Phở Gà | Chicken Rice Noodle Soup
Phở Gà | Chicken Rice Noodle Soup
Phở = Rice Noodle Soup
Gà = Chicken
Vietnam’s Most Well Known Soup
Phở Gà is the most well known soup from Vietnam.
Phở is the most well known soup affiliated with the Vietnamese culture. The aromas of this broth is very distinctive. It’s usually the first soup our babies are introduced to because of how easy it is to eat.
The healing it provides for an upset stomach, a cure all for hangovers, and a Sunday post church ritual for many, it’s no wonder why this soup is popular.
Served piping hot, with perfectly poached chicken. It’s topped with fresh herbs to offset the heartiness of the aromatics. This noodle soup is a star.
If you’re new to making pho, this is a little easier than it’s familiar beef counterpart. Beef pho can easily take 24 hours, this if done well should take you 3-4 hours.
This is not your quick recipe. Pho done right is not and should not ever be a quick recipe.
It’s a labor of love, and will always show in the broth. If you’re looking for a good solid pho recipe that will impress a Vietnamese Grandma, this is it.
THE DO NOTS
A velvety rich, gelatinous broth is the main goal.
The goal of pho is for a beautifully clear broth. Having perfectly poached chicken and soup that is flavorful versus bitter can be easily done. Make sure to follow these tips below for success.
Do Not burn the aromatics.
Do Not hard boil the broth.
Do Not cook the aromatics longer.
Do Not overcook the chicken meat.
MEET THE PLAYERS
Chicken Feet/Wings/Back
Using additional chicken feet, wings, or backs is key.
I remember when I first made pho for my Dad and Aunts and Uncles, they said pho ga was more difficult to make than pho bo.
Cooking for my Dad’s side of the family is worse than having 10 Gordan Ramsay’s in your kitchen.
It’s gut wrenching and you feel like you’re on an episode of chopped about to lose your first born.
I’ve always made pho, but never for my Dad or his side of the family. After many years of practice I finally decided to have them try it, and amazingly enough I got a pass.
Low and slow is important post the initial parboil.
One thing I knew early on was that I needed to extract a lot of flavor from chicken. If you think one chicken carcass is enough to get a velvety ga-like broth, think again.
Whether you’re using chicken feet, wings, or back, you MUST use the additional bones for a flavor-forward broth. Our goal is to create a gelatinous, velvety broth. It should be rich, clear, and similar to consomme.
Charred Ginger/Onions
Charring ginger directly on a range if you have a glass top or broil in an oven.
There are so many ways to char ginger and onions. You can use your range, oven, toaster oven, etc.
The most important part is to char it until it’s fragrant and make sure to peel off the charred skin. This is essential no matter what pho you’re cooking.
Charring onion in an oven on broil. Make sure to char until it’s fragrant.
Charred ginger and onions are cooked in the pot for the entire duration of making the broth. Unlike our next key player.
Aromatics
Aromatics are going to vary from every person, and every type of broth. You can easily purchase pre-made aromatics from any Asian grocer.
I don’t prefer them. My thoughts: I’m not going to add cinnamon to a chicken broth. I find it to be weird and unpleasant.
Cinnamon sticks work great for beef, not so much for chicken. The basics for chicken broth are going to be star anise, cloves, and peppercorns. Super easy, nothing crazy, but add what you will.
A really important piece to note. DO NOT BURN aromatics, and do not cook for longer than a couple of hours. I usually shoot for roughly an hour and a half, but you’re not adding this at the beginning.
If your aromatics get burnt discard and start again. Pictured here is star anise, cloves, and peppercorns.
Here’s a really simple reason, aromatics get really bitter over time. You want enough to add flavor and scent to your broth without overpowering it. It’s a delicate balance.
Rock Sugar
Balancing out the savouriness is really important. Rock sugar is subtle. You can’t really substitute anything else for it.
It adds a dimension to the broth that regular sugar just won’t do. Honestly in all my years of cooking pho, I’ve never used anything but rock sugar.
Ingredients for chicken pho.
Salt/Fish Sauce
There are so many different schools of thought on salt, fish sauce, salt and fish sauce, etc. It will make your head spin.
Here’s the basic breakdown, you can add salt only and have people add their designated fish sauce. You can add salt and fish sauce which is what I’ve always done. You don’t really want to go 100% fish sauce.
If you make pho with 100% fish sauce, it’s a bit too much umami. It will color your broth a funky darkish brown and realistically isn’t balanced.
Your broth should be well salted. Once paired with bland rice noodles, it’s perfect.
SPECIAL TIPS
Cut the Chicken
Cutting dark from white allow you to pull the chicken according to its cook time with ease.
Realistically, you can throw your chicken in whole, but breast is typically going to be done before your thighs. I like to be able to pull my breast out before my dark meat to keep everything tender vs stringy.
Always Parboil
A clear both requires the bones to hard boil for 5 minutes. We’re cleaning off any funky gunk and rinsing the bones clean before adding anything.
Strain The Broth
Straining the broth through a mesh sieve aids for clarity.
I always strain my broth. Use a mesh sieve and add it to a clean pot. Clear broth is the goal.
Reheat what you want
If you reheat the whole pot and plan on using it for a few times it will make your broth incredibly salty. Just pour what you want into a smaller pot for serving purposes and leave the integrity of the broth intact.
HOW YOU SHOULD EAT THIS
Here’s the thing, eating pho should never be about how much sriracha or hoisin sauce you can douse in your bowl. Realistically if I’m serving you pho and see that, I’m highly unlikely to feed you a bowl of homemade pho again.
It’s blasphemous. Most people who take pride in their pho will not appreciate their hours long broth looking crazy red or brown with either/or.
Teach your family, friends! Save a bowl of pho from turning into a tomato looking broth.
Always try the broth first before blindly adding sauces. It’s a bit heart wrenching for your fellow homecooks and looks a bit barbaric. There. I said it.
FINAL THOUGHTS AND NOTES:
Don’t ever let your broth come to a hard boil after parboiling. For a clear broth it should be a light simmer or a soft boil. A hard boil is basically water boiling vigorously. A soft boil is going to see little bubbles come to the top gently, broth intact.
Pho broth will keep in the fridge for a week. Freeze leftovers for a piping hot bowl whenever you feel like it
LET’S GET STARTED!
Phở Gà | Chicken Noodle Soup
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes:
**Do not leave the aromatics while toasting, this should be less than 2 minutes. If it's too dark. Discard and try again. Dark aromatics will leave an undesirable color and taste to the broth.
**For roasting aromatics on the stove top:
- In a pan dry roast the cloves, peppercorn and star anise over medium heat. Remove the pan and set aside.
- Char ginger and onion directly on stove top over medium heat until charred evenly all around.
**Aromatics go straight into the pot because the pot will be strained for additional clarity prior to serving.
