In 1980, the first of hundreds of phở restaurants opened in the Little Saigon in Orange County, California.
In the United States, phở began to enter the mainstream during the 1990s, as relations between the U.S. and Vietnam improved. At that time Vietnamese restaurants began opening quickly in Texas and California, spreading rapidly along the Gulf and West Coasts, as well as the East Coast and the rest of the country. During the 2000s, phở restaurants in the United States generated US$500 million in annual revenue, according to an unofficial estimate. Phở can now be found in cafeterias at many college and corporate campuses, especially on the West Coast.
The word "pho" was added to the ''Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'' in 2007. Phở is listed at number 28 on "World's 50 most delicious foods" compiled by ''CNN Go'' in 2011. The Vietnamese Embassy in Mexico celebrated Phở Day on April 3, 2016, with Osaka Prefecture holding a similar commemoration the following day. Phở has been adopted by other Southeast Asian cuisines, including Lao and Hmong cuisine
Hmong cuisine is the cuisine of the Hmong people of China, Southeast Asia and the Hmong American community in the United States. The vast majority of dishes that make up the Hmong cuisine are not actually unique to Hmong communities but rather bl ...
. It sometimes appears as "Phô" on menus in Australia.
Etymology and origins
Reviews of 19th and 20th century Vietnamese literature have found that pho entered the mainstream sometime in the 1910s. Georges Dumoutier's extensive 1907 account of Vietnamese cuisine omits any mention of phở, while Nguyễn Công Hoan recalls its sale by street vendors in 1913. A 1931 dictionary is the first to define as a soup: "from the word . A dish consisting of small slices of rice cake boiled with beef."[ Translated into the English: ]
Possibly the earliest English-language reference to pho was in the book ''Recipes of All Nations'', edited by Countess Morphy in 1935: In the book, pho is described as "an Annamese soup held in high esteem ... made with beef, a veal bone, onions, a bayleaf, salt, and pepper, and a small teaspoon of ''nuoc-mam'' (fish sauce
Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Lao ...
)''."''
There are two prevailing theories on the origin of the word and, by extension, the dish itself. As author Nguyễn Dư notes, both questions are significant to Vietnamese identity.
From French
French settlers commonly ate beef, whereas Vietnamese traditionally ate pork and chicken and used cattle as beasts of burden. Gustave Hue (1937) equates to the French beef stew (literally, "pot on the fire"). Accordingly, Western sources generally maintain that is derived from in both name and substance.[Bloom, Dan]
"What's that Pho? - French loan words in Vietnam hark back to the colonial days
''Taipei Times
The ''Taipei Times'' is the only printed daily English-language newspaper in Taiwan, and the third established there. Online competitors include the state-owned '' Focus Taiwan'' and '' Taiwan News''; '' The China Post'' was formerly a compet ...
'', May 29, 2010. However, several scholars dispute this etymology on the basis of the stark differences between the two dishes. Another suggestion of a separate origin is that phở in French has long been pronounced rather than : in Jean Tardieu's ''Lettre de Hanoï à Roger Martin Du Gard'' (1928), a soup vendor cries "Pho-ô!" in the street.
Many Hanoians explain that the word derives from French soldiers' ordering "" (fire) from , referring to both the steam rising from a bowl of phở and the wood fire seen glowing from a in the evening.
Food historian Erica J. Peters argues that the French have embraced phở in a way that overlooks its origins as a local improvisation, reinforcing "an idea that the French brought modern ingenuity to a traditionalist Vietnam".
From Cantonese
Hue and Eugèn Gouin (1957) both define by itself as an abbreviation of . Elucidating on the 1931 dictionary, Gouin and Lê Ngọc Trụ (1970) both give as a corruption of (), which was commonly sold by Chinese immigrants in Hanoi. ( is an allophone of in some northern dialects of Vietnamese.)
