Gobble Gobble Pho| Recipe
Turkey Pho made of up turkey bones and meat, a perfect Thanksgiving leftover dish.
Phở is Vietnamese comfort food, or at least my. My mom would make it weekly. She would start the process on Saturday nights and we would have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Sundays, Mondays, and sometimes even Tuesdays. Yes! It is that good. A weekend is not complete without a delicious bowl of mom’s phở. 😜
The key to a delicious bowl of phở is the broth. The broth is light, seasoned perfectly, and looks clear. My grandma always told me if your phở broth is cloudy, you did not mastered your phở making skills. 😆
Here is my Thanksgiving phở version. Link to the printable recipe.
If you do not know what phở is, head over to the Education section.
What do I need? (~4 large servings)
Make sure to read all of the instructions first and have a plan. 😉
Stock
- 2 turkey breasts (or leftover white meat from cooked Thanksgiving turkey)
- Turkey bones (or leftover from the Thanksgiving turkey)
- 32 oz Turkey Stock (or chicken stock)
- 5–7 whole star anises
- 1tsp of whole cloves
- 1tsp of whole coriander (optional)
- 1–2 cinnamon stick
- 1 shallot
- 1 whole yellow onion
- 1 cube of ginger (~2” long), thinly sliced
Seasoning (these are roughly estimation, -/+ depending on your taste)
- 4tbsp + 1tsp of sugar
- 2 ¼tbsp of fish sauce
- ½ tsp salt
Topping/sauce/noodle
- Hoisin sauce
- Sriracha sauce
- Chilli oil
- 1 bunch of cilantro
- 1 whole sweet yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 1 bunch of green onion
- 1–2 whole jalapeños, thinly sliced
- 1 pkg of wide rice noodle (dried or fresh works)
- 1–2 Limes, cut into wedges
- Thai basil (Sweet basil works as well)
How to?
For cooked bones, skip to the next step. Place all the raw bones into a pot and fill with enough water to cover it. Add in a pinch of salt and bring water to a vicious boil, uncovered. Boil for 5 minutes, drain and discard all the water. Rinse all the bones with cold water and place into a large pot. This technique is called parboiled.
Toast all the spices: star anise, cloves, coriander, and cinnamon stick in a nonstick pan on the stove until fragrance. Remove immediately once fragrance as these spices burn very quickly. Put these toasted spices into tea bags. Add the whole onion, whole shallot, and thinly ginger slices into the nonstick pan and grilled it until it is slightly burned.
Add in the turkey raw breast (for leftover cooked turkey meat, skip this part), turkey stock, turkey bones, tea bags spices, onion, shallot, and ginger slices into the broth along with 32oz (fill your stock carton up with H2O)+1 cup of water and 1tbsp of sugar. Bring the broth to a boil. Once boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 hours. The longer the broth simmers, the stronger the broth flavor is. If there is time, start the broth in advance and simmer the broth overnight or for a couple hours.
After 30 minutes, check the turkey thighs (if you are cooking raw turkey from the beginning). To test if the thighs are fully cooked, poke a chopstick into the center of the turkey thighs and see what color juice comes out. If there are bloody red juice coming out, that means the turkey thighs are not cooked. If undercooked, continue cooking the thighs and check every 15 minutes. Turkey is very dried, so don’t overcook the thighs. Once cooked, remove the thighs and put into a bowl. Let the turkey thighs rest and cool down. Shred the turkey thighs.
While the broth is simmering, scum off the foam formed on top around the edges with a mesh ladle. This step is optional.
Thinly slice the onions using a peeler or a sharp knife. Soak the thinly sliced onions in cold water for 5–10 minutes. Drain and set it aside.
Trim off about 1–2 inch of the cilantro stem and thinly slice the cilantro bunch. Add it to the drain thinly sliced onion and mix well. Thinly slice jalapeños into ½ inch thick circle slices. Cut the green onion into 1” long stalks.
After 1 hr, season the broth and remove the spices tea bags, onion, shallot, and ginger. If you are simmering the broth for longer, remove spices and season only right before serving. Add in the ~ 3tbsp + 1tsp of sugar, 2 ¼ tbsp of fish sauce, and ½ tsp salt. Feel free to increase the amount of salt, sugar, and fish sauce to your liking. Phở broth should taste light with a hint of sweetness.
If using dried noodle, cook according to package, rinse under cold water, and drain well. The key is to remove as much water from the noodle as possible. Dried cooked rice noodle is better at absorbing the broth then wet noodles. For fresh noodle, separate out each noodle.
To serve, layer the shredded turkey meat and turkey meatballs (click here for recipe) over the rice noodle. Top the noodle with a handful of the onion/cilantro mix, sprouts, and green onion stalks. Ladle the broth over the noodle and meat. Add fresh cracked black peppered.
