Sunday Night Soups: Pho Bo
Sunday Night Soups, where each week The Gurgling Cod shows up to offer a soup appropriate to the week’s Sunday Night Football game on NBC.
This week, the Cowboys visit the Bears for Sunday night Ditkaesque action. We saw the Cowboys in Week 1, where they got their chili, and we will see the Bears again soon enough when they play the Packers on October 7. We have a special porky-cheesy treat in store for when the Hog Butchers of the World invade America’s Dairyland, but for now, something a little bit lighter, but still beefy.
Mike Ditka, who played for the Cowboys, and coached the Bears to their lone Super Bowl title more than 20 years ago, owns steakhouses, which would suggest a steak soup. Before you reach for your blender and contemplate a sirloin smoothie, recall that the Cowboys were the team that drafted the NFL’s Vietnamese Jackie Robinson, Dat Nguyen. Among their many other virtues, Vietnamese cooks have figured out a way to include steak in a soup, without resorting to the meatshake. The recipe follows below.
You will need to make your own stock, because commercial beef stock is nasty, and you want to have the characteristic spices in contact with the broth for as long as possible. This version is adapted from the version that appeared in Gourmet in 1995. Note that while the prep is pretty simple, you will need to allow time for simmering and cooling.
