Story of Pho noodle soup (Vietnam)

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You may notice the fact that Vietnamese food has been more and more popular to the outside Vietnam in the recent decades. Among the well – known dishes, Pho, perhaps is one of the most typical and preferred dishes of this nation. Travelling to Vietnam you may find places serving Pho in every area of the country from a mountainous small town to the capital city of Hanoi, from rustic local food huts by the dusty roadsides to the glittering air-conditioned restaurants of cosmopolitan city of Saigon.

There are several theories about when and where this flavorful dish was created. However, the verdict by majority that the dish was first created in Hanoi and Nam Dinh province (120km to the southeast of Hanoi) in early year of the 20th century between 1900 and 1910. In the old days, there used to be many well-known traditional Pho brands in these both cities and all were passed down in within their own family to keep the secret recipe.  Nowadays, Pho 10 Ly Quoc Su, Pho Suong, Pho Thin are some of the most preferable ones for Pho lovers in Hanoi meanwhile Pho Co family for people of Nam Dinh province.

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Everyone knows what are in the bowl. Beef, noodle and broth with some spices of cinnamon, ginger, star anise but the taste or the flavor of the broth is the key factor that decides the success of the dish. Basically, they would put cow bones into a big wag and stew for long hours to get the sweet taste from the marrow, the broth needs to be constantly filtered to remove the murky bubbles and fat, if not, which will ruin the flavor as the smell from the cow bone is not too pleasant. The broth filtering process is done until the broth looks quite clear and no murkiness. During this slowly cooking broth, other spice ingredients are put in such as ginger, red shallot, cinnamon, cardamom… up to over ten items.

As the older generation’s memory, Pho was only for the elite class and was eaten for breakfast mainly. Today, Pho is for everyone, its fan would include taxi drivers, office staffs, tourists and even a foreign president visiting Hanoi. Not only for breakfast but people eat Pho whenever they feel they need something to reboot energy, something light and tasteful.

 

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