Vietnamese Pho with Sous Vide Beef

Pho is a favorite order in Vietnamese restaurants. It's loved for the rich, beefy broth infused with cinnamon and other delicious Asian flavors. The best part? It's not difficult to make!

NOTE: This recipe adds in tender sous vide beef strips instead of raw beef as would traditionally be served in pho.

Author

Christina Wylie

Christina Wylie is an award-winning writer, author, editor, food stylist, recipe creator, entrepreneur and radio host whose work has been featured in The Times & The Sunday Times, Time Out (Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong and Dubai), Traveler’s Digest, Fah Thai Magazine, Broadsheet, Wining & Dining and many other internationally renowned publications. In 2013, after almost a decade of working as an international journalist, Christina founded the online lifestyle magazine The GAB Magazine, for which she now leads a team of 60 writers based all across Australia. She then founded Samui Life Magazine in 2016. After working as a recipe creator for Anova Culinary for over a year, she signed a cookbook contract with the American-based, international publishing company Quarto. Her cookbook, titled The Sous Vide Kitchen: Techniques, Ideas, and More Than 100 Recipes to Cook at Home, was published worldwide in 2017. She wrote, styled, and photographed everything that you see within that book. In 2017 she opened her first restaurant, Bootlegger, in Koh Samui, Thailand. She is currently in the initial stages of launching Bootlegger 2 in Phuket in 2018, and is looking to open Bootlegger 3 in Bangkok in 2019. She is currently working towards stepping into the world of food and travel presenting. As an entrepreneur herself, Christina co-founded the charity initiative Project Gen Z in 2015 to teach orphaned Cambodian children entrepreneurial skills. A British expat born and raised in Hong Kong, Christina has worked across the globe, and has lived in Thailand, London, Hong Kong, Australia and South Africa over the years.

Prep Time: 00:25

Recipe Time: 02:00

Temperature Options:

Medium rare - 1 1/2” - 2”

129.2F / 54C

Ingredients

• 2 (4-ounce/125 g) beef tenderloin steaks
• 4 cups (946 mL) beef stock
• 1 cup (237 mL) water
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons (44 mL) fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) palm sugar or packed dark brown sugar
• 2 (1/4-inch-thick) slices ginger
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 2 star anise
• 2 cups (473 mL) flat rice noodles, boiled and drained
• 1 cup (237 mL) fresh Thai basil leaves
• 1/2 cup (118 mL) bean sprouts
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) finely sliced scallion
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions

1. Set the Anova Sous Vide Precision Cooker to 129.2ºF (54ºC).
2. Place the steaks in their own medium zipper lock or vacuum seal bag. Seal bags using the water immersion technique or a vacuum sealer on the dry setting. Place bags in the water bath and set the timer for 2 hours.
3. About 25 minutes before the beef is finished, prepare the broth: Combine stock, water, onion, fish sauce, palm sugar, ginger, cinnamon, garlic, and star anise in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the broth has reduced to 4 cups, about 20 minutes.
4. Strain broth through a fine-mesh strainer into two serving bowls. Let cool slightly. (Because the beef has been cooked sous vide, you don’t want it to cook too much in the broth like you would do normally when using raw beef in pho.)

Finishing Steps

1. When the timer goes off, remove the bags from the water bath. Remove the steaks from the bags and transfer to a cutting board. Slice thin. Discard cooking liquid.
2. Divide prepared noodles between the bowls of broth. Top with sliced steak, basil, bean sprouts, scallion, and lime wedges. Serve.