Some scholars argue that phở (the dish) evolved from , a Vietnamese dish common in Hanoi at the turn of the century. Originally eaten by commoners near the Red River, it consisted of stir-fried strips of water buffalo
The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, So ...
meat served in broth atop rice vermicelli. Around 1908–1909, the shipping industry brought an influx of laborers. Vietnamese and Chinese cooks set up to serve them but later switched to inexpensive scraps of beef set aside by butchers who sold to the French. Chinese vendors advertised this by crying out, "Beef and noodles!" (). Eventually the street cry became "Meat and noodles!" (), with the last syllable elongated. Nguyễn Ngọc Bích suggests that the final "n" was eventually dropped because of the similar-sounding (). The French author Jean Marquet refers to the dish as "!" in his 1919 novel ''Du village-à-la cité''. This is likely what the Vietnamese poet Tản Đà calls "" in "" ("Gambling"), written around 1915–1917.
Phở uses a common Chinese Rice noodle called () which is believed to have originated in Shahe, Guangdong, China. The Cantonese also use the word () as well as () to describe ''Phở''. The two words share close approximation and could be a cognate of one another when considering varying regional and dialectical pronunciation differences.
Ingredients and preparation
Phở is served in a bowl with a specific cut of flat rice noodles
Rice noodles, or simply rice noodle, are noodles made with rice flour and water as the principal ingredients. Sometimes ingredients such as tapioca or corn starch are added in order to improve the transparency or increase the gelatinous and c ...
in clear beef broth
Broth, also known as bouillon (), is a savory liquid made of water in which meat, fish or vegetables have been simmered for a short period of time. It can be eaten alone, but it is most commonly used to prepare other dishes, such as soups, ...
, with thin cuts of beef (steak, fatty flank
Flank may refer to:
* Flank (anatomy), part of the abdomen
** Flank steak, a cut of beef
** Part of the external anatomy of a horse
* Flank speed, a nautical term
* Flank opening, a chess opening
* A term in Australian rules football
* Th ...
, lean flank, brisket
Brisket is a cut of meat from the breast or lower chest of beef or veal. The beef brisket is one of the nine beef primal cuts, though the definition of the cut differs internationally. The brisket muscles include the superficial and deep pectora ...
). Variations feature slow-cooked tendon
A tendon or sinew is a tough, high-tensile-strength band of dense fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. It is able to transmit the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system without sacrificing its ability ...
, tripe, or meatball
A meatball is ground meat rolled into a ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, eggs, butter, and seasoning. Meatballs are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce. There are many type ...
s in southern Vietnam. Chicken pho is made using the same spices as beef, but the broth is made using chicken bones and meat, as well as some internal organs of the chicken, such as the heart, the undeveloped eggs, and the gizzard.
When eating at phở stalls in Vietnam, customers are generally asked which parts of the beef they would like and how they want it done.
Beef parts including:
*Tái băm: Rare beef patty, beef is minced by a chopping knife right before serving
*Tái: Medium Rare Meat
*Tái sống: Rare meat
*Tái chín: Mixture of medium rare meat and pre-cooked well-done meat, the default serving in most pho restaurants
*Tái lăn: Meat is sauteed before adding to the soup
*Tái nạm: Mix of medium rare meat with flank
*Nạm: Flank cut
*Nạm gầu: Brisket
*Gân: Tendons
*Sách: Beef tripe
*Tiết: Boiled beef blood
*Bò viên: Beef ball
Beef ball () is a commonly cooked food in Cantonese and overseas Chinese communities which was originated by Teochew people. As the name suggests, the ball is made of beef that has been finely pulverized, other ground meat such as pork may be th ...
*Trứng tái: Poached chicken egg (served in a separated bowl)
For chicken phở, options might include:
*Gà đùi: Chicken thigh
*Gà cánh: Chicken wing
*Gà lườn: Chicken breast
*Lòng gà: Chicken innards
*Trứng non: Immature chicken eggs
Noodles
The thick dried rice noodle that is usually used is called , but some versions may be made with freshly made rice noodles called in Vietnamese or kuay tiao. These noodles are labeled on packaging as (fresh pho noodles) in Vietnamese, (fresh Chaozhou kuy teav) in Chinese, (Vietnamese rice noodle) in Korean, and (thin kuy teav) in Thai.
