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Tips on Ordering Pho Your Way: Just Tell Them What You Want

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(@mark from san jose)
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Joined: 8 years ago

im gonna get my ass kicked by a dai ca for trying to speak his tongue dude. lmao.

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(@Stefan)
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Joined: 7 years ago

Hi Cuong, you very detailed described how to order the different cuts of Beef Pho, but how I order Pho Ga with:
- white meat from breast
- dark meat from leg
- skin
- liver, heart
- giblets etc.

Thanks for your kind answer

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Cuong Huynh
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@Stefan: Thanks for your comment. Pho Bo is by far the most popular and garner the most attention among Viet and non-Viet eaters alike. For this reason I concentrate more on Pho Bo on this site. Check out this post about what type of pho people like to eat: What's Your Pho Type, Beef Pho, Chicken Pho, or Vegan Pho? .

Due to the lower market demand, pho restaurants no longer go through the trouble of serving pho ga this way. This is true for pho restaurants in North America, and probably the same way in Europe or Australia. As a result, it can be hit-and-miss, maybe more on the miss side at a given pho restaurant that you walk into. If you do find one, then it can be a very rare situation, and I’m not sure how long it will last. In Southern California, one of the well-known places serving "proper" pho ga was Pho Bolsa - Second To None Pho Ga (Chicken Pho) . Unfortunately, they are no longer in business.

By the way, the way you list "Skin" as a separate item implies that skin may be ordered separately. I don’t think even Viet people actually order or want chicken skin as a separate item. If you can get chicken separately as dark or white meat in the way we’re talking about, then the skin will come with either choices. Also, the liver, heart and other internal organs of a chicken are part of the giblets, so if you can get some then you’ll most probably get all of the giblets.

I'd be more than happy to answer any specific question you may have, if I can. Cheers!

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(@Stefan)
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@Cuong: Thanks for your prompt reply. I realize that this specification of Pho Ga is neither in US nor in Germany - where I'm based - available. But I'm writing an article about ordering Pho in Vietnam and would like how you say these demands for different kinds of meat in Vietnamese.

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Cuong Huynh
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@Stefan: I think I understand your request. If by "how you say these demands" you mean audio recordings (as was done in other pronunciation posts, such as Pronunciation of Pho and Other Vietnamese Words and Phrases, Part 2), then I can do that at the next available opportunity I have to post a new post, or add to one of the existing pronunciation posts. If I'm still not correct then please clarify further.

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(@Stefan)
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I understand, but before you start the audio recording (wonderful idea) just be so kind to tell me the Vietnamese words for "white meat", "dark meat" and intestines. Thanks for your help 🙂

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Cuong Huynh
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Ok I misunderstood. You should have asked for the translation instead of "how you say" which made me think you want to hear the pronunciation.

In Vietnam, we don't say dark meat and white meat. We say leg/thigh meat and breast meat. It's not about the meat color but more about what part of the chicken the meat comes from. So leg/thigh meat is thịt đùi or đùi gà (thịt = meat, đùi = leg) and breast meat is thịt ức or ức gà (ức = breast of any kind of fowl, of which chicken is a part). Most of the time, saying đùi or ức is enough if the context of chicken food is understood.

In general, lòng gà is used to describe the edible chicken internal organs, including the heart, liver and gizzard. If you want to be specific about the intestines, then they're called ruột gà.

Hope this helps.

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(@Stefan)
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@Cuong: That's what I wanted. Thanks so much and sorry for expressing not clearly. I will mention your site as author in my article. Cheers Stefan

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Cuong Huynh
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No problem at all Stefan. I look forward to seeing your article.

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Cuong Huynh
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By the way @Stefan, I'm just curious. How do you refer to these chicken meats in German? Do you use dark/white meat (or something similar) or do you just say what they are (leg, breast) like we Vietnamese do? Thanks!

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(@Stefan)
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@Cuong, mostly we don't have the choice 🙂 so we get either skinned breast - preferred by Germans - or we get drumsticks. If people make a curry, stew or soup they use in most cases white breast, sliced against the grain.
Only a few understand the difference between the different parts of the chicken and they will say leg, breast etc. For the majority the main thing is to have white meat, no skin, no bones 🙂 But I think it's the same in the States.

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 E
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What does giầm mean in "Hành giầm giấm" or is it hành dầm/ngâm giấm?

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Cuong Huynh
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@E: Giầm, or more correctly, dầm, normally means "pickling" and ngâm means "soaking", so the 2 words means essentially the same thing. If one wants to dig deeper then the finer point lies in how it's done, what technique is used, and for how long. In the context of the vinegar onion on the side in this article, all it means is the onion is thinly sliced, then soaked in vinegar solution (recipe varies from pure vinegar to various mixtures of other ingredients), then served at the table.

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