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So I think I'll take another shot at pho this weekend. I checked out the asian grocer and found these: Oxtail Beef neck Beef feet Beef bones (leg maybe?) Beef knuckle I'm not sure what the difference is, or which would be best for stock. They had pretty big bags, so I don't really want to get a bit of each. If you had to pick one or two, which would they be? posh spaz fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Dec 16, 2014 |
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Dec 16, 2014 02:54
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| # ? May 3, 2024 14:47 |
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I'd go with long bones and knuckle for sure. Neck maybe. Oxtail is a little precious to use for simply building stock. (I'd buy it... for making oxtail soup.)
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Dec 16, 2014 14:52
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I just picked up a 16qt stock pot. How many pounds of knuckle and bone should I use for a full batch? I'm guessing it would yield about 8qt of finished broth.
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Dec 16, 2014 18:14
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RedTonic posted:Oxtail is a little precious to use for simply building stock. I hate that this is a thing now. when I was growing up you could buy short ribs, oxtail, lengua, shanks, bellies, for cheap as poo poo but now all the yuppie foodies "discovered" them. bah
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Dec 16, 2014 19:00
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GrAviTy84 posted:I hate that this is a thing now. when I was growing up you could buy short ribs, oxtail, lengua, shanks, bellies, for cheap as poo poo but now all the yuppie foodies "discovered" them. bah I miss cheap flank/flap steak and brisket.  The ugly bits have become too pricey. On the other hand, as long as I'm not looking for an ugly pork bit, I can find offal and off bits more easily than my family could ten years ago.
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Dec 16, 2014 19:48
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While the good parts have gotten more expensive, they have also become a lot easier to get. It's a trade-off I'm willing to make.
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Dec 16, 2014 20:41
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idk, they were plenty easy to find in asian/hispanic markets before.
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Dec 16, 2014 20:49
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posh spaz posted:I had 3lbs of pork hocks, 2lbs of shank and 2lbs of shoulder. All the cuts had bones in them but I didn't have any just bones. This was about 10-11 quarts of water. That was your problem then. That's at least twice as much water as I would use. I use at least 1lb of bone (hock and neck bones - hocks don't have as much surface area either as neck bones) for each quart of water. 4lb bones and 5 quarts water is the minimum I'd use. The beef shank and pork leg don't simmer for as long as the bones in the broth either so most of the body of the broth is supposed to come from those hocks and bones, you don't want to cook the meat part to death. Also I'm still not clear if you actually minced lemongrass for the spice mix, that's a major component of the soup. RedTonic posted:I add herbs late in the process because they tend to lose their impact quickly. rethought: Adding some later will probably help you keep more of the fragrance. I don't know if there's any benefit to be gained from adding lemongrass in early to a multi-hour cooking session. Lemongrass isn't really leafy herby, it's better treated like a spice when it comes to broths. In this particular soup it's two part though, you simmer stalks of lemongrass and the tougher ends of the stalks and take some of the stalks to mince and make a spice mix to add the broth toward the end.
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Dec 16, 2014 21:50
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mich posted:Lemongrass isn't really leafy herby, it's better treated like a spice when it comes to broths. In this particular soup it's two part though, you simmer stalks of lemongrass and the tougher ends of the stalks and take some of the stalks to mince and make a spice mix to add the broth toward the end. It's enough herby that the really nice fresh fragrance disappears after a long simmer. A two-part add (one early, one late) might help give you the complexity of having the lemongrass infuse the soup during the active cooking period, with the happy freshness (thanks Bob Ross) and bright fragrance coming in when you add some more nearer the end.
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Dec 16, 2014 22:19
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mich posted:That was your problem then. That's at least twice as much water as I would use. I use at least 1lb of bone (hock and neck bones - hocks don't have as much surface area either as neck bones) for each quart of water. 4lb bones and 5 quarts water is the minimum I'd use. Cool thanks for the recommendation. And yeah, I did mince the two lemongrass stalks for the spice mix. They seemed like big ones so I thought it would be equivalent to three. Next time I'll buy more lemongrass. I think I'll pick up the neck, knuckle and regular bones. They come frozen in like 5-7lb bags, so I'll just store what I don't use for next time. The beef feet looked super marrowy. Can one have too much marrow in stock?
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Dec 18, 2014 18:07
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Generally speaking, when dealing with Asian, especially south and south east Asian foods, err on the side of too many spices rather than rounding down. Edit: also protip, lemongrass can be sprouted and grown relatively easily.
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Dec 18, 2014 18:45
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Making another batch of pho stock today. 1.25lbs beef neck 1.25lbs beef feet 4.25 lbs beef bones 1.25lbs beef knuckle 3.5lbs beef shank With 10qt of water that maxed out my stock pot. So that's about 8lbs of bone/junk for 10qts. I'm sure it'll reduce a bit, so I think I'm close to the 1:1 range.
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Dec 19, 2014 19:28
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My yield was about 5.25 quarts. I'm kinda surprised it was that little.
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Dec 20, 2014 01:49
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posh spaz posted:My yield was about 5.25 quarts. I'm kinda surprised it was that little. That's pretty much why most people, after having made homemade pho, decide that it's not worth making from a cost and flavor standpoint. Pho is relatively cheap and tastes amazing at restaurants. Homemade pho usually costs more per bowl, and just never seems to be quite as good, either. I mean, it's certainly not pointless to make on your own and it's good, but for many people it's just not cost effective for what you get.
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Dec 20, 2014 02:01
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Crusty Nutsack posted:I mean, it's certainly not pointless to make on your own and it's good, but for many people it's just not cost effective for what you get. I spent about $26 on the meat and bones/junk, maybe $4.50 on three packs of noodles, $4 on ginger and onions. I had the spices already, $1 on Thai basil, $1 on cilantro and green onions, so $36.50 total. I had the spices already, but maybe add another couple bucks on to that. $40 for 5+ bowls of really good Pho doesn't seem that bad to me. There are a few Pho places in town that can do it better, but they're not super convenient and cost $8-ish per bowl anyway. That not even counting all the fun I had making it.
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Dec 20, 2014 02:39
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