The pho noodle are usually medium-width, however, people from different region of Vietnam will prefer different widths.
Broth
The soup for beef phở is generally made by simmering beef bones, oxtail
Oxtail (occasionally spelled ox tail or ox-tail) is the culinary name for the tail of cattle. While the word once meant only the tail of an ox, today it can also refer to the tails of other cattle. An oxtail typically weighs around and is ski ...
s, flank steak, charred onion, charred ginger and spices. For a more intense flavor, the bones may still have beef on them. Chicken bones also work and produce a similar broth. Seasonings can include Saigon cinnamon
Saigon cinnamon (''Cinnamomum loureiroi'', also known as Vietnamese cinnamon or Vietnamese cassia and ''quế trà my'', ''quế thanh'', or " quế trà bồng" in Vietnam) is an evergreen tree indigenous to mainland Southeast Asia. Saigon cinna ...
or other kinds of cinnamon as alternatives (may use usually in stick form, sometimes in powder form in pho restaurant franchises overseas), star anise, roasted ginger, roasted onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onio ...
, black cardamom
''Amomum subulatum'', also known as Black cardamom, hill cardamom, Bengal cardamom, greater cardamom, Indian cardamom, Nepal cardamom, winged cardamom, big cardamon, or brown cardamom, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Zingiberaceae. ...
, coriander seed, fennel
Fennel (''Foeniculum vulgare'') is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely naturalized ...
seed, and clove. The broth takes several hours to make. For chicken phở, only the meat and bones of the chicken are used in place of beef and beef bone. The remaining spices remain the same, but the charred ginger can be omitted, since its function in beef phở is to subdue the quite strong smell of beef.
The spices, often wrapped in cheesecloth or a soaking bag to prevent them from floating all over the pot, usually contain cloves, star anise, coriander seed, fennel, cinnamon, black cardamom, ginger, and onion.
Careful cooks often roast ginger and onion over an open fire for about a minute before adding them to the stock, to bring out their full flavor. They also skim off all the impurities that float to the top while cooking; this is the key to a clear broth. (fish sauce
Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Lao ...
) is added toward the end.
Garnishes
Vietnamese dishes are typically served with many greens, herbs, vegetables, and various other accompaniments, such as dipping sauces, hot and spicy pastes such as Sriracha
Sriracha ( or ; th, ศรีราชา, ) is a type of hot sauce or chili sauce made from a paste of chili peppers, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt.
Use
In Thailand, sriracha is frequently used as a dipping sauce, particula ...
, and a squeeze of lime or lemon juice; it may also be served with hoisin sauce. The dish is garnished with ingredients such as green onions
"Green Onions" is an instrumental composition recorded in 1962 by Booker T. & the M.G.'s. Described as "one of the most popular instrumental rock and soul songs ever" and as one of "the most popular R&B instrumentals of its era", the tune is a ...
, white onion
An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onio ...
s, Thai basil
Thai basil ( th, โหระพา, , ISO: hōraphā, ; km, ជីរនាងវង, ''chi neang vorng''; vi, húng quế) called ''káu-chàn-thah'' () in Taiwan, is a type of basil native to Southeast Asia that has been cultivated to p ...
(not to be confused with sweet basil
Basil (, ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' , also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" refers to the variety also kno ...
), fresh Thai chili pepper
Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for ...
s, lemon
The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China.
The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...
or lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
wedges, bean sprout
Sprouting is the natural process by which seeds or spores germinate and put out shoots, and already established plants produce new leaves or buds, or other structures experience further growth.
In the field of nutrition, the term signifies ...
s, and cilantro (coriander leaves) or culantro
''Eryngium foetidum'' is a tropical perennial herb in the family Apiaceae. Common names include culantro ( or ), recao, chadon beni (pronounced shadow benny), Mexican coriander, bhandhania, long coriander, sawtooth coriander, and ngò gai. It i ...
. Fish sauce
Fish sauce is a liquid condiment made from fish or krill that have been coated in salt and fermented for up to two years. It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Lao ...
