Camp Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup, OXTAIL PHO!
If there’s one dish Karissa and I crave the most while we’re traveling on the road, it’s THE quintessential Vietnamese beef noodle soup, Phở Bò. After a few days staying at primitive campsites in the middle of nowhere, very little hits the spot like a steamy almost-too-hot-to-eat bowl of rice noodles bathing in a light, savory, yet, unctuous, hours long brewed broth. Yes, we do occasionally pass through bigger towns, or cities, that have a sizable enough Vietnamese population to sustain one or two phở restaurants. But, most of these phở joints are mediocre at best, and absolutely write-off-able at their worse —even if they’re owned and operated by Vietnamese people themselves. These restaurants cater to the non-Vietnamese patron that didn’t quite grow up with their moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, family friends cooking the venerable noodle soup every weekend. So, passable phở is, well, is accepted as the-best-phở-ever™, for every Yelp! and Google reviewer.
Exceptions always have to be said. There are above average, to earth shatteringly incredible, of phở around the country. Notably, they are located in cities that have very sizable Vietnamese populations:
Los Angeles: Phở 79
Houston: Phở Bình By Night
Portland: HA & VL Vietnamese Noodle Soup
New York City: Madam Vo
Everywhere else we’ve been has, quite literally, been bowls of disappointment.
Phở is the spaghetti of the Vietnam. It’s the country’s most known dish, the most talked about, and somehow translated extremely well to non-Vietnamese people when made the leap over the pond to western countries. And, like spaghetti, mom always makes it best. The next best thing while you’re traveling on the road? Make phở yourself and have a full on chill day at camp.
Plus, there’s nothing better than having a lavish meal in the middle of nowhere —especially if its a bowl of phở.
INGREDIENTS
SERVES 8
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 3 hours
3-4lbs of beef oxtail
1.5-2lbs of beef chuck roast
1 carton of 32oz beef bone broth
1 carton of 32oz chicken bone broth
2 quarts of hot water (or however much water is needed to top off the pot)
1 whole yellow onion for the broth
1/2 yellow onion (for garnish)
1 big knob of ginger
1 bundle of cilantro (for garnish)
1 pack of fresh bean sprouts (for garnish)
Sriracha hot sauce
Phở noodles (dry or fresh)
1/2 cup of fish sauce
2 Tbsp Chicken bouillon powder or MSG
3 Tbsp of sugar
2 Tbsp salt, then adjust to taste if needed
2 limes (to finish)
ground black pepper (to finish)
MUST HAVES:
Dutch oven, 12” preferred, 10” will need recipe amounts reduction.
medium sized pot (for noodles)
two burner propane stove
1 bag of charcoal briquettes/heat beads
DIRECTIONS
This is a recipe that requires very little technical skills. It’s more of a test of how long you can stop yourself from going crazy when your whole campsite wafts with the smells of phở.
1. Start by pre-heating the charcoal briquettes over a campfire ring, or, we use a foldable fire pit, in a charcoal chimney. You want about 20 coals to start off. It should take about 30 minutes for them to be ready. Start the charcoal about 10 minutes before you start prepping the broth. By the time the broth is ready, the charcoal should be ready as well.
2. Place the dutch oven on the stove.
3. Pour in both cartons of bone broth, and chicken broth. The addition of the chicken broth draws its inspiration from northern-style phở where they make the broth with both beef and chicken bones. Makes for a wonderfully light, yet complex broth.
4. Top off the dutch oven with water but leave 1 inch at top for boiling broth breathing room. Pre-boiling the water saves on time to being the bigger pot up to boiling temperature.
5. Slice the beef chuck roast into long thinner strips with about a 3” diameter. This helps the meat cook and tenderize faster while it’s brewing away on the coals. The chuck roast will be sliced into even thinner slices for serving after it has cooked.
6. Place in the oxtail, chuck roast, whole peeled onion. Slice ginger into thick slices and then add it into the broth.
7. Bring the dutch oven pot up to a boil.
8. Scum will start to come to the surface as it slowly comes up to a boil. You want to skim this scum off into a bowl as it appears. Keep skimming until the pot comes to a rolling boil. Bring down the heat to medium, and skim off any excess scum. You know you’ll be good once the top of the pot looks scum free. Discard the scum.
9. Bag the phở spices into the included cheese cloth bag and place it into the pot.
10. Place the lid on the dutch oven and put 8 coals at the bottom, and 12 at the top on the lid.
Briquettes are great for this because once they’re up to temperature, they last about around an hour. So when you’re 30 minutes in, start up another batch of briquettes so you can swap out to fresh ones to keep the heat going. You’re going to be baby sitting the coals for about 3 to 3 1/2 hours, so 3 to 4 total charcoal start up runs. Make sure you have enough briquettes as well. Start with a new bag and you shouldn’t have anything to worry about.
(PLEASE NOTE: Respect ANY fire bans in your area. ALWAYS get a fire permit if it is required in your state. It is required in California even for propane stove usage on federally controlled lands. DO NOT light charcoals if there is an ongoing fire ban where you’re camped. Alternatively, you can make this dish over propane, but it will require a lot of propane. You can have three green bottles of propane to be safe, or use a larger propane tank —5lb tank minimum.)
11. While the broth is brewing away for the next few hours, you can take the time to chill, or catch up on your favorite book. This down time is also a good time to prep your garnishes. Slice the onions thin, and chop the cilantro.
12. You’re cooking more for when the chuck roast is tender than you are for the actual time. You’ll know when the chuck roast is done by taking it out with a pair of tongs and jiggling it. If it jiggles like a firm Jello, you’re good.
13. Once the chuck roast is done. Pull the dutch oven off of the coals, and straight back onto the stove to bring back up to boiling temperature. If there’s any additional (more blackened) scum when it comes to a boil, skim it off once again until the top is once again clean. Bring down the heat to a slow simmer.
14. Pull out the chuck onto a plate to let it cool down a little. You’ll want to slice them into thin slices.
15. Now, it’s finally time to season the broth! Put in the fish sauce, sugar, chicken bouillon powder, and salt into the pot. Stir and taste. Adjust to taste.
16. In the second, medium sized pot, bring water up to a boil and cook the phở according to the directions on the package. If you’re cooking dry noodles, simmer them for about 10 minutes until just past al dente. If you’re cooking fresh noodles, they’re quick, so they should be done in about a minute or less.
17. Place cooked noodles into your serving bowl of choice. Top with the meat, bean sprouts, and onions and cilantro garnish. We prefer these, or these, double walled ramen bowls. They keep the soup hot, and they also don’t burn your fingers!
18. Ladle in the broth, top with freshly cracked black pepper, sit down, look at the scenery around you, and slurp away!
Phở stand in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Nestled amidst the lush plateaus and misty mountains of Vietnam, the charming city of Dalat unveils a tapestry of beauty that captivates the senses. Known as the "City of Eternal Spring," Dalat is a hidden gem beloved by travelers seeking tranquility, breathtaking landscapes, and, of course, gastronomic wonders. During the French occupation of Vietnam, French citizen would often flock to the cooler temperatures of the mountainous region of Dalat to as a get-away from the usual hot and humid climate of the cities and jungle below. This is the reason many buildings look French and have that small French town vibe.