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
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nar ...
holding a similar commemoration the following day. Phở has been adopted by other Southeast Asian cuisines, including Lao and Hmong cuisine. 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
The Vietnamese people ( vi, người Việt, lit=Viet people) or Kinh people ( vi, người Kinh) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day Northern Vietnam and Southern China (Jing Islands, Dongxing, Guangxi). The native lang ...
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
A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks instead of being slaughtered to harvest animal products. Some are used for their physical strength (e.g. oxen and draft horses) or for ...
. 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
Jean Tardieu (born in Saint-Germain-de-Joux, Ain, 1 November 1903, died in Créteil, Val-de-Marne, 27 January 1995) was a French artist, musician, poet and dramatic author.
Life and career
He earned a degree in literature and worked for a pub ...
'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
Rice vermicelli is a thin form of noodle. It is sometimes referred to as 'rice noodles' or 'rice sticks', but should not be confused with cellophane noodles, a different Asian type of vermicelli made from mung bean starch or rice starch rath ...
. 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
Street Cry (11 March 1998 – 17 September 2014) was a Thoroughbred racehorse, winner of the 2002 Dubai World Cup, the 2002 Stephen Foster Handicap and runner up in the 2002 Whitney Handicap. He was an international shuttle stallion that stood a ...
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 ch ...
in clear beef broth, with thin cuts of beef (steak, fatty flank, lean flank, brisket). 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
Tripe is a type of edible lining from the stomachs of various farm animals. Most tripe is from cattle, pigs and sheep.
Types of tripe
Beef tripe
Beef tripe is made from the muscle wall (the interior mucosal lining is removed) of a cow's ...
, or meatballs 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
*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
Chaozhou (), alternatively Chiuchow, Chaochow or Teochew, is a city in the eastern Guangdong province of China. It borders Shantou to the south, Jieyang to the southwest, Meizhou to the northwest, the province of Fujian to the east, and th ...
kuy teav
''Kuyteav'' ( km, គុយទាវ, UNGEGN: ) is a Cambodian noodle soup consisting of rice noodles with pork stock and toppings. A popular breakfast dish in Cambodia, ''kuyteav'' can be found at marketplace stalls, roadside vendors, resta ...
) 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, oxtails, 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 or other kinds of cinnamon as alternatives (may use usually in stick form, sometimes in powder form in pho restaurant franchises overseas), star anise
''Illicium verum'' is a medium-sized evergreen tree native to northeast Vietnam and southwest China. A spice commonly called star anise, staranise, star anise seed, star aniseed, star of anise, Chinese star anise, or badian that closely resemb ...
, roasted ginger
Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of ...
, 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 on ...
, black cardamom, 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
Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, ...
. 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
Cheesecloth is a loose-woven gauze-like carded cotton cloth used primarily in cheesemaking and cooking.
Grades
Cheesecloth is available in at least seven different grades, from open to extra-fine weave. Grades are distinguished by the numb ...
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, 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, 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 on ...
s, Thai basil (not to be confused with sweet basil), 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 wedges, bean sprouts, and cilantro (coriander leaves) or culantro. 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
Chili oil is a condiment made from vegetable oil that has been infused with chili peppers. Different types of oil and hot peppers are used, and other components may also be included. It is commonly used in Chinese cuisine, Southeast Asian cuis ...
and hot chili sauce (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, and garnishes offered generally include only diced green onion and cilantro, pickled garlic, chili sauce and quẩy
''Youtiao'' (), known in Southern China as Yu Char Kway is a long golden-brown deep-fried strip of dough of Chinese origin and (by a variety of other names) also popular in other East and Southeast Asian cuisines.
Conventionally, ''youtiao'' ...
. 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
''Kuyteav'' ( km, គុយទាវ, UNGEGN: ) is a Cambodian noodle soup consisting of rice noodles with pork stock and toppings. A popular breakfast dish in Cambodia, ''kuyteav'' can be found at marketplace stalls, roadside vendors, resta ...
noodles (). The variations in meat, broth, and additional garnishes such as lime, bean sprouts, ''ngò gai'' ( culantro), ''húng quế'' ( Thai basil), and ''tương đen'' ( hoisin sauce), ''tương ớt'' ( chili sauce) 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.
**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 city.
**Phở khô Gia Lai: an unrelated soup dish from Gia Lai.
**Phở sắn: a tapioca noodle dish from Quế Sơn District, 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 Cao or CAO may refer to:
Mythology
* Cao (bull), a legendary bull in Meitei mythology
Companies or organizations
*Air China Cargo, ICAO airline designator CAO
*CA Oradea, Romanian football club
*CA Osasuna, Spanish football club
* Canadian Asso ...
province.
**Phở gan cháy: meaning grilled liver pho, a specialty found in Bắc Ninh
Bắc Ninh () is a city in the northern part of Vietnam and is the capital of Bắc Ninh province. The city is the cultural, administrative and commercial center of the province. The city area is 82.60 square km, with a population of 501,199 in N ...
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 i ...
are Phở Gia Truyền, Phở Thìn, Phở Lý Quốc Sư.
Famous phở shops in Saigon
, population_density_km2 = 4,292
, population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2
, population_demonym = Saigonese
, blank_name = GRP (Nominal)
, blank_info = 2019
, blank1_name = – Total
, blank1_ ...
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 agents planned the Tết Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. It was launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) against the forces o ...
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 again ...
visited in 2000.
One of the largest phở chains in Vietnam is Pho 24, a subsidiary of Highlands Coffee
Highlands Coffee is a Vietnamese coffee shop chain and producer and distributor of coffee products, established in Hanoi by Vietnamese American David Thai in 1998. The establishment of the Highlands Coffee company marked the first time an overseas ...
, with 60 locations in Vietnam and 20 abroad.
Overseas
The largest phở chain in the United States is Phở Hòa
is a phở restaurant chain based in Sacramento, California, United States. It was founded in San Jose, California, in 1983. , it has more than 70 locations across the United States, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, and ...
, which operates over 70 locations in seven countries. A similar restaurant named Pho 75
Pho 75 is chain of restaurants that serve pho (Vietnamese beef noodle soup) in the Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania areas. Not only does it serve soup, but it also serves special desserts and Vietnamese coffee as well. It has branche ...
serves in the Washington, D.C. 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. Since ...
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
* List of soups
This is a list of notable soups. Soups have been made since Ancient history, ancient times.
Some soups are served with large chunks of meat or vegetables left in the liquid, while others are served as a broth. A broth is a flavored liquid usua ...
* List of Vietnamese culinary specialities
This is a list of culinary specialities in Vietnamese cuisine by provinces.
An Giang Province
* Khô cá lóc đồng
* Mắm thái Châu Đốc
* Bánh canh Vĩnh Trung, Tịnh Biên District
* Bò cạp chiên giòn, Bảy Núi mounta ...
* List of Vietnamese dishes
This is a list of dishes found in Vietnamese cuisine.
Noodle dishes
Dumplings
Pancakes and sandwiches
Rolls and rice papers
Rice
Xôi
Soups and cháo (congees)
Other dishes
Sweet cakes and desserts
Condiments and sauces
...
* 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