September 9.2022
Vietnam Beef Noodle Phở is a dish to fall in love with!
Phở, the Vietnamese noodle soup made up of broth, Ban Pho rice noodles, a few herbs, and meat is more than just a dish in Vietnam. Some believe that before becoming an iconic dish of Vietnamese Cuisine, Phở was created in Nam Dinh, a rural province of Vietnam located about 55 miles southeast of Hanoi, while others believe that the word “Phở” comes from the dish “Pot-au-feu,” a French beef stew, pronounced “Feuh.”
Around the 1880s, French cuisine arrived in Vietnam. Cows and buffalos were then not used in Vietnamese cuisine. The French changed that, and red meat began to appear. Cooks then began simmering the leftover oxtail and shinbones to create a clear consommé and added onions and slices of beef to this nourishing broth, as bigger pieces were carved off the bones to satisfy the upper classes.
People gradually began to use the beef consommé and “trâu xào” was born, a simple but popular noodle soup made with water-buffalo meat cooked in broth and rice vermicelli. Following that, beef took the place of water buffalo, and rice noodles took the place of rice vermicelli as the main ingredient. It is worth noting that the word “Phở ” is also the short name for the flat rice noodles known as “Banh pho.” In other words, Phở, is about more than just the soup. It’s also about rice noodles.
When you visit Vietnam today, you will notice that Phở has taken over every street. If you can’t eat beef, you can still enjoy a “Phở Gà,” which is similar to the original Pho but made with chicken instead. Northern Pho purists prefer an unadulterated and well-balanced soup to their freewheeling counterparts in Saigon, who adorn their Pho with everything from bean sprouts to Cilantro, Basil, Lime, and Hoisin sauce. With so many options for adding to Pho, it’s up to you to decide which is the best Pho for you!
