnamese Pho Noodles