I have just realized I have an addiction to this shit. Viet Town isn't particularly near me. But I've gone four times just this week to have this...
... And I'll probably go again tomorrow. I want to cry.
Pho: Vietnamese Beef Broth noodles.
Here's the Wiki Stub:
Phở (Vietnamese pronunciation: [fə̃ː] ; in English, written pho and typically pronounced /ˈfʌ/[1]) is a Vietnamese thinly sliced meat and noodle soup dish. The soup includes noodles made from rice and is often served with basil, lime, sprouts and peppers that are added to the soup by the customer (as well as any condiments desired).
Phở is served in a bowl with white rice noodles in clear beef broth, with thin cuts of beef (steak, fatty flank, lean flank, brisket). Variations featuring tendon, tripe, meatballs, chicken leg, chicken breast, or other chicken organs. 'With the lot' (made with chicken broth and all or most of the shop's chicken and cattle offerings, including chicken hearts and livers and beef tripe and tendons) is known as 'Phở đặc biệt' (specialty phở).[citation needed] There are also various vegetarian varieties of phở ED: I just get plain sliced beef and beef sausage... no lungs or testicles for me, thanks.
Because not much was written about the origin of phở until recently, its beginnings are a bit murky and mostly culled from oral histories.[3] Still, the consensus among academics, diners and restaurateurs is that it originated about a century ago in northern Vietnam.[3] It was originally sold by venders from large boxes, until the first phở restaurant was opened in the 1920s in Hanoi.[4]
While a distinctly Vietnamese dish, phở has French and Chinese influences.[3] The origin of the word was one subject in a seminar on phở held in Hanoi in 2003.[3] One theory advanced at the seminar is that the name comes from the French feu (fire), as in the dish pot-au-feu, which like pho uses the French method of adding charred onion to the broth for color and flavor, one of the techniques which distinguishes pho from other Asian noodle soups.[3] Some believe the origin of the word to be the Chinese fen (粉).[5] In addition to rice noodles, multiple spices (such as star anise and cinnamon) are staples of Chinese cuisine (although the cinnamon used in phở, Saigon Cinnamon, is not a true cinnamon and is a local ingredient).
The variations in meat, broth and additional garnishes such as lime, bean sprouts, ngo gai (thorny cilantro), hung que (Thai/Asian basil), and tuong (bean sauce/hoisin sauce) appear to be innovations introduced in the south.[3]
The specific place of origin appears to be southwest of Hanoi in Nam Dinh province, then a substantial textile market, where cooks sought to please both Vietnamese (local rice noodles - originally of Chinese origin) and French tastes (cattle before the French arrival being beasts of burden, not sources of beef).[3][4]
Phở did not become popular in South Vietnam until the mid-1950s.
Pho styles:
The most common variety of phở[citation needed] is a beef phở, called phở ḅ.
Another variation of phở uses egg noodles instead of rice noodles, which was based in Northern Vietnam. There are also Korean, Thai, and Lao variants of phở. Lao phở (feu) is usually topped with fried garlic. Another style of phở which is rare even among Vietnamese is phở tái lăn (phở with medium rare beef). Other cultures, such as the Chinese and Korean cultures, have adapted phở and provide a larger amount of onions as a side that is usually mixed with Sriracha sauce and Hoisin sauce.[citation needed]
Adapting to local tastes and diets, some Vietnamese restaurants in the United States offer chicken-based phở, called phở gà, or phở without visible pieces of meat (called phở rau), or vegetarian phở (called phở chay). Phở rau (rau literally meaning "leafy greens," but implying vegetables) may use a meat-based broth, while phở chay (literally "Buddhist vegetarian phở") features a non-meat broth. The time it takes to make the non-meat-based broth is much shorter and less tedious but has a different and lighter broth tasterecipe compared to the traditional beef noodle soup. Seafood-based phở is also commonly available.
I just had to tell someone. I know. It's the first signs of a serious addiction.
Anyways, if you guys see this available in your part of town, and it probably is in any city with a considerable Vietnamese contingent, run far far away, because all you need to do is have it a couple of times, then you're FUCT.
Any fellow addictees? You are not alone.
