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cookfast

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  1. Thanks for the detailed information, I appreciate your time. I've seen oxtails mentioned a lot in the context of pho. Do oxtails provide a different flavor than the bone+chuck combination I've been using? I get the leg/knuckle bones at a local Asian market - they have oxtails too, but I've never used them before. Would I just use bones and oxtails? In other words, are oxtails a direct substitute for the meat? I got my spices from Spice House online. I've been very happy with the quality of their spices and the prices are reasonable. I stay away from the pho spice packets, because I like the control of building from scratch and knowing exactly what goes into my food. I've got enough of the spices to last probably 20 batches of pho. You mentioned using untoasted spices. I've always toasted the spices - is there a reason that untoasted is better for this application? And what about the raw onion and ginger as opposed to charring them? I definitely plan to try the low, controlled heat method with a sealed vessel, as I can see the advantages of this technique. Unfortunately I don't have a dutch oven, but I've wanted to buy one for a long time. Probably won't happen overnight, but soon.
  2. One more thought. Are the essential oils from these spices fat-soluble? Could the oils be accumulating in the fat layer that forms at the top of the broth? I wonder if removing the fat layer the next day is effectively removing all of the spice flavor from the broth. I just noticed a detail in the Pho 75 dude's recipe, where he strains and defats the broth BEFORE adding the spices. I wonder if removing the excess fat first is a critical step to keeping the flavor and aroma in the broth.
  3. I've been simmering the broth in a stockpot on the stove, uncovered. I thought about at least partially covering the pot while simmering to limit evaporation, but temperature control could be a problem - it already simmers a little fast uncovered at the lowest heat I can get, though I haven't tried the simmer burner on my stove yet. Maybe I will try that and cover it next time. The first few times I made pho broth, I added the spices right at the start of simmering. Within about 15 minutes, the aroma was strong in the steam rising out of the pot, and it stayed that way for an hour or so. But then the aroma started to weaken, and by 2 hours in, it had almost completely gone away. After it was finished simmering, it just tasted like beef broth with some onion flavor and no trace of spices. This is how I learned of the evaporation problem. Then I found an article in the Washington Post by the guy who owns Pho 75 here in the DC area (the one in Rosslyn has the best pho I've ever had). His recipe said to add the spices at the end. In fact, he specified just 10 minutes of simmering with the spices. I tried 30 minutes (after 10 the aroma wasn't very strong yet), and I could finally taste a little bit of spice flavor, but very subtle, and all I could really taste was the cassia and a little anise. The cardamom and cloves just seem to be lost completely. Are the oils evaporating out too quickly while simmering? Am I simmering too long? Is there too much heat? Is reheating the broth to a boil destroying it no matter what I do? I dunno. I'm a scientific person so I just want to optimize the procedure and be able to replicate it over and over again.
  4. Over the past several months, I've been periodically making batches of pho broth, trying different things in an attempt to get somewhere near the flavor of the broth at the good local restaurants. With the huge variation in recipes I found online, it was difficult to come up with a good starting point, especially since many of the ingredients are things I had little or no experience with. After a lot of reading, I thought I had identified the common elements and had a good understanding of how they worked together, but the more I try, the further I seem to get away from the target. So we have bones, meat, aromatics and spices. My current formula is: 6lb beef leg/knuckle bones 3lb chuck roast 2 yellow onions 2x 3" pieces ginger 3x 3" pieces cassia bark 8 whole star anise 8 whole cloves 10 black cardamom pods 1 tbsp black peppercorns 2oz chunk yellow rock sugar 1 tbsp sea salt Boil the bones. Slice the onions and ginger in half lengthwise and put them under the broiler for about 15 minutes total, turning half-way. Smash the ginger good. Add the bones, meat, onions, ginger, sugar and salt, and 7qt water and simmer for 6 hours or more. Then toast the spices for 2-3 minutes in a pan, and thoroughly crush the cardamom pods. Put them in an infuser and drop it in the broth, simmer for another 30 minutes. Then strain and cool overnight, and defat the next day. I add about 1 tbsp fish sauce to each bowl when I reheat it. And while the broth smells very aromatic when it is simmering and when reheating it, it just lacks the spice flavor and even aroma of the restaurant stuff in the bowl. I would have thought MSG, but even the smell of the restaurant broth is 10x as potent. I've learned a lot from trial and error. Biggest thing is that the flavor of the spices evaporates out over time, which is why I now add the spices only for the last 30 minutes - maybe that's still too long or not long enough, or possibly the various spices take different amounts of time to release their flavors. Or something else I just considered last time around - maybe just reheating it to a full boil is evaporating off most of the flavors from the spices (next time around, I plan to try tasting it as it finishes simmering, before it cools and needs to be reheated). Aside from the lack of spice, the broth is very beefy, and with the noodles, garnish, and meat, my homemade pho blows away the restaurant stuff in every other category. Seems like I'm close but need a breakthrough to get the rest of the way there.
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