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Home > posts > 2014 > 09 > 20140910_140035_pho-ga-chicken-pho.html

Pho Ga (Chicken Pho)

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This is going to be a big project style post.

I am attempted to make Pho Ga (Chicken Pho). I am detailing the process below. Note that some of this is being written during and some after.

Day 1

Vegetables & Spices

I charred the onions and smashed ginger in the oven at 400 for 35 minutes

• 7 Star anise
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1-1/3 Tbsp coriander seed (1 Tbsp + 1 tsp)
• 2 tsp peppercorns
• 1/4 tsp_ground_ cardamom (went light because its ground)
• 1 scant Tbsp whole cloves
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 Tbsp Diamond Brand salt. (Smitten Kitchen uses this brand which has a different weight than others. I weighed it to be 0.295 oz)
• 2 tsp sugar

I had been saving a few chicken carcasses from rotisserie chicken. This includes all of the fat, skin, bones, remaining meat, etc. (which caused issues as I will note later).

I also bought a 5.64 lbs chicken and quartered it. I watched a few videos on how to do it and they all seem to be basically the same with maybe a few more or fewer steps. I eventually settled on this one from the Food Network. Well, I also kind of butchered it (pun intended). I got most of the meat as I should but I didn't do the greatest job in the world. I added all of it to the broth

I used about 6 qts of broth since I seemed to be enlarging the recipe.

I let it all simmer (2/10 on induction) for about 40-50 minutes. The recipes all say 30 but I read somewhere to add time for a larger raw chicken. I then pulled out the main meat parts and, under cold running water to cool it,separated the meat.

I added back the bones and let it go another 3 or so hours and strained it to get everything out. I picked through the remains a bit but mostly just tossed the meat.

Also, I added another Tbsp of salt later.

The biggest issue with my broth was that it was super, super fatty. There was just so much on the top that it was nasty and unappetizing. I did some reading and it seems like my issue was the carcasses. First of all, I apparently made a brown broth since much of the meat was roasted and I had the skin. Also, by cooking it all together, a lot of fat from the skin and remains just rendered in to the broth. Finally, complicating it all, I likely had the boil too strong at times causing it to mix and emulsify.

I read and tried various ways to get it out. I tried skimming the top but, when I poured it into a glass cup, I could see that I still mostly got broth. I tried letting it sit for 15 minutes off heat but that didn't do anything. I tried taking bits at a time into a glass cup so I could see the separation and skimming that but it was slow and basically futile.

Also, the broth tasted like chicken broth and not Pho broth; though it still lacked the fish sauce. I think it was because I didn't increase the spices for the addition of the extra water.

I finally decided my best bet was the refrigerate it to skim the fat. I put the broth in a mini-fridge (so as to not warm the main fridge too much) and I planned to address it the next day

Day 2

Fat Progress

In the morning, I was able to skim a little bit off but still not much. I put it back in the fridge for longer

Later, after lunch, I took a look and there was...JELLO! The top was mostly fatty jello with some broth and the bottom was mostly broth jello with some fat. I think this is a good sign!

I skimmed off the fat as best I could and put it back on the heat!

Re Pho-ification

As I mentioned, I was unhappy with the broth being mostly chickeny and still lacking flavor. I figured that it was enough chicken, but lets try to make it taste like Pho again with spices.

First, I needed to char more onions and ginger. I didn't feel like using the oven so I tried two methods. The first was to use the cream-brulee torch. I torched the stuff and, in the process also melted the aluminum foil (who knew I could do that). This worked out but really only seemed skin deep with the char.I then tried the open gas burner. This seemed slower but also gave a nicer char. Though, it was kind of annoying trying to get all of the pieces to stay put

• 8 star anise
• 1/2 tsp whole cloves
• 1/4 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 (ish) cinnamon sticks
• 1 Tbsp coriander seeds

I toasted those and then added it to the broth with

• 1 Tbsp kosher Diamond salt
• 1/4 tsp cardamon

Finishing

I strained the broth and then added

• 1/4 cup fish sauce

and let it simmer for a bit longer. At this point, it was flavorful but too salty so I added 2 cups water and let it come back to a simmer.

To assemble, I very finely sliced an onion (thinnest on the mandoline) and chopped some green onions. We placed both onions down and then the noodles. On top of that I put about 1.5-2 oz of chicken from the day before and the broth.

Meredith made the toppings including

• Bean sprouts
• cilantro
• lime slices (not pictured)
• thai basil (from Meredith's garden)
• jalapeño

Finally, we served it with serving utensils from Thailand

This was quite the project and it leaves me with a lot of ideas for next time

One is to follow some of the quick pho recipes I have seen and change them a bit. What I am thinking is using chicken stock (not broth) and then still poaching the raw chicken in it but not all of the old rotisserie carcasses. Then, I can also remove more of the fat and skin to make it much less fatty and to avoid all of the issues I faced. This should also give a lighter flavor. Our soup was super rich almost to a fault.

In general, I want to aim for a lighter broth no matter how I do it. And_much_ less fat!

Meredith also things we should back off a bit on the spices; especially cinnamon.

Recipes:

Chicken Pho (From Charles Phan via Smitten Kitchen)

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Chicken Pho (From Rasa Malaysia)

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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8798, 2014-09-10_140035