Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

With such clear instructions, how can I NOT try this? I know my Vietnamese daughter-in-law will be surprised. It's easy to find a decent bowl of pho in Houston but awesome beats decent any day. Thanks!

wow this recipe is amazing! can't wait to try it - thanks serious eats!

I don't know you, but I love you for having done all this and shared it with us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm gonna make pho!

Just so you don't think I'm crazy, here's a little context. I love pho. I moved to a town in the midwest about 3 years ago and have not had even a halfway decent bowl of pho in this town. THREE YEARS!

Thank you for the broth work, very thorough. I make versions of this all the time although I almost always make a compound stock, chicken for its roundness, beef as the dominating flavor. Lately I have used a pigs foot or even chicken feet for their high gelatin content and have been very happy. I agree with you about the silkiness of a such a rich broth. I am not aiming for authenticity, just the best flavors I have available. Always garlic, ginger and star anise and I like a bit of heat. Always noodles but they might be soba as much as rice noodles. Sadly, the fresh herbs available are limited to cilantro, mint and standard basils (not the holy kind). But it still nourishes and warms.
I am a bit of a madman about these things, I never feel right unless there is at least a quart of rich stock in my freezer. I actually love making stocks. I almost always remove the meat at a midpoint and return the bones and gristle to the pot for another period. You are absolutely right about parboiling beef and how little flavor is lost while gaining such a beautiful translucent broth.
Thanks again, a wonderful post. I'll be back.

This makes me dramatically increase my appreciation of the $7 dollar price point from most Pho restaurants. They can take my money because I can't spare this type of time!

Thanks, Ambitious!

@chzplz: The similarity is striking.

@kah9932 AAAHH! Finally some vindication!! I figured I would get a lot of heat about this, b/c most of the time, the fm's here are crowded with die-hards who think they're doing themselves a favor by shopping there weekly, but mainly they're only doing the farmers a favor, which I'm not opposed to, as long as you're aware that you're paying jacked up prices.

I hope you're right that more people will get savvy enough to know better, then the fm's will have no excuse not to put their prices in line with other, smaller ethnic markets and grocery stores.

Good article, but I've got to say, where I live, West LA region, the farmers market in my neighborhood on Sundays is definitely not the place to go for 'bargains". The stands are always popular, and I don't have any specific complaints, but I do not go there often, b/c their prices are higher, than other, more "urban" farmers markets in my region. I believe the farm stands fell that they can get more $ from those of us in this are, since it's considered "wealthy", but surely, those of us in the know, only go there, in a pinch! Even our local grocery stores realized this recently, and often their prices & produce, which generally come from the same farmers and growing regions, have better prices.

Ahhh, the luxury of living out in Loudon County! A ton of reasonably priced farmers markets and stands within a few miles of Leesburg plus more just up the way in and around Frederick, MD. I am so glad I chose to be a commuter over living in the District :D

@tressa eaton. Thanks, I will check out the ones on U and in Mt. Pleasant. I think DC farmers' markets tend to be about paying for the novelty of getting produce from a farmer, it's a bit bizarre if you're not used to it. I don't know how anyone can afford to make fruit pies ....

@jobuca - That's one of the Fresh Farm markets, right? I go the one in Falls Church sometimes, and when I interned at the Hirshhorn, I used to go to the one at 8th&D. They're too pricey for me to pick up more than kale nowadays, which makes me sad, because I'd rather put the money I have directly into farmers' pockets. But I just can't spend $5 for 3 apples, especially when $5 buys 30 apples an hour outside the city (not that I'm willing to drive that far for food).

I laid the golden egg. Well actually I cooked it. I followed the directions outlined in the posting and it came out beautifully. I got some gold leaf at Sur La Tab (total rip off) and Caviar from Russ and Daughters (wonderful store) and Saran Wrap from the Duane Reade (I despise the CVS Club).

I will say that cooking the egg in the hot water (you can’t get it too hot or the saran wrap will melt) was very difficult and it is hard to gauge when the ‘egg bag’ is poached. I would recommend getting a thermometer for doing this.

I also added truffle oil to the puree since it seemed to be missing a depth of flavor. All in all this was a very cool recipe and made me feel very Gordon Gecko (of course Mr. Gecko wouldn’t slave away at a stove for an hour). Also for all the hippies and nay sayers on this list who decry the use of the gold leaf let me say . . . it goes with the decadence of the dish (this aint no greenmarket / blue hill / hippie loving / Birkenstock wearing dish). This is food for Nero, Michael Milken, and the Aga Khan.