Pho Tips: How To Garnish A Bowl Of Pho

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If you're ready to start eating pho like a pro, pick up a copy of Andrea Nguyen's The Pho Cookbook and prepare to slurp rice noodles like your life depends on it. Packed with recipes, techniques and advice from all over Vietnam, Nguyen's newest book is exactly what you need to pump up your beef bone soup game. Kick it off by learning how to garnish a bowl of pho. 

Depending on your pho philosophy, you can go super simple or ornate with the tabletop pho garnishes. I keep things easy with regular spearmint (húng) from my garden and chiles that I've purchased or grown at home. Conventional limes can be bracing and take over pho flavors, so I prefer garlic vinegar for a light tang; ripe (yellow) Bearss limes and Meyer lemons are good, too. During the warmer months, I'll add Thai basil (hung quế) because it's at its peak; ditto for a type of spicy mint (hung cay) sold at Viet markets. When I'm in the mood for bean sprouts, I'll buy super fresh ones and blanch them to mellow their flavor and texture.

If you're hard-core, add cilantro (ngò gai) leaves, a hot-weather herb with a strong, slightly sweet cilantro flavor; it's usually sold at Vietnamese, Latin, and Caribbean markets. In Saigon at the storied Pho Hoa on Pasteur Street, delicate sprigs of rice paddy herb (ngò om) are also included in the platter of garnishes set at each table. Sold at Vietnamese markets and traditionally used for southern Viet seafood soups, rice paddy herb adds a citrusy, cumin-like note to pho. Add or subtract as you like from this guideline.

If you're blanching the bean sprouts, work it into the pho assembly process and use the pot set up for dunking noodles; the noodle strainer is perfect for the job. Blanch them before starting on the noodles to avoid giving them a starch bath, and put them on their own plate so they don't leak water on other garnishes. Otherwise, arrange the raw sprouts with the herbs and lime on a communal plate.

If the chile is small, cut it at a sharp angle to yield largish slices that can be easily identified in the bowl. Put the slices in a little dish so they don't get lost. Before bowl assembly, set the garnishes at the table with any other sides and condiments so you can dive in immediately.