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Pho my goodness!

post #1 of 7
1/5/09 at 3:42pm
Thread Starter 
So I went on a pho making escapade, which is the type of thing that happens when you move to the cow-subarb from the heart of Vancouver--you gotta learn how to make all the Asian specialties you've grown to love.

The broth turned out AMAZING--beef broth, just bones over night , then a couple hours with roasted ginger, garlic and onion with anise, cinnamon and clove. Splash of fish sauce at the end. Looks, tastes and smells pretty close to the real deal.

However the pho meatballs, though they are tasty, seem to have missed the mark. Both texture and taste are off. I went with this recipe:

-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 1/2 Pounds Lean Ground Beef
1 Garlic Clove -- crushed
1 Egg White
1 Tablespoon Sherry
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Liquid Smoke
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
1 Pinch of Sugar
1 Salt and White Pepper
2 Tablespoon Corn Starch
1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil

Blend mixture with mixer or food processor until very smooth. Mold small
meatballs on skewer (about six meatballs per skewer). Broil to perfection.

......

First off, the seasonings could be halved, IMO. Also the corn starch could probably be doubled, at least...

Anyone has pho-ball pointers? :roll:
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post #2 of 7
1/10/09 at 12:35am
Try using 2 parts pork (fatty cut) to 1 part beef. Omit the liquid smoke, and do everything else as you have written it out.
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post #3 of 7
1/10/09 at 12:56pm
The meatballs are called thit bo vien. Google "thit bo vien" as your search terms and you'll come up with a bunch of recipes all pretty similar to one another. There's nothing sufficiently remarkable about what I do to bother writing it up -- so unless you specifically want my recipe, I won't.

The trick is to have your meat semi-frozen or at least very cold when you process it in small batches. No more than 1/2 lb of already thinly sliced beef at a time. Also: Processing works better than grinding for this application. You're looking for an extremely fine texture, as though the meat were pounded into a paste rather than ground. This raw texture will give some "bite" and "spring" to the final meatball. You're not actually looking for "fluffy."

Your current recipe, with its use of skewers and liquid smoke seemed geared towards cloning the bo-vien you might find from a street seller in Viet Nam, rather than in a nice dish of pho. So, steam instead of broil, omit the skewers and smoke, but you'll want to slip some fish sauce in there.

On the other hand, if you do want to grill your thit bo vien, by all means...

I haven't used pork, and don't believe it's often used in the many pho joints of SoCal -- but it sounds interesting, and at some point I will get around to trying it.

Hope this helps,
BDL
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post #4 of 7
1/10/09 at 1:07pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks to both of you! The thread has been up for a week, I was starting to wonder if anyone ate pho at all :)

I'll be trying with pork, steamed, and processed while slightly frozen. I've got the broth down so good, it would be a shame not to figure out the meatballs.

You brave with the pho? Tendons etc?
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post #5 of 7
1/10/09 at 1:21pm
I don't know about "brave," but my favorite pho combo tai nam sach tendon, tripe and raw meat with the raw meat served outside the soup).

Yours is pho bo vien?

FWIW, "pho" is pronounced, "fuh," which can lead to a certain amount of hilarity among the immature (me).

BDL
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post #6 of 7
1/10/09 at 1:31pm
Thread Starter 
It's been pointed out to me that this post could be taken funny by someone who doesn't know where I'm coming from or has a different sense of humor. So voila! Gone. :smoking:
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post #7 of 7
1/10/09 at 1:41pm
Sigh. Don't I know. My daughter went to Emily Carr.

BDL
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