There are almost no foods that are worth eating in restaurants that aren't worth attempting to make at home, at least once. Some are super difficult, some are so easy you can't believe that you pay someone else to make them ever. And then some are so ludicrously time-consuming, you understand why it's okay to pay for them forever, once you've tried to do it at home.
I decided this was the week I would try to make a pho broth. How hard could this be? Turns out, it wasn't as straightforward as I expected. Maybe I didn't use enough beef. Maybe it was too much water. I simmered the broth for something close to seven hours, and it was painfully bland. Thank goodness for add-ins at the end, like Bragg's liquid aminos, Sriracha sauce, and sesame oil. And I had to admit to my assembled friends, that the bulk of the broth was my homemade variety, but a pint of it was from a carton, from King Soopers. It was actually pho broth, not plain old beef stock, to be specific.
There were steps to making this broth I've never been instructed/felt obligated to do before. Beef marrow bones needed to be boiled briefly (5 minutes) and then rinsed, with the boiling water thrown out. This gets rid of icky stuff that doesn't belong in the broth. The aromatics, onion and ginger root, need to be scorched before they are added to the pot. If I had a gas stove, I would have done this over an open flame, as instructed. Instead, I broiled them, for maybe not enough time. I also didn't catch the part that I was supposed to leave the outer layers of the onion on, assumably for color. Oops. The spices needed to be toasted in a dry pan, so in went star anise, coriander, peppercorns, and cinnamon sticks. (I wasn't sticking right next to a recipe, so I skipped fennel and cardamom at this point. I should have remembered them.) They went in a bouquet garni, with bay leaf.
At multiple points during the day, I tasted to test progress. Yeah. Even when almost half the water had evaporated, it was still super bland. That's when I ran out to get the packaged broth to bolster the flavor. I also had to get limes, Thai basil, and a piece of fresh beef to slice thinly for the bowls. Also, I learned that King Soopers (a Kroger company) does not sell fresh mung bean sprouts, on purpose. I tried Natural Grocers, and struck out there too. I was too tired to make a third stop at Whole Foods, so we did without. I had the basil and some scallions to go over the rice noodles and beef, and that was enough.
I can't decide whether to try this again. Maybe one last shot to see how hard it would be to use enough beef to make a really strong flavor. Or I can give myself permission to go to Black Pepper Pho more often, and appreciate what they do even more.
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