Anders Bandt

• 2 large onions, halved
• 150g / 5oz ginger , sliced down the center

• 10 star anise (Joshua Weissman says to use 5-6)
• 1 cinnamon stick, toasted
• 3 black cardamom pods, optional
• 3 cloves
• 1/3 cup coriander seeds, toasted

• 3 lb. beef brisket or chuck roast (see note 1)
• 2 lb. meaty beef bones
• 2 lb. marrow bones (leg, knuckle), cut to reveal marrow (see note 2)
• 5.5 quarts water

• 2 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 tablespoon fish sauce (see note 3)

• 50g / 1.5 oz dried rice sticks (or 120g/4oz fresh) (see note 4)
• 30g / 1 oz beef tenderloin, raw, very thinly sliced (see note 5)
• 2-4 brisket slices

• Beansprouts, handful
• Thai basil, 3 - 5 sprigs
• Coriander/cilantro, 3 - 5 sprigs (or more basil)
• Lime wedges, optional
• Finely sliced red chili, optional
• Hoisin sauce, optional
• Sriracha, optional

• Heat a heavy based skillet over high heat (no oil) until smoking.
• Place onion and ginger in a pan cut side down. Cook for a few minutes until it's charred, then turn. Remove and set aside.
• Toast spices lightly in a dry skillet over medium high heat for 3 minutes. DON’T let them burn, there is about a 30 second - 1 minute gap where they are nice and toasted to burnt. It is easy to do if you are multitasking.

• Arrange bones in an even layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Spray lightly with cooking spray, or drizzle with oil. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes (at what temperature ???), or until deep brown.
• Add roast bones to a large stockpot and let sit for 5 minutes in cold water. This helps release the albumin to help clarify the stock.
• Meanwhile, sear each side of the roast on a skillet with light oil over medium heat.
• After 5 minutes in the cold water, place stockpot on stove and bring up to a light simmer (don’t let it boil). Intermittently skim off any foam and scum with a light mesh skimmer.

• Once your pot is at a light simmer, add aromatics and seared roast.
• Add onion, ginger, spices, sugar and salt - water should just barely cover everything. (I THINK THIS IS IMPORTANT – too much water leads to weak broth)
• Cover with lid and let simmer for 3 hours.
• Remove brisket (should be fall-apart tender), cool then refrigerate for later.
• Simmer remaining soup for 40 minutes, uncovered.
• Strain broth into another pot, discard bones and spices. Should be about 2.5 liters / 2.65 quarts (10 cups), if loads more, reduce.
• Add fish sauce, adjust salt and sugar if needed. Broth should be beefy, fragrant with spices, savory and barely sweet.

• Prepare rice noodles per packet, just prior to serving.
• Place noodles in bowl. Top with raw beef and brisket. I also like to add thinly sliced onion.
• Ladle over about 400 / 14 oz hot broth - will cook beef to medium rare.
• Serve with toppings on the side!

1. Brisket for broth - brisket adds way more flavor than other beef cuts like chuck (brisket has intense beef flavor). If omitted, broth is weak. However, brisket is often more pricey, and sometimes harder to find.Instead of brisket or chuck, you could also sub boneless beef short ribs. 2. Bones for broth - marrow bones add richness to the broth but not as much flavor. Use leg bones, knuckle, anything that is cut in a way so you can visibly see some of the marrow. Marrow bones can be subbed with more meaty beef bones but soup may lack richness. Meaty bones are typically called “soup bones”. Brisket and marrow bones may need to be purchased from a butcher. 3. Fish Sauce - can sub with light soy but the flavor will be a tiny bit different. 4. Noodles - any flat rice noodles are fine here. Use medium size - not super thin like vermicelli or really wide either. 5. Finely sliced beef - partially freeze (about 30 minutes), then slice as thinly as possible. Could also buy thinly sliced frozen beef from Asian butchers. Other tender beef is also ok. If raw beef is off putting for you, just dunk in soup broth before adding into bowls, or lightly sear in a pan. 6. Serving - Traditionally, the soup is served with just noodles, broth and beef with all the toppings listed above on the side. The idea is to help yourself to toppings as you eat the pho.

Using nutmeg instead of cloves Using a little under 4 lb.s of just marrow bones, instead of some more traditional, meatier, soup bones. The broth was honestly a little weaker, so possibly look into… Increasing the simmer time Not using just marrow bones Bought sunflower sprouts instead of bean sprouts It was fine, bean sprouts are very good though I probably spent roughly $100 on ingredients, so maybe $10 or less per full bowl? Not bad Maybe look into another good topping to add to the list above Honestly when cooking for self consider not buying tenderloin. The brisket is good as a soup meat and the tenderloin is expensive

I think I should start taking care to measure how much water I am adding. I fear too much water will make the broth weak Used nutmeg instead of cloves again. Also added half a thing of cinnamon. I think taste was really there