, hoisin sauce, chili oil and hot chili sauce
Chili sauce and chili paste are condiments prepared with chili peppers.
Chili sauce may be hot, sweet or a combination thereof, and may differ from hot sauce in that many sweet or mild varieties exist, which is typically lacking in hot sauces ...
(such as Sriracha sauce) may be added to taste as accompaniments.
Several ingredients not generally served with pho may be ordered by request. Extra-fatty broth (''nước béo'') can be ordered and comes with scallions to sweeten it. A popular side dish ordered upon request is ''hành dấm'', or vinegared white onions.
Styles of pho
Regional variants
The several regional variants of pho in Vietnam, particularly divided between "Northern phở" () or "Hanoi phở" (''phở Hà Nội''), and "Southern phở" (''phở Nam'') or "Saigon pho" (). Northern Vietnamese phở uses a savoury, clear broth, blanched whole green onion
Scallions (also known as spring onions or green onions) are vegetables derived from various species in the genus ''Allium''. Scallions generally have a milder taste than most onions and their close relatives include garlic, shallot, leek, ...
, and garnishes offered generally include only diced green onion and cilantro, pickled garlic, chili sauce and quẩy. On the other hand, southern Vietnamese phở broth is sweeter and cloudier, and is consumed with bean sprouts, fresh sliced chili, hoisin sauce and a greater variety of fresh herbs. Phở may be served with either phở noodles or kuy teav noodles (). The variations in meat, broth, and additional garnishes such as lime
Lime commonly refers to:
* Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit
* Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide
* Lime (color), a color between yellow and green
Lime may also refer to:
Botany ...
, bean sprout
Sprouting is the natural process by which seeds or spores germinate and put out shoots, and already established plants produce new leaves or buds, or other structures experience further growth.
In the field of nutrition, the term signifies ...
s, ''ngò gai'' (culantro
''Eryngium foetidum'' is a tropical perennial herb in the family Apiaceae. Common names include culantro ( or ), recao, chadon beni (pronounced shadow benny), Mexican coriander, bhandhania, long coriander, sawtooth coriander, and ngò gai. It i ...
), ''húng quế'' (Thai basil
Thai basil ( th, โหระพา, , ISO: hōraphā, ; km, ជីរនាងវង, ''chi neang vorng''; vi, húng quế) called ''káu-chàn-thah'' () in Taiwan, is a type of basil native to Southeast Asia that has been cultivated to p ...
), and ''tương đen'' ( hoisin sauce), ''tương ớt'' (chili sauce
Chili sauce and chili paste are condiments prepared with chili peppers.
Chili sauce may be hot, sweet or a combination thereof, and may differ from hot sauce in that many sweet or mild varieties exist, which is typically lacking in hot sauces ...
) appear to be innovations made by or introduced to the South. Another style of northern phở is Phở Nam Định from Nam Định
Nam Định () is a city in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. It is the capital of Nam Định Province. The city of Nam Định is 90 km south-east of Vietnam's capital, Hanoi. From August 18–20 of each year, there is a festival he ...
city which uses more fish sauce in the broth and wider noodles. Other provincial variations exist where pho is served with delicacy meats other than beef or chicken such as duck, buffalo, goat or veal.
Other phở dishes
Phở has many variants including many dishes bearing the name "phở", many are not soup-based:
*Hanoi specialties:
**Phở sốt vang: ''Wine-sauced pho'', with beef stewed in red wine.
**Phở tái lăn: pho with the rare beef quickly stir-fried before serving.
**Phở xào: sauteed pho noodles with beef and vegetables.
**Phở áp chảo: similar to ''phở xào'' but stir-fried with more oil and gets more burned.
**Phở cuốn: ''rolled pho'', with ingredients rolled up and eaten as a gỏi cuốn
''Gỏi cuốn'' or nem cuốn, salad roll, summer roll, fresh spring roll, spring roll, rice paper roll, is a Vietnamese dish traditionally consisting of pork, prawn, vegetables, ''bún'' (rice vermicelli), and other ingredients wrapped in Viet ...
