let me speak quite briefly, if i may, about the
city where I live
a lot has been said and satirized about portland –
the whimsical life of unemployed young people, the sense of urgency for a
morning latte from the coffee shop down the street, the trendy cigarette smoking
hipsters on fixy bicycles.
there are characters everywhere, this place is full
of them.
yet what strikes me most about this city is all
that is not spoken of, all that is not seen upon first glance. amidst the strange and complicated
truths of this state’s haunting history, and the modern image of a
gentrified-trendy-gardening-commune of a city, it is the immensely diverse
undertones of this place that give it it’s complexity, it’s mysticism, it’s
richness, it’s beauty.
and that is why i love it here.
of the places where this beauty has been most starkly
manifested, food, of course, is my favourite.
one of the best, by far, is phở - vietnamese beef noodle soup served with a plate of fresh herbs. cuts
of beef can range from raw beef round, to chewy tendon, and well cooked flank. it
is aromatic and fresh and warming.
not to mention, it’s traditionally served for breakfast.
anh luu, a dear
friend of mine, taught me how to make phở ga, vietnamese chicken noodle
soup. she is quite the lady – vivacious, intelligent, honest, loving. anh is first generation vietnamese,
raised in new orleans, and let me tell you, she’s one hell of a cook.
most of the
ingredients that follow can be found at any asian grocery store. here in
portland, we are lucky to have a seemingly infinite amount of hidden stores
filled with essentials for any asian meal – including the infamous fubonn,
self-proclaimed as “oregon’s largest asian mall.” this place is explosive – the
tall ceilings, the long aisles and florescent lights, the children zipping to
hide behind rice bags, the grocery carts filled with dried plums and tamarind
candies, fresh lychee and yuka and lemon grass. it’s an easy place to spend a
few hours getting lost with premonitions of weekday dinner projects and people
watching and deciphering labels. it’s a favourite place of mine because it’s
wild – wild with colour, wild with aroma, wild with faces and sounds. it’s
certainly a non-traditional exposure to this city’s culinary brilliance.
before i even
begin to write a grocery list, it is important to note that as with any cook,
anh’s proportions are scant – give
or take this or that, depending on what you like. i like to look at it as a beginning point to cultivating
kitchen creativity.
so without further ado, here’s what
you’ll need
for the
stock, and soup itself
one whole
chicken, bone in plus two drumsticks and thighs
ginger root,
about five inches long
pho spice packet
– these vary, but they usually consisting of whole coriander, star anise,
cinnamon stick, cloves, and cumin
one bunch fresh
thai basil
a few handfuls
of fresh bean sprouts
to begin,
position a rack in your oven to the highest level
turn your oven
on HI broil
cut your onions
in half, leaving the skin on.
drizzle a little
bit of vegetable oil on a pan.
place the onions – skin side up –
as well as the whole ginger root, on the pan. place in the broiler, and
set your timer for ten minutes.
the reason we are doing this is to char
the onion and ginger skins. anh
says that the skin is what has the most flavour on both the root and the
vegetable. we roast both in order
to deepen their flavour before adding them to the stock. when the skins are
charred enough, they will be removed, but their essence remains in the
remaining portions of the onion.
while your timer
is going, fill a large stock pot with water. while water is heating, rinse your
meat off in the sink under cold water, set aside in a bowl. once water is
boiling, carefully place the chicken inside.
in the mean
time, pull out your onions and ginger from the oven. remove charred skins from
both. chop ginger into big pieces. set onions and ginger aside.
in your stock
pot, once the boil returns, remove chicken from water and set aside. drain all
the water in your sink.
fill your
pot back up with cold water and
place the chicken back in the pot along with your chopped ginger, onions, and pho
spice sachet.
bring your stock
to a boil, then down to a simmer.
simmer for about
an hour and a half
this is the time when you sit on the
porch, have a cup of tea, read the paper. by the time you flip the page, the
star anise will have made it’s way out to you. mmm..
remove chicken
from stock pot. using a cleaver (if you don’t have one, it’s okay, a sharp
knife will do the trick) remove the chicken from the bone – literally, cut the
bones, this way you’ll expose the marrow and that’ll make the stock very rich. Place the chicken on a cutting board,
and the bones back into the pot. continue to simmer the stock for another thirty minutes to bring out the
flavours of the marrow. at this point, you can add fish sauce (this is your
salt) and sugar to the stock, the proportions are dependent on your personal
taste.
as far as fish sauce goes, here is what
anh has to say: the lighter the sauce, the better. the reason for this is that
the darker sauces tend to have more impurities in them, having been strained
with less attention, and are often times more “fishy.” on the other hand, the
lighter sauces are strained more carefully, and usually capture the “saltiness”
desired.
while your stock
is finishing up, you can prepare your rice noodles and garnish.
bring water to a
boil over high heat, and prepare rice noodles depending on the directions on
the package. these, of course, vary from brand to brand. once they are cooked,
cool them under running cold water and set aside.
for the garnish,
coarsely chop cilantro; leave bean sprouts whole; leave thai basil on it’s
purple stock; cut lime in wedges; thinly slice tops of green onions, take the
bottom white and light green portion and cut it down the middle – this way it will just barely cook in
the hot broth and become soft and sweet.
pull out a bowl
and fill it in this order:
all of the
garnish that you want – wait a second for the lime!
squeeze lime
over soup, add more fish sauce is necessary
...slurp!
