“Because not much was written about the origin of phở until recently, its beginnings are a bit murky and mostly culled from oral histories. Still, the consensus among academics, diners and restaurateurs is that it originated about a century ago in northern Vietnam. It was originally sold by venders from large boxes, until the first phở restaurant was opened in the 1920s in Hanoi. While a distinctly Vietnamese dish, phở has French and Chinese influences. The origin of the word was one subject in a seminar on phở held in Hanoi in 2003. One theory advanced at the seminar is that the name comes from the French feu (fire), as in the dish pot-au-feu, which like phở uses the French method of adding charred onion to the broth for color and flavor, one of the techniques which distinguishes phở from other Asian noodle soups.”
– Wikipedia entry
Buenos Aires – I don’t recall how it came up, but a couple of my students asked for a class in making the Vietnamese classic noodle soup, phở. While I could probably have followed a recipe and shown them something, it wouldn’t necessarily have been the authentic version, and it occured to me that our new friend Thuy, who runs the closed door restaurant A Little Saigon might just know a thing or two about the dish. Though she hadn’t considered giving classes, she readily agreed, and earlier this week myself, three students, and one of her regular guests, all turned up for a morning session. She added in a couple of other recipes – one of my favorite Vietnamese appetizers, banh tom, which are deep-fried sweet potato and shrimp fritters, along with their dipping sauce, nước chấm, and finishing off with che chuoi, banana, tapioca and coconut soup. On to the photos….
Thuy shows off the rice flour for the fritters
Mixing up the batter for the fritters
Into the oil to fry ’em up
Ready for eating
Close up on our banh tom
Prepping ingredients for the phở
Cleaning up the charred onions and ginger
Putting together the phở bowls
Ready to dig in
Closeup on the finished phở
Cooking up tapioca pearls for the che chuoi
Stewing away with the bananas
And, a closeup on the che chuoi
This class was great! Loved the “fuh?”, and the fritters. And the sauce and the tapioca porridge dessert. Let’s do another class somewhere else now! Indian?
Wow, Dan. Thuy looks like a very nice and cool person. How lucky for your students that you know her. The food looks great.
Looks incredible. Had I known I would have been there. I love pho and regularly make my own. But I would have loved to have learned a more authentic version.
I’m sure she’d do it again if you contacted her. Plus, keep an eye on our Class Schedule – I note both the ones I offer here, plus anything that I help arrange as “field trips” for regular students….
[…] people inquired about whether or not another class could be arranged with Thuy at A Little Saigon to learn how to make pho and a couple of other […]