O wrigglesome delight!

[kiya]

I did it. :) It's not the same as the restaurant Pho Bo, of course, but it's recognizably the same dish. With less cilantro, to drop the risk of going, "Whoa! Mouthful of cilantro! Ptuh, ptuh, ptuh." And a few substitutions that depended on availability and such. (Like the ngo gai, which a websearch said could be replaced with mint or basil, was replaced with half mint, half basil.)

I did it. My hands are covered in the guts of limes, and I did it, I did it!

Yay. :)

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Keen! Do you have tripe and tendon and brisket and all the other goodies in it?

[kiya]

This recipe only calls for brisket and sirloin. And the grocery didn't have brisket, so that's one of the substitution bits.

[leanne-opaskar.livejournal.com]

I've never had pho bo ... what is it, 'zackly?

Various types of chuck roast can be successfully substituted for brisket in soup-like concoctions, most of the time. They both prefer the slow & moist cooking methods.(Jeez, I sound like a textbook. q: Teach me to try to prep for culinary school ahead of time.) Out of curiosity, what did you use? And if it turned out that nummy, can I have the recipe? (:

Ever tried putting bits of leftover cilantro on your salad? Mmmm .... (:

[kiya]

Vietnamese beef noodle soup.

This is essentially the recipe I was working from, almost word-for-word what's in my cookbook. Which amused me terribly when I was ransacking google for an explanation of what ngo gai is.

My changes were to more or less halve the recipe, use beef stock instead of bones and water, sirloin instead of brisket (and I said hell with it and cooked it all from the beginning rather than save some out raw for the end), anise seed for star anise, half mint and half basil for the ngo gai (I got that substitution off the web somewhere), a bunch of scallions for the leeks (Kevin finds the smell of leeks a little distressing). For garnish, I only use limes. (The restaurant I first met this soup at doesn't put the bean sprouts in the soup, but offers them as garnish, along with I-think-it's Chinese basil and lime chunks.)

My hands still smell of limes. Yum. I love limes.

I should've put together some cold limeade to go with this when I made it, that's what I drink with it at Pho Pasteur. . . . That should go on the to-do. Limmmmmmmmmmes.

[rosefox]

Mmm, now I want pho for lunch. If I get out of bed now I'll even have time to get some before I get my head shrunk.

*pause*

So, like, I'm getting out of bed, like, now. Really.

*pause*

Oh, it's one of those days, isn't it.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

There are also good pho restaurants in Malden center, which is a little closer for you than Harvard Square, and cheaper than Pho Pasteur. Saigon Noodles and Pho 99 are both good.

Something else that the restaurants make that I'd like to learn how to do is avacado shakes.