.
**Phở trộn (mixed pho): pho noodles and fresh herbs and dressings, served as a salad.
**Phở chấm: ''dipping pho'', with the noodles and broth served separately.
*Other provinces:
**Phở chua: meaning ''sour phở'' is a delicacy from Lạng Sơn
Lạng Sơn () is a city in far northern Vietnam, which is the capital of Lạng Sơn Province. It is accessible by road and rail from Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, and it is the northernmost point on National Route 1.
History
Due to its ge ...
city.
**Phở khô Gia Lai: an unrelated soup dish from Gia Lai.
**Phở sắn: a tapioca noodle dish from Quế Sơn District
Quế is a township () and capital of Kim Bảng District, Hà Nam Province, Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edg ...
, Quảng Nam. It is closer to mì Quảng.
**Phở sa tế: pho noodles with chili and peanut sauce, came from Teochew immigrants in southern Vietnam.
**Phở vịt: duck pho, a specialty of Cao Bang province.
**Phở gan cháy: meaning grilled liver pho, a specialty found in Bắc Ninh city.
**Phở chiên trứng : This means a variant that pho is deep-fried with eggs
**Phở chiên phồng : This variant is the same as the previous but without eggs and looks like pillows
Vietnamese beef soup can also refer to , which is a spicy beef noodle soup, is associated with in central Vietnam.
Notable restaurants
Famous phở shops in Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
are Phở Gia Truyền, Phở Thìn, Phở Lý Quốc Sư.
Famous phở shops in Saigon included , , , , and . Pasteur Street () was a street famous for its beef phở, while Hien Vuong Street () was known for its chicken phở. At Phở Bình, American soldiers dined as Việt Cộng
,
, war = the Vietnam War
, image = FNL Flag.svg
, caption = The flag of the Viet Cong, adopted in 1960, is a variation on the flag of North Vietnam. Sometimes the lower stripe was green.
, active ...
agents planned the Tết Offensive just upstairs. Nowadays in Ho Chi Minh City, well known restaurants include: Phở Hùng, Phở Hòa Pasteur and Phở 2000, which U.S. President Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
visited in 2000.
One of the largest phở chains in Vietnam is Pho 24
Phở or pho (, , ; ) is a Vietnamese soup dish consisting of broth, rice noodles (), herbs, and meat (usually beef (), sometimes chicken ()). Phở is a popular food in Vietnam where it is served in households, street stalls and restaurants c ...
, a subsidiary of Highlands Coffee, with 60 locations in Vietnam and 20 abroad.
Overseas
The largest phở chain in the United States is Phở Hòa, which operates over 70 locations in seven countries. A similar restaurant named Pho 75 serves in the Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
areas in the United States. Numbers in the restaurant name are "lucky" numbers for the owners: culturally lucky numbers or to mark a date in Vietnam or their personal history.
Many phở restaurants in the United States and Canada offer oversized helpings with names such as "train phở" (), "airplane phở" (), or "California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
phở" (). Some restaurants have offered a phở eating challenge, with prizes for finishing as much as of phở in one sitting, or have auctioned special versions costing $5,000.
See also
* Bánh mì
In Vietnamese cuisine, or banh mi (, ; , "bread") is a short baguette with thin, crisp crust and soft, airy texture. It is often split lengthwise and filled with savory ingredients like a submarine sandwich and served as a meal, called ''bá ...
* List of soups
* List of Vietnamese culinary specialities
* List of Vietnamese dishes
* Vietnamese cuisine
Vietnamese cuisine encompasses the foods and beverages of Vietnam. Meals feature a combination of five fundamental tastes ( vi, ngũ vị, links=no, label=none): sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and spicy. The distinctive nature of each dish refle ...
References
External links
*
{{Soups
1910s in Vietnam
Beef dishes
Food and drink introduced in the 1910s
French fusion cuisine
National dishes
Noodle soups
Street food in Vietnam
Vietnamese fusion cuisine
Vietnamese noodle dishes
Vietnamese soups
Vietnamese words and phrases
Vietnamese-American cuisine