The soup for Pho Bo Vietnamese — heritage culture. So they resentment to the theory that the appearance of this dish had a hand French colonialists.
Often in the early morning on the streets of Hanoi can be observed, as in a street cafe queue of people waiting to have Breakfast. But instead of a Cup of strong Vietnamese coffee take a big bowl of hot Pho is beef broth, which is poured rice noodles, thinly sliced meat and herbs. It is believed that this food will give strength for the whole day.
To prepare the soup Pho began in the North of Vietnam until the end of the nineteenth century. Prior to the establishment of French protectorate in 1884 the Vietnamese almost did not eat beef, so cook rich beef broth they have been taught, most likely, the French. Some historians the name of the soup Pho is associated with the French word feu "fire". The fact that the soup is made from beef, not pork, a traditional Asian dishes evidence in favor of the French version. The Vietnamese like the genealogy of a favorite dish don't like: they prefer not to remember the colonial past.
According to local historians, the first time the Pho soup was cooked in Nam Dinh town, 100 km from Hanoi, about 150 years ago. Sold to street hawkers. On a kind of yoke they wore two boxes. In one were placed the Dutch oven with the broth, which must remain hot, in the other — the greens and the meat for the soup. In the early XX century one of these peddlers had moved to Hanoi, and the food quickly became popular.
For a long time the broth for Pho was only cooked beef (called it Pho Bo), but in 1939 came the chicken option — Chicken Pho ha has become an alternative to the beef, which was sold in the market every day. Yes, and to cook chicken soup, just hours.
South Vietnam came to know and love Pho Bo only after 1954, when there were refugees from the Communist North. In Saigon a traditional recipe perfected by adding local herbs and bean sprouts.
Cook the broth for Pho Bo Vietnamese begin late in the evening. In a round iron stove, reminiscent of a tandoor, put a brazier with charcoal. Their heat is enough to support several hours are necessary for long-cooking broth temperature: it needs to cook over the fire until eight o'clock for nutrition. In the end add spices and onion with ginger. But when it is ready, leave the broth on a slow fire, without allowing to cool.
The Pho noodles cooked early in the morning of steam rice crepes. On the dough for them is good but aged for over a year (and dried up during this time) Vietnamese long rice. It is soaked for ten hours, washed and left in the dishes a little water to get the batter. Grind the rice to a manual mill. It is believed that the only way to get the desired taste. If you use modern home appliances, rice pancakes (and hence the noodles) will become acidic and brittle.
Fresh noodles, as well as green onion and cilantro, almost not subjected to heat treatment, to better preserved the flavor. But the meat in the soup and add boiled and raw. The first cut from the bones, which were cooked broth, the second cut into wafer thin slices and just pour the boiling broth.
The Vietnamese rarely cook at home — their apartment is not always possible to arrange the kitchen. Besides a hearty and inexpensive meal in a street cafe in Vietnam no problem. It is believed that the most delicious soup make Pho in Hanoi. It is best to choose a school that specializes only in Pho Bo. Then you don't even have to make an order: simply sit at a table on the street, and in a minute you will have an impressive, almost liter ceramic bowl of fragrant Pho Bo only a dollar and a half.
