by Lisa Rayne

Created on: March 26, 2009

If you've never been "Pho-ing," you are missing out. This tasty and relatively healthy Vietnamese soup packs in vegetables, spice, and almost any kind of meat you can imagine. Usually, a filling-size bowl "small" is by no means small for most appetites.

Pho (prounounced "fuh") is no more than $6-$7 USD at an authentic, mid-range diner.

When ordering pho, your choices will vary depending on the type of meat you would like. Typical pho is made from beef filets and tripe but one can find varieties of beef (without tripe), chicken, and shrimp as well. The other basic ingredients of the soup remain the same no matter what meat choice you make.

What are the basics, then? First, the waiter will bring you a plate of raw vegetables including: soybeans, basil on the vine, green chili pepper slices, and slices of lime. At your table will also be small ramekin dishes in which you can put a variety of sauces, including hoisin sauce and Sriracha hot sauce. Once your steaming bowl of soup arrives, the fun begins.

The meat in your fresh bowl will appear to be raw. That is because it is. The heat of the sizzling broth will cook the meat as you prepare your soup. Within the bowl among the broth will be the meat choice (if you are not ordering vegetarian), rice noodles, and green onion slices. Here is where your raw veggies come to play: you get to doctor up your soup howsoever you like.

I usually put as much will fit in the bowl, starting with the basil and soybeans. Then, I will squeeze the lime juice over my bowl and go to town. (Warning: go easy on the chilis, and unless you are very brave or experienced do not chew them. They mostly give the broth a spicy flavor and will not go down easy if you eat them. Complete with seeds (the spicy part of peppers), a little goes a long way with these bad boys.)

Like the meat, as your veggies simmer in the broth they will cook and begin to shrink. Here is the opportunity to fill the bowl with even more veggies!

Wait, we're not done, however. Remember the ramekins of sauce? Here's where you're going to want to shake up the hoisin sauce (the dark brown one) and squirt some in a ramekin. This will come in handy later for dipping your meat before taking delicious bites.

I would not recommend putting the hoisin sauce in the broth directly. The taste will not be as intended and will corrupt the taste of the broth. Hoisin flavor is very distinct and not to be mixed heavily with pho broth. Also, if you are brave and like spicy soup, feel free to squirt some of the Sriracha sauce (red bottle with rooster illustration and pepper seeds inside). This stuff is hot but oh so wonderful.

Now, you are ready to chow down. The next question is, then, to chopsticks or not to chopsticks? Who would have thought you can eat soup with chopsticks? Well the Vietnamese for one. If you go with chopsticks, just delve on in and pull out as much veggie/noodle/meat as you can put in your mouth at once. Noodles are not easy to eat with chopsticks but with practice can be done.

There are also large white Vietnamese soup spoons which you can slurp up the tasty broth with. The point is, you will want to dive into this bowl any way you can get out the most veggies, meat, and noodles as possible. Chopsticks, fork, or klumsy spoon will be your choice. Then, you have the broth spoon to enjoy the delicious liquid.

Congratulations on entering the world of Vietnamese cuisine! Now that you're an expert, pass on the love. Vietnamese food is generally healthy and includes very fresh vegetables. Now on to your local Vietnamese restaurant and get your "Pho" on!

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