To enjoy, add in some jalapeños, Sriracha, chili oil, and hoisin sauce to your liking. Add a couple of basil leaves and squeeze in a bit of lime wedges. YUM!!!!
Wow that was a very long list of directions. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. A perfect way to use leftover Thanksgiving Turkey! ;)
Tips and Tricks (Advices :P)
How to use up that Thanksgiving leftover Turkey from top to bottom
Serve your guests all the best part of the Turkey, the dark meat, drums, wing, and skins. After Thanksgiving dinner, debone the turkey. Save the bones to start your phở broth. Start the broth right before heading to bed to save time. Shred the white meat and save it for phở. Don’t discard the neck or head when cleaning the turkey. Use it to make a delicious pho broth.
Parboil technique
Raw bones when cooked, released impurities and blood that rises to the surface of the broth known as scum. These scum cloud up the broth, making it looks not appetizing. Parboil is a technique of pre-boiling the bones for couple minutes to remove this scum. Yes, although this step can be skip because filtering out the broth at the end does the same, this technique save time by eliminating that filtering step. Another way to avoid this technique is to constantly watch the simmering broth and skim off the scum, a very labor intensive way to remove scum.
Using the oven to toast the spices, onion, shallot, and ginger
Another option on how to toast the spices, onion, shallot, and ginger is to place the onto a baking tray and broil them in the oven. For the dried spices keep a close eyes on them as they burned very quickly. Remove them after 30 seconds of broiling. As for the whole onion, shallot, and ginger, broil them until they are have charred black spots throughout.
Effect of slow simmering
Slowly simmering the broth without boiling the broth produces a richer-tasting broth. No wonder why a good broth takes days to make. In addition, slow simmering technique prevents the stock ingredients from breaking up into tiny pieces and cloudy the stock.
Why simmer uncovered
I am not sure why we do this, but I was told that simmering the broth with the lid on the pot causes the broth to become cloudy. I have tested this theory and agreed with this assessment. My guess is that when putting the lid on can cause the broth to boil at a lower temperature, and we do not want to bring the broth to a boiling point. In addition, the lid can trap the condensation, which can dilute the richness of the broth. The goal is to get the stock to reduce and become more rich in flavor.
Education Time
For those who do not know what phở is, phở is a Vietnamese rice noodle soup dish topped with various herbs and meat. Similar to ramen, the broth is made of animal bones (beef and chicken), simmers for hours, with a bunch of different spices. Two main spices used are star anise and cinnamon. Commonly known for the beef version, phở is a Vietnamese comfort food, famous for its complex broth flavors, tender cooked beef slices, and refreshing taste from the crunchiness of the sprouts and thai basil. Vietnamese eat this dish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is also a perfect dish when you are hungover. Here is a cool article on phở.
The origin of phở is unknown as phở recipes are often passed down from generations to generations. However, most culinary professional believed that phở originated in northern Vietnam, specifically Hanoi, after the French invaded Vietnam.
It also believed that phở is a Vietnamese version of the French beef stew pot au feu. Similar to pot au feu, which requires rich bones and roasted ginger and onion are used to make the broth. When the French ruled Vietnam, Hanoi located in northern Vietnam became the their capital city. This is where French introduced pot au feu to the Vietnamese. This is probably how the famous type of phở, phở bắc (northern version) was created.
The northern region phở (phở bắc) is very different than the southern region (phở nam) phở. phở bắc has a simplier than phở nam. Phở bắc broth is clear and has a subtle spices flavor. Phở bắc is made of rice noodle and is served with thinly sliced rare beef cooked in the broth. (I have never try this version. I guess it is time for me to visit Vietnam. )
Phở nam is more complex. The broth is has a richer stronger flavor of spices and bone. Phở nam also come with a varieties of herbs garnish and vegetables. Unlike phở bắc, phở nam doesn’t just come with rare beef, but other type of meat as well such as tripe and is often eaten with sauces such as fish sauce and hoisin. This is the type of phở that can be find in United States.
After 1975, the year Communist took over Vietnam, Vietnamese people have brought this dish with them to countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Europe, and United States. Thanks to these Vietnamese people who risk their lives escaping the Communists by boats, we can now enjoy this delicious dish in United States.
Fun Facts 😮
- When people said phở, they are often referring to the beef version. Not many people know about the chicken phở version…shhh.
- There are no pork or seafood version of phở. If you get a pork phở version at a restaurant, that dish has its own name Hủ Tiếu. Hủ Tiếu is a very different noodle dish. If your phở comes with fish, shrimp, pork, octopus, etc…then it is Hủ Tiếu, not pho.
- The word “phở” is influenced by the French word “feu” which means “fire”.
- Not one phở dishes are the same. Everyone has their own way and techniques on how to make that perfect phở.
- The correct way to pronounce phở is not “faux,” more like “fuh”.
