sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/01/14/FDGSV467631.DTL
THE ROVING FEAST One bowl of pho can lead to another Vietnamese soup remains a favorite Marlena Spieler Wednesday, January 14, 2004 My husband is addicted to pho. It started innocently enough, when we met for lunch in San Francisco with cousin Burt who took us to Irving Street, near 19th. We ordered our bowl, with everything, following Burts lead and sat there waiting for what we thought would be just a bowl of soup. Our bowls arrived, steamy and fragrant with the heady scent of beef, star anise, roasted garlic and ginger. The bottom of the bowl was filled with rice noodles, tender chunks of boiled beef, a few morsels of tendon and tripe;
I plopped a bit of hoisin and some pickled chiles into a dipping saucer and every so often would dip in with my chopsticks a slice of rare beef, a pile of rice noodles. Then we began to add more herbs and more bean sprouts, so that no one bite was the same as the next. It was like a happy frolic through the flavors of Vietnam and by the end of the bowl we felt invigorated though the bowl was so huge we barely got to the bottom - and we had ordered the smallest bowls. Afterward, we felt light, despite the amount of soup we had eaten. We woke up and after a bone-rattling cup of coffee, thought about eating our usual toast, and then Alan and I looked at each other. Vietnam in a bowl Pho is sometimes described as Vietnam in a bowl. All of the flavors and textures are there, from the north to the south: the rich, the hot, the pungent, the sour, the crisp, the fragrant, the tender, the soft. It is a layering that trails the history of the land, from the Chinese-influenced beef- noodle soup that originated in Hanoi, through the spices of neighbor and conquering countries, ending with the freshness of toppings that is said to have been introduced by the French. No other country serves such an invigorating herb and salad plate, especially with a bowl of soup. When you eat pho, the noodles slap around your lips, scattering droplets of broth over your face. And, if you eat like me, you may splash some on your dining companions face too.
There was such a small amount of hot broth that my glasses did not steam up, not even once. Oh, it was delicious soup with a crunchy little salad of herbs, but we felt no frisson of pho-nirvana. Shortly afterward in Paris, we interspersed our traditional French meals of salads, meats, buttery creamy indulgence with bowls of pho. Eating our merry way through the phos of Paris brought us from arrondisement to arrondisement, from dainty little Frenchified phos, with their subtle flavors and ingredients that had been put together in the kitchen, to the multiethnic Belleville, where we sat down to a big splashy bowl of strong and satisfying pho. Our passion - some might call it obsession - with pho is leading me to one conclusion. PHO When I want a bowl of pho at home, but dont have hours to spend in the kitchen, I make the following quick version by simmering canned beef broth with the requisite spices and aromatics, ladle it over rice noodles and serve with its classic fresh salady, herby and spicy condiments. While you wont get the long-simmered fragrant soup pho houses offer, this has the distinctive flavor of pho and the convenience of being very quick. As a variation, chicken soup can be made pho-style, by using chicken broth instead of beef and substituting shreds of cooked chicken for the raw beef garnish;
To serve: Into each serving bowl place a large portion of noodles these may be cool and they may stick together - not to worry, theyll unstick in the hot broth. Top each bowl of noodles with a dab of the reserved grated ginger, a sprinkling of cilantro, a few onion rings and 4 to 6 thin slices of beef. Ladle the hot broth into the bowls and serve accompanied by the plate of herbs and condiments. Serves 4 PER SERVING: 420 calories, 16 g protein, 79 g carbohydrate, 3 g fat 1 g saturated, 17 mg cholesterol, 250 mg sodium, 3 g fiber. She divides her time between the Bay Area and London, and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio and Television.
|
http://csua.com/feed/