Netspace School of Culinary Arts – Partner of the program Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our program of “Discover Vietnamese Cuisine” In the first episodes, we have had a chance to discover many delicious and attractive dishes such as Vermicelli with egg rolls (Bún chả giò), Beef Stew served with French Bread (Bánh mì bò kho), … So, which food is gonna be discovered today? However, before mentioning about this one, I’d like to introduce a special invited guest in our program of “Discover Vietnamese Cuisine” today. Hello! Nice to meet you, sir! I’d like to present Mr. Nguyen Quoc Y, the Principal of Netspace School of Culinary Arts Nice to meet you too! Hello everybody! Furthermore, I’d like to inform you that he is also the famous food expert, especially, cooking Pho. Is this right, sir? Yes, I do Could you please share with us a little bit of information about your passion? Why don’t you choose another one? Actually, you know, Pho is a famous food that every Vietnamese people have to know and enjoy Besides, I’m sure that not only Vietnamese people but also foreigners do really love the distinctive flavors of Pho. Alright! So, it’s probably that we are gonna introduce Pho in the kitchen of “Discover Vietnamese Cuisine” Program today, right? Yeah, definitely! Could you please introduce about the ingredients here? Today, I’m gonna cook Pho Bo. And, the main ingredients for cooking this dish include: Firstly, beef marrow bones. Remember that you should choose the fresh ones. Secondly, beef brisket. You can also use meat balls and beef dipped in boiling water (rare beef or unripe beef) to serve with Pho. Along with the main ingredients, this food needs to be seasoned with condiments to create the distinctive aroma for Pho. The first one is “five spice seasoning” including: cinnamon, star anise, clove, chan pei and cardamom. Absolutely you can buy this small package for easy usage in your home Next, I have onions, ginger and coriander roots that will be broken up and then grilled for using. The flavor of Pho is also created from lemon, chilli, coriander, basil, bean sprouts and spring onions. And these are spices, right? Yeah, we have salt, rock sugar and seasoning powder. Especially, I won’t use MSG (monosodium glutamate) for seasoning the dish. Why don’t you use MSG for this food as many others people? It's better for your health without using MSG, because you know, it absolutely can cause an allergy in some situations for users. Do we have enough ingredients for cooking Pho here, sir? So, now it’s time for cooking, right? Ok, here we go. What will we do in the first step, sir? Firstly, you need to wash beef marrow bones and beef brisket well and place them into the pot. Then, pouring clean water into the pot. Today, I’m gonna show you how to cook 5 bowls of Pho. So, we need to have 2 liters of water for cooking 5 bowls of Pho. You should stew beef marrow bones and beef brisket about 1 hour and half until beef has softened. After that, we have to prepare spices for marinating the broth. “Five spice seasoning” will be roasted into the pan about 2 minutes to create the aroma. You know, the main spices of “five spice seasoning” consist of cinnamon and star anise. Then, I’ll put them in a little cloth bag or a small cage so that we will season them into stock in a few minutes. Next, we need to slice onions and ginger, cut, break them and then grill them. As I know, it takes a lot of time (from 10 hours to 12 hours) to cook Pho according to traditional methods. So, how long have you cooked this dish according to your new method? For my new method, it just takes me 2 hours to cook successfully this food or even just half an hour in case stewed beef brisket was prepared in advance. In that case, how long are beef marrow bones and beef brisket stewed generally? Well, just 1 hour and half. Next, we continue grilling broken onions and ginger to bring out the flavors. Then, putting all of them: onions, ginger and “five spice seasoning” into the cage so that we will marinate this cage into stock to create distinctive and attractive flavor of Pho. Well, truly I think it takes quite a lot of time to create this special flavor for Pho, right? Yeah, that’s right. Nevertheless, nowadays most people often cook Pho without the distinctive aroma of onions, ginger and “five spice seasoning”. What is the most important factor to cook a bowl of successful and delicious Pho, sir? The first tip is fresh ingredients. Second one is how to measure well spices and ingredient. Yeah, I see. After grilling onions and ginger, placing them along with grilled “five spice seasoning” and cleaned coriander roots into a little cloth bag or the cage, like this. Next step, we will measure the spices. For 2 liters of water, you’ll have: 15 grams of salt and 16 grams of seasoning powder. For rock sugar, we have to depend on each different area to measure it for its preference. For example, Northern people like to have some rock sugar while Saigon people tend to use rock sugar in which the quantity is almost twice as much as salt’s quantity We had 15 grams of salt, so now we need about 28 grams of rock sugar. Well, indeed I think, today it's really fortunate for me and audience since we have a chance to meet you and learn your secret recipe. Yes, it is. After observing my instruction and then following up my steps carefully, I’m sure you will recognize that it’s an excellent method to cook well. These are spices we've just prepared. And here are flavors for marinating the broth. During the period time of waiting for stewed beef brisket, we'll slice lemons and chilies. Then, continue chopping the onions. The onions will be added into the bowl of Pho to create the aroma You know, it's the best way for you to eat beef tallow with onions because you won't be tired anymore. Should we eat with scallions? Yes, we do. We should cut scallions into pieces or dip them into boil water. . For spring onions, we will slice them together Yeah, that's almost all for a bowl of Pho. Now, it’s time to take beef brisket out of the pot after they were stewed well. By the way, preparing a cold water bowl to dip cooked beef brisket into it for cleaning. Besides, we also can check whether it is cooked beef brisket or not by using chopstick to penetrate through it. Now, it’s time to marinate the prepared flavor cage into beef broth by putting it into the pot around 15 minutes in order to create the particular flavor for stock. Most people do not pay more attention to this tip when cooking Pho; that’s why their bowls of Pho are without the charming flavors of traditional Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup. After about 15 minutes, we take the cage out the pot and add measured spices to the broth and stir well. Now we cut rare beef and meat balls. After beef brisket is dipped into cold water and washed well, slicing them. Honestly, beef brisket is the best one to eat along with Pho. Preparing a water pot and waiting for boiling water to dip Pho into it. Then, putting beef and meat balls into the bowl. It’s probably a mixture bowl of Pho or special one for you to enjoy Next, pouring the broth into the bowl. Next step, putting spring onions, coriander and onions on the surface. One more thing, don’t forget to sprinkle pepper into the bowl. Well, frankly, it’s really great, flavorful with particular aroma and looks so delicious and charming too. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Y has completed the specific delicious bowl of Pho here Could you please allow me to taste it, sir? Yeah, enjoy it, please! It’s really flavorful with the particular aroma that attracts me so much The stock is very tasty and sweet with the flavor of cinnamon and star anise, right? Yes, definitely! This is the combination of many different flavors into a bowl of Pho. It is absolutely delicious with particular flavors of traditional Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup (Pho) Yeah. Hopefully, you and audience can follow my instruction above and then cook well a successful and delicious bowl of Pho, and you can enjoy it every day. Well, thank you very much for being here in our program today and sharing your experience with us. So, that’s it for today. It’s time to say good bye now. Hope to see you in next time of “Discover Vietnamese Cuisine”. Good bye.