Update on Pho recipe.

[tavernier]

All of the guests at the Pho dinner party were loudly exuberant about the dish and its sides.

I didn’t attend due to an earlier meeting with friends to see “Napoleon” and stop for drinks and appetizers at the Thai restaurant next door.

Was this a convenient excuse to not taste the Pho that had spent the night boiling in our kitchen and wafting aromas of dirty socks and decomposed bodies throughout the house? Umm, probably.

But all’s well that ends well, and the Pho was a huge success.

I did learn something about myself though: enjoy Pho, fresh water fish, liver, and cabbage in a restaurant where the cooking is done ahead of time.

[CANADIANBEAVER69]

1. I was wondering how things went lol. n/t

[Warpy]

2. I think it's one of those things people have to make once

like moussaka, anything with lady fingers in a Charlotte mold, puff pastry (not the quick flaky pastry), any sort of rolled sponge cake, and the list goes on. Once you see how much work goes into it, you'll leave it to the professionals who crank the stuff out every day and buy from them or order it in restaurants.

Yeah, I'm good with that.

I agree with the person who said the dried shrimp were the likely culprit, they do smell like dirty feet, even dry. Can't help you on the rotting corpse, though. At least nobody died, the heat having killed most of what might kill them.

[tavernier]

3. The dried shrimp was added long after the dead smell.

It was when the roasted bones were being boiled. The shrimp and fish sauce just gave it that extra putrid stench. But apparently it was a huge hit when finished and served last evening.
I will try some of the left overs for lunch.

[Warpy]

5. I've noticed over the years that some Asian cooking stinks out loud

but oh my, the flavor is sublime.

I find the stink of boiling marrow bones to be redolent of the stockyards, but death will do.

[ratchiweenie]

4. We all love Pho but it is so much work and yes, so smelly, I now buy great Pho bases from

Wee and never start from scratch. When you add the noodles and all basil and lime, etc. it's very close to the real thing.

[tavernier]

6. Thank you for the suggestion of Wee

I sent a link to my daughter, and she was very excited to get it.

[ratchiweenie]

7. You are welcome. They are great. Great selection and shipping is free.

https://www.sayweee.com/en/product/Quoc-Viet-Chicken-Pho-Soup-Base--Pho-Ga/4180?trace_id=109d2e32-ef4a-4c6a-a057-7e882c06ee59
This is the chicken Pho base I use but there is a really good vegetarian one I buy as well and a good crab one. It is for commercial use so it says something like so many tablespoons per gallon of water but I just use a couple of teaspoons for a large pot of soup.