I wanted to do a quick follow up to my Faster Pho recipe. If I have an extra hour, I alter the recipe to provide a richer and more flavorful dish. In the prior recipe I explained how using Chinese 5 Spice you could quickly hack your way to faster pho. Well, maybe my palate is now expecting more, because I began experimenting with an alternative method.
Faster Pho 2.0 Revision
- Still make or purchase a base beef stock. I make my own and use it for stews and other dishes.
- Char a piece of ginger under the oven broiler.
- Instead of using Chinese 5 Spice, fill a spice pouch with star anise, cloves, fennel, cinnamon stick, whole cardamon and the charred ginger.
- Place pouch into stock and let it warm up to a low simmer for about an hour.
- Remove pouch and proceed with the original Faster Pho recipe.
One idea I did recently was put the stock inside a slow cooker on low. Then I hung the spice pouch from the lid of the slow cooker. I ran errands and came back to a very flavorful stock. Also don’t let the fact you don’t have all those spices prevent you from proceeding. Get as many as you can. You can also add a tap of Chinese 5 Spice to round out the broth.
Regency Spice Bags for Bouquet Garnis with Drawstring Tops, set of 4
Maybe this no longer qualifies as Faster Pho? Since it takes about a minute to fill the spice bag and turn on the slow cooker, I think it still does. You decide. You can always return to Chinese 5 Spice.