Jet Tila Slow Cooker Beef Pho

Source video by Food Network on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules and is marked for human review.

Jet Tila's quick pho is a hybrid: instead of two days of roasting bones, he leans on beef base, fish sauce and a cheesecloth sachet of star anise, cloves and cinnamon to get the classic pho aromatics fast. Rough-chopped onion and skin-on ginger go into the broth to marry with the beef flavour, while a second half of onion is sliced paper-thin for the top of the bowl. We've moved the long broth simmer into the slow cooker so the aromatics can meld gently while you crack on with the noodles and garnishes. The bowl itself is built to order with rice stick noodles, thin rare steak, spring onion, coriander, serrano chilli, bean sprouts, lime, sriracha and hoisin.

Ingredients

• beef base
• water
• fish sauce
• salt
• sugar
• onion, peeled and roughly chopped into large pieces
• fresh ginger, skin on, sliced into thin pieces for maximum surface area

• star anise (add late)
• whole cloves (add late)
• cinnamon stick (add late)
• cheesecloth and butcher's twine, for tying the spices into a pull-out sachet

• rice stick noodles, soaked until soft, or use fresh (add late)
• thin sliced beef steak, sliced paper thin (freeze a steak cut for about 40 minutes then slice with a sharp knife if you can't buy it pre-sliced) (add late)

• onion, sliced paper thin (add late)
• spring onions, sliced thinly on the bias (add late)
• red serrano chillies, sliced (add late)
• lime, cut into wedges from the sides, leaving the seed pod (add late)
• fresh coriander (add late)
• bean sprouts (add late)
• sriracha (add late)
• hoisin sauce (add late)

Method

1. Prep the aromatics. Peel an onion, halve it, then cut half into a rough large-piece chop for the broth and the other half into paper-thin slices for the garnish tray. Leave the skin on the ginger and slice it into thin pieces for maximum surface area.

   ~8 min

2. Prep the garnishes. Slice the spring onions thinly on the bias, slice the red serranos, cut lime wedges from the sides (leaving the seed pod), and lay everything out on a garnish tray with the paper-thin onion, coriander and bean sprouts. Pho is choose-your-own-adventure at the table.

   ~10 min

3. Build the spice sachet. Lay a square of cheesecloth on a plate, tip the star anise, whole cloves and cinnamon into the middle, gather the corners and tie tightly with butcher's twine so you can pull it in and out of the broth.

   ~3 min

4. Slice the beef. If you don't have pre-sliced thin steak from the Asian market, freeze a nice steak cut for about 40 minutes until almost frozen, then slice paper thin with a sharp knife. Keep chilled until serving.

   ~45 min

5. Build the broth in the slow cooker. Add the beef base with water to the pot, then stir in fish sauce, a little salt for clean saltiness and a little sugar for balance. Add the rough-chopped onion and the ginger slices.

   ~5 min

6. Cover and cook on Low for 5 to 6 hours, or High for 2.5 to 3 hours, so the ginger and onion marry into the beef broth.

   ~300 min

7. For the final 45 minutes, drop the tied spice sachet into the broth. Taste at 30 minutes and again at 45 minutes; the moment the aromatics come through clearly without going bitter, pull the sachet out and discard.

   ~45 min

8. Just before serving, blanch a bundle of soaked rice stick noodles in a pan of hot water for a few seconds in a basket, sieve or colander. Drain well and drop straight into a warm bowl.

   ~2 min

9. Lay the raw thin sliced beef on top of the noodles so it looks the part; the ripping hot broth will cook it in the bowl. Make sure the broth is at a proper heat before you ladle over so it sears the beef.

   ~1 min

10. Ladle the hot broth over the noodles and beef until the bowl is filled. Finish with the paper-thin onion, spring onion, coriander, chillies and bean sprouts to taste, and serve with sriracha, hoisin and lime wedges on the side to shoot in or dip.

    ~2 min

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