homemade pho broth?

[jack3d]

I've been trying to make pho at home but it just doesnt taste right.. am i missing something? Heres what I'm using

6L water
3kg beef bones
2kg ox tail
2 large onion
1 ginger
couple star anise
10 cloves
1 cinnamon stick

and Ill throw in some salt and sugar to taste, maybe I'm being picky but it doesnt taste right.. Any experts here?

[SkinnyPupp]

MSG

[SkinnyPupp]

And that's not a joke btw

[jack3d]

Will pick some up later

[xmisstrinh]

what skinnypupp said. i watch my mom make it and wince at the MSG. but taste sooo good!!

[ConCho]

I'll ask my grandma for the recipe, but it doesn't use any MSG :P

[unit]

try using meaty beef bones or marrow bones, also try adding brisket or other meat to enhance the flavor.
i've made pho using just marrow and knuckle bones before and it lacked depth

[SkinnyPupp]

Every meat broth needs to have MSG in it to make it taste 'good'. Note I said not 'natural' because truly natural food is bland, and if you eat 'normally' that is why.

[OTG-ZR2]

You can add some bruised lemon grass too

[dlo]

dont need MSG to make it taste good lol, add rock sugar as a subsitute, and maybe another onion, bruised lemon grass is ok i guess, the more fatty bones u add, the more taste you'll get

[SkinnyPupp]

Not adding MSG to meaty sauces is like not adding salt to salty food, or not adding sugar to sweet food. There's no reason not to do it, as long as you keep it within reason. I guarantee if you eat out at all, you are getting a lot more MSG in a day than you ever would using it at home in a month.

[604nguyen]

did u char the onions and ginger first?

edit: oh and i think your missing white turnip

[achiam]

Hey there! I've tried making pho numerous times, each time getting closer and closer.
The thing I've realized, is that the restaurant pho "taste" doesn't even come from the bones itself -- its from the herbs/spices and to some extent leftover meat/cartilage on the bones.
The biggest improvements I had were:
1.) roasting the bones with some meat on them until they were well cooked and browned
2.) frying the herbs and especially star anise in a frying pan until the smells are strong
3.) roasting onions in the oven until you see some blackening (about 10 minutes?)
4.) you MUST have rock sugar and fish SAUCE

**I realized the flavor wasn't from the bone/marrow, as I brewed it for 10+ hours and tasted it every hour on the hour. I found that after the 3rd hour of brewing, the flavor no longer changed.

[604nguyen]

^ you mean fish sauce..

[Jermyzy]

I usually add some cilantro and a couple basil leaves

[Laundry]

My mom adds a whole chicken too. Simmers overnight.

[SkinnyPupp]

Another note about being afraid of MSG, which has been used for centuries to flavour food (including traditional forms of pho soup). It's like being scared of salt in the 2000's, or cholesterol in the 90's or saturated fat in the 80's. Completely unfounded BS that is propagated by the media. And what's the fear of the 2010's? Gluten. But I digress... for some reason, MSG hasn't been able to shake the stigma it received in the 70's, even though it is completely unfounded and unsupported by studies that tried. Unless you're in the 1% of the population that has a sensitivity to glutamic acid, you have nothing to worry about. So stop worrying!

We didn't start becoming SCARED of all this food until the late 60's early 70's. And what do you know, since then we have gotten fatter and sicker than ever before.

[Wetordry]

You have to roast the herbs and burn those onions first.....
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