I watched a number of pho making videos, and it was somewhat overwhelming. I finally settled on a method that started with making a 24 hour bone broth.

Da bones, pre-roasting. Marrow bones on the left, oxtail on the right, and what Rouses called marrow soup bones, but looked like beef shanks to me.

After roasting.

After the first few of 24 hours in the slow cooker. It should be noted that zero seasoning or spices have been added.

My strained bone broth. In the fridge overnight so the beef tallow will form a layer at the top, to be used for toasting the spices and getting color on the veg. There wasn’t as much fat as I’d expected.

The reserved beef tallow.

The gelatinized bone broth.

Next step, brown the beef brisket, onions, garlic, and ginger in the oven. The only seasoning is salt on all sides of the brisket.

The lack of seasoning so far goes against everything I know about cooking, but I wanted to follow the recipe(s) as closely as I could.

Not only will the brisket and onions get browned in the oven, they will also, hit the skillet to be further browned in beef tallow.

I didn’t get pics of anything cooking in the beef tallow, which is regrettable. The star anise, cloves, black cardamom, and cinnamon sticks were all toasted/fried in the fat. The onions, garlic, and ginge got some char.

Here they are, all simmering in two thirds of the bone broth. Rock sugar and salt also went into the pot at this time. Cook for three hours, at barely a simmer in a 7.5 quart pot.

The broth is getting a little darker. I startled my husband when I yelped that it was actually tasting like pho!

Strained and ready to become pho. Fish sauce was added in the last few minutes. I forgot to take a pic. It was Red Boat, but nobody tell Pete Rose.

Spices and seasonings I used.

The mushroom seasoning:

Stuff I bought, but didn’t use.

I had no confidence in a brisket that was only lightly salted and then simmered for three hours, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Pho Bo, tada!

No noodles, but plenty of bean sprouts! (Use in the bean challenge?!)

I wanted to compare my homemade pho to restaurant pho. The container on the left is from Saigon Noodles and mine is on the right. Mine is darker because of the browning and charring and toasting, but the taste is very similar!

I had planned on saying a lot more about the recipes and the process. Maybe I’ll edit more info in later.

In conclusion, yes, I can make delicious pho at home, but that $12 bowl at Saigon Noodles is worth every damn penny.