Northern-Style Pho / Phở Tái Đạp

For most of my life, I’ve really only ever eaten Southern Vietnamese pho. It actually wasn’t even until just a handful of years ago that I learned there were different variations of pho, depending on what region of Vietnam you were in. Northern-style pho is simple, saltier, and less sweet. Locals will argue that it’s the best style of pho, because its simple nature allows the quality of the ingredients to shine, thus giving you the true essence of pho. If you’ve never had pho like this before, I’m really excited to share this recipe with y’all!

What is Northern-Style Pho?

There are many regional differences in many Vietnamese dishes, including pho, primarily due to topography and climate. Northern Vietnam is much colder, which limits the production of fresh herbs, spices, and livestock. So unlike pho in Southern Vietnam, which is typically packed with beansprouts, cilantro, basil, jalapenos, and a ton of different cuts of beef, northern-style pho is much simpler. Typically, it’s served with just slices of rare beef and green onions for the garnish. Additionally, in Northern Vietnam, they prefer a more salty flavor profile as opposed to the sweeter Southern Vietnamese pho.

Often, you’ll see this dish also be called “phở tái lăn” instead. The only difference between that and phở tái đạp, is the method in which you prepare the thin slices of rare beef. In Vietnamese, the word “đạp” means to pound or trample, and that’s exactly what we do with the beef. By lightly pounding the beef with a cleaver, we break up some of the connective tissue and tenderize the beef.

Dipping Sauce:

In Southern-style pho, it’s usually accompanied by sriracha, hoisin, chili oil, and limes. However, in the North, they prefer making a dipping sauce with fish sauce, vinegar, Thai chili.

Garnishes:

In Northern-style pho, the only garnish typically used is green onions. Finely chop the green part and then make green onion curls by thinly slicing the whites. You can use a green onion shredder like mine to make it easier to cut. Once you have fine strips, submerge them in cold water for five minutes to curl them up.

Tips for a clear broth:

The telltale sign of an excellent pho broth is typically associated with a light and clear broth. Here are my tips on how to achieve that!

• 1. For this specific broth, we only use parboiled beef knuckles. First, parboiling the knuckles, then cleaning and rinsing under cold water, helps remove a lot of the funk and gunk. Second, instead of adding brisket, flank, or oxtails, adding just beef knuckles will give it a light yellowish hue instead of a light brown color.
• 2. Once the broth hits its initial rolling boil, make sure that you reduce the heat and simmer on low. Cooking the broth on higher heat will make the bones release more collagen and marrow, resulting in a milkier and cloudy broth. Peep Hanna’s recipe for Korean Beef Bone Soup (Seolleontang) if you want that instead! Make sure that you continue to skim off any impurities through the cooking process
• 3. Remove the charred aromatics and dried pho spices after 1.5-2 hours of simmering. We’ll let this pho broth simmer for 4-5 hours, but at the 2-hour mark, we want to discard the aromatics and spices to ensure they don’t disintegrate into the broth. Leaving the pho spices in too long will also give the broth some more bitter notes, which we don’t want.
• 4. After cooking the broth, filter it through a fine mesh sieve to eliminate any remaining residue.