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From Editer.com by Sophie Dening

Pho – the truth

It's not easy to find a really good version of the traditional Vietnamese breakfast soup. Writer, cook and supperclub host Uyen Luu shows us how to make the real thing

'I've never had a good pho in London,' says Uyen Luu. 'They seem watered down – nothing that a Vietnamese person would go back for.' Uyen has lived in Hackney since she was a schoolgirl, and run supperclubs from her house for three years. She has shown Jamie Oliver and the FT how to make pho, using know-how she picked up from her mother, who, in turn refined her own technique over years.
It's a breakfast dish in Vietnam, invented in Hanoi – the result of cross-pollination between French pot au feu and Vietnamese noodle soup with fresh herbs. Uyen is from Saigon, so this pho has more oomph than the minimal version made by most London Vietnamese, who tend to originate from the north.

You'll need a giant pan, the biggest you can find, with a heavy bottom. Uyen starts with oxtail, a beef leg bone replete with marrow, and half a rib with meat still on. (For the full ingredients list, and details of the recipe, see Uyen's blog.) She brings water to the boil, adds the meat, then chucks the water away, cleans the pan and starts again. 'This is because we want a clear broth, not a strong, muddy beef broth. This way, you get a clean beef flavour.'
Next she chars a large onion, first peeling and trimming it so it will stand on its end, and adds it to the pot with three thumbs of ginger. (If this all seems rather abundant, it is – you can't go to all this bother just to make dinner for two. Uyen's recipe is enough for 8–10 bowls.) READ MORE AT EDITER.COM HERE