Pho Shizzle (I’m sorry. It’s not my pun. I had to. I’m sorry.)

Every so often, killjoys like Bonnie Liebman, nutrition director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, go on an anti-General Tso, anti-noodle, rampage. One order of sesame noodles could fuel an Escalade for a day, much less an indolent, computer-addicted endomorph. Truly, it’s not a comfort food any more when you are in mid-dumpling and Bonnie Liebman is reminding you that you are what you eat.

And so there is Pho (pronounced “fuh”), the national dish of Viet Nam.

It’s a large bowl of clear, star-anise-scented beef broth, populated by noodles, meat (usually thin strips of raw beef that are cooked by the heat of the broth right in the bowl) , and vegetables. It’s accompanied by a bristlingly verdant plate of greenery, which you tear off in little strips and add as you wish, a spoon, and chopsticks.

The best part is that you use both the spoon and the chopsticks at once. Even if you are well coordinated, eating pho will take you the requisite 20 minutes needed to feel satiated. And if you’re not coordinated, exhausted. You’ll have not eaten all that much. And it will have been nutritious and about 450 calories, not bad for a full meal.

Find out more about pho at Phofever.com, including where to get it near you.

And for those not into pho of any sort, this is the just any old delicious thing thread.

Posted by Mrs. Polly on 04/05/09 at 04:44 PM • Permalink

Categories: Food •

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I thought it was pronounced, “Fo”

I recently discovered it two years ago…and love it BTW!

Comment by Manamongst Hussein on 04/05/09 at 06:33 PM

Well, this is the opposite of pho, if there is such a thing, but we just finished off a tender, delicious pot roast which had been cooking in garlic and onion and beef broth for a few hours. I added the potatoes and another fresh onion and a handful of baby carrots and let them soak up all that yummy beefy sauce until we spooned it all out and ate it.

It was so good that I ate and ate when I should have pushed the plate away. My mouth thought it was fine, but my stomach says it’s just a teensy bit full now.

Comment by donnah on 04/05/09 at 06:39 PM

Bonnie Liebman can go pho herself.

Anyone who tries to get in between me and my General Tso’s chicken is going to get hurt.

Comment by Allan on 04/05/09 at 06:51 PM

The best part of my neighborhood is the 6 Pho places all within 4 square blocks.

It is pronounced ‘fuh’. there is a place here in Seattle called Pho King.

Get it?

Comment by t4toby on 04/05/09 at 08:09 PM

Man, you had to blog about the ONE THING that could make me feel all meh about my fresh from the grill hamburger.

Comment by Hunger Tallest Palin on 04/05/09 at 08:10 PM

I make the best - bar none - General Tso’s Chicken in the San Fernando Valley! Where is this Bonnie Liebman? She’s history!

Comment by Brad Mays on 04/05/09 at 08:24 PM

HTP, you had to write about one of the many, many things I would have preferred to the soy crepe with cabbage dish Mr. P and I shared at Zen Palate.

The dish was called “Rose Petals.”

I hate health.

Comment by Mrs. Polly on 04/05/09 at 08:35 PM

We have a pretty sizable Vietnamese community here and lots of good Pho (definitely pronounced “fuh” as they have politely but firmly INFORMED me) restaurants. I think Pho is the closest thing around to ambrosia. I found a very authentic and detailed recipe on the intertubes. It involves long roasting of the beef bones, charring of the spices then serious simmering of the broth. Basically an all day project. I keep telling myself I’m going to do it except it’s just so much easier to truck up to Pho 78 Restaurant for a fix. Damn fine spring rolls there too.

Comment by marindenver on 04/05/09 at 08:59 PM

OK, after looking at this, I am way more enthused about my hamburger.

I’m sure it was delicious (and calling something made with cabbage “rose petals” sure is clever), but the only time I’d eat something so ... red, is if it were a) some sort of dessert, b) sharing a plate with some turkey or c) a barely-charred piece of hooved herbivore.

And WTF is a wolfberry? Sounds like something you step in while hiking.

Comment by Hunger Tallest Palin on 04/05/09 at 10:44 PM

Hey, HTP, TASTES like it TOO!!!!

(actually, I didn’t notice that those sad, saggy little things had much taste that could survive the onslaught of the carmine goop)

I actually like most of the ZP’d stuff, but these are some rosebuds that should have stayed ungathered.

Comment by Mrs. Polly on 04/05/09 at 11:02 PM

ZP’s stuff. A slight case of wolfberry poisoning. I’m told the only antidote is a half pound of rare, juicy herbivore.

Comment by Mrs. Polly on 04/05/09 at 11:03 PM

More fond of Pho Ga (chicken) than the beef Pho Tai, but OMG Pho is SO good. Float about 1/4 spoon of that spicy rooster sauce in it for good measure.

Yumyumyum