As the cooler weather rolls in, there are few things more soothing than slowly working your way through a hearty bowl of steaming beef pho soup from the warmth and comfort of your own home. This soup is light and refreshing yet full of flavour and incredibly satisfying. Simple to make and with leftovers that can be enjoyed later, pho is the perfect answer to a delicious mid-week dinner. 

This beef pho recipe uses Provenir’s own grass-fed bone broth (The Best Broth), which has plenty of benefits beyond its delicious taste. Read more about these at our previous article – The Benefits of Bone Broth. If you don’t have bone broth on hand you can make your own, using beef bones and with the optional inclusion of beef brisket, which can later be incorporated into the dish. We definitely recommend including the brisket for a full flavoured pho soup – using the bones alone will leave this recipe lacking a little in the flavour and richness that we expect from a good beef pho recipe. We’ve provided instructions for both methods here, so the choice is yours.

BEEF PHO RECIPE

Serves four to five adults

Pho Broth Ingredients

• 500ml jar of Provenir Natural Best Broth
• 2 litres of water
• 1.5cm piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 3 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick or piece of cassia bark, lightly bruised
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce

Pho Soup Ingredients

• 500g dried pho noodles (or rice noodles)
• 400–500g bavette or flat iron steak, sliced very thinly

Pho Garnishes

• large handful bean sprouts
• large handful thai basil
• spring onion
• red bird’s eye chilli, sliced
• fermented chilli sauce or sriracha
• hoisin sauce
• coriander, leaves picked
• lime wedges

Beef Pho Method

1. Add the broth to a saucepan along with the ginger, onion, garlic, star anise, cinnamon, sugar and fish sauce.
2. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low.
3. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Strain, then return the soup to the pan.
4. Cover and return to the boil.
5. Soak the rice noodles in a large bowl of boiling water and leave to soften for about 10 minutes, or until the noodles are tender. Drain and set aside.
6. Slice the beef. To achieve lovely thin slices of pho beef we recommend partly freezing the beef first (or using frozen meat and slicing from partly defrosted).
7. Divide the drained rice noodles, raw beef slices and the between serving bowls. Ladle over the hot broth. This will cook the raw beef, which should still be a little pink. If you prefer your beef a cooked a little more you can dunk it in the boiling stock while still on the stove first – 10 seconds should be enough.
8. Serve garnished with bean sprouts and Thai basil. Allow everyone to season their bowl with as much fresh chilli, lime or lemon juice, chilli sauce and hoisin sauce as they like.

HOW TO MAKE PHO BROTH FROM SCRATCH

If you don’t have a jar of our Provenir Best Broth on hand you can make the pho broth – the liquid base for your pho soup – from scratch. This pho soup recipe is a little time consuming and consequently we recommend preparing the broth the day before. This broth recipe also makes more than you will need, so we recommend freezing the rest for later. When you’re ready to make the pho soup, take 2.5L of the broth and repeat from step 4 above, adding some sliced brisket to the serving bowl if you decide to use it.

Beef Pho Broth Ingredients

• 2kg raw beef bones, (brisket bones are best)
• 2 onions, roughly diced
• 3cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 6 star anise
• 3 cinnamon sticks or cassia bark pieces, lightly bruised
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• 6 tablespoons fish sauce
• 500g beef brisket (optional)

Beef Pho Broth Method

1. Place the bones in a large pan and add enough water to cover them.
2. Bring to the boil and cook vigorously for 5 minutes.
3. Drain and rinse the bones in cold water.
4. Wipe out the pan with paper towel or a cloth and replace the bones.
5. Pour in 6 litres of fresh cold water. Bring to the boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Be sure to skim off any scum that comes to the surface during this process to ensure a lovely clear broth at the end result.
6. Add the remaining broth ingredients and the beef brisket (if using) and simmer, partially covered, for 3 hours.
7. Season with salt and a little extra sugar to taste, if necessary.
8. Drain the broth into a large container and cool before refrigerating.
9. Skim off any residual fat that comes to the surface once the broth has cooled.
10. Slice the beef brisket and refrigerate.
11. Serve as per the beef pho method above, including some of the reserved beef brisket in the bowl with your thinly sliced steak.

Our Suggested Cut for Beef Slow Cooker Recipes

We recommend utilising Provenir’s Natural Best Broth and Bavette or Flat Iron Steak, as well as the Beef Brisket if you’re making your own broth.

How to Purchase Provenir

If you do care about animal welfare, and of course great tasting, high quality meat, visit the Provenir online butcher shop now and find out for yourself why people are trusting Provenir. Provenir enables a connection between you and the farmer, via a unique QR code on each meat pack, that tells you the entire paddock to plate story behind each cut of meat online.

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