Pho U.

March 9, 2010 1:39 PM

Overthinking a plate of bean sprouts: help me eat pho like a pro.

When I order a bowl of pho at my favorite noodle shop, I'm presented with an overwhelming array of condiments. There's the plate of raw onions, and a second plate piled high with bean sprouts, cilantro, lime, and sliced chili pepper. Then there are the sauces: the Sriracha, the red chili sauce, and the hoisin sauce. I've seen other diners stir the sauces into the onion slices before dropping them in the bowl, but I'm not sure how to handle the rest of the stuff. For example – does the lime juice go on the bean sprouts on the plate, or do you squeeze it into the broth? Do you eat the green pepper, or eat around it, like a bay leaf? Is it okay to mix in Sriracha AND the chili sauce AND the hoisin?

Your pho etiquette tips are greatly appreciated!

posted by dirk gently to food & drink (22 answers total)

I throw everything in, personally, although I'm light on the sauces.

FYI, it doesn't rhyme with "pro". It's more like Fuh.
posted by serazin at 1:44 PM on March 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

My local places just bring bean sprouts, lime, and a sprig of fresh basil.
Personally, I squeeze the juice from the lime wedge into the pho and drop the twisted wedge in there too. Then I peel off about 3 or 4 nice leaves from the basil, twist them to release the oils, and tear them into little pieces into the bowl. I ignore the bean sprouts and chili sauce, but that's just personal taste.
As for sauces, I mix about 4 parts hoisin sauce to 1 part Sriracha in a little bowl, and dip my beef slices in there before I eat them.
posted by rocket88 at 1:49 PM on March 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

Eat it how you like it.

For me I prefer to add the sliced chili, lime (squeeze it the drop it in) and basil (crush it in my fingers then tear up and drop in) and then eat the noodles, once the noodles are gone I add the bean sprouts and maybe some sauce if I feel like it.
posted by BobbyDigital at 1:50 PM on March 9, 2010

Tear the cilantro up into little pieces before adding to the soup. Other than that, it's pretty loose; you don't have to do it a certain way. A recommendation, though, is to add a little bit at a time to customize the soup to how you like it.

A couple other things: if you want to keep the bean sprouts crunchy, just add a few at a time as you eat them. Otherwise they'll cook through.

As far as limes go, I like squeezing them right into the soup, but you could squeeze them onto the sprouts first if you like.

You can eat the chili pepper if you you're brave enough. If you're not a hardcore spice fiend, you can also "float" the chili peppers for a little while and they remove them from the soup, giving things a kick but also cutting things off before things get too intense.

And yes, it's OK to mix all the sauces together. Again, add a little at a time, and keep adding it to taste as you mow your way through your soup.

Most importantly, relax! Pho is meant to be comfort food. Some types of cuisine have lots of intricacies and etiquette secrets to follow, but with pho, enjoying the meal is the most important part.
posted by infinitywaltz at 1:50 PM on March 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

I've always pronounced "pro" like "pruh," though.
posted by dirk gently at 1:50 PM on March 9, 2010 [8 favorites]

Just put in the stuff you like directly in the bowl. As for the pronunciation, outside of New York it's something like fuh with a rising intonation but here it's all "FO" which just doesn't make sense
posted by Optimus Chyme at 1:58 PM on March 9, 2010

Infinitywaltz has a great description. If you go for pho and are served some leafy thing you don't like, don't use it. This is all "to taste."

The recommendations to drop the lime wedges in there are pretty gross, and you would never do this in Viet Nam (they aren't usually sitting somewhere super clean, you don't see them washed, and pho is a road-side restaurant food).

For those nattering about pronunciation, if you really want to get picky, you should make sure to include the falling-rising tone.

Not only should you enjoy this meal, but you should enjoy it in a 18" high stool in front of an 24" high table, around 8am, with a motley crue of office ladies, construction workers, and guys who worked for the Party when the North and the South were more at odds with each other. The soundtrack will be people selling stuff and a never-ending stream of little motorbikes punctuated by a Hummer. "Climate control" means wear short sleeves.

You'll hardly have time to notice this because eating it take some mastery. You should use the chopsticks and the spoon, and at the same time. A load goes between the chopsticks, the spoon is filled with soup but also supports anything that the chopsticks hold only tenuously. Things will dangle. The top of the chopstick load goes in the mouth, and you MUST SLURP to bring the rest of the food in. You will not hear the slurping over the motorbikes. Plus, it will make anything super-temperature-hot cooler by convection. If you have to bite the noodles off, you are doing it wrong. If it hits you in the face, you need more practice. If you get really good, the spoon will be empty of soup afterward. If you are in Viet Nam or home alone and have finished all the solids, you should drink the soup.
posted by whatzit at 2:03 PM on March 9, 2010 [5 favorites]

The lime goes into the pho. I mean, that's the intention anyway. You could stuff the lime up your nose instead -- there's no right way.

Regardless, I understand your pho anxiety. It took me a while to put anything in my pho. Lime is a must for me, as is cilantro, then I usually put some bean sprouts. In Texas, at least, there's always jalapeno slices and I usually drop a couple of those in there, too.

You have to try the sauces to see if you like any of them, but that freaked me out the most because I was worried I'd ruin my pho. Just try it anyway, or if you have the dishes to do so, separate out some juice and try a drop in it. I'll confess that once I figured out that I really liked one of the sauces after trying all of them, but then I forgot which one the next time and I was too scared to try again. Don't do that.
posted by Nattie at 2:09 PM on March 9, 2010

Eat what you like. Pho 75 here in Philly. I don't really care for bean sprouts, so I skip them. Basil, jalapenos, squeeze of lime, Sriracha and a dab of fish sauce. Oh, and it's number 1: tripe, tendon, brisket, eye round. I think I'll go for lunch tomorrow.
posted by fixedgear at 2:10 PM on March 9, 2010

It's all optional. Feel free to try one thing at a time. If you feel the need to explain yourself, try "I'm figuring out which combination of things I like."

I go for lime and Basil. My wife likes lime and jalapeno slices. Neither of us go for the bean sprouts.
posted by dws at 2:15 PM on March 9, 2010

Unless it all ends up in your lap, you cannot be bad at eating pho.

First, flip all the noodles from the bottom onto the top of the meat, so the beef finishes cooking;
Bunch of basil leaves, shredded and dropped into bowl;
Handful of sprouts, into bowl;
3 or 4 jalapenos, into bowl;
Squeeze lime, drop into bowl;
Generous spoon of chili sauce;
Generous spoon of hoisin;
Generous squirting of Sriracha;
Stir, eat, sweat, repeat.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 2:53 PM on March 9, 2010

I like a little bit of everything but I don't put the sprouts in until I've eaten most of everything else out of the broth. I find they just make my bowl cool off too fast.
posted by mce at 3:20 PM on March 9, 2010

I squeeze the lime over everything, then just dump it all in, all at once at the start. Kills more germs in case the sprouts and cilantro have not been washed properly. It is a glorious mess.
posted by brownpau at 3:26 PM on March 9, 2010

Well, I used to get confused about the pronuciation until I ate at the Pho King here in Oakland and now I don't have a problem remembering.
posted by agatha_magatha at 3:48 PM on March 9, 2010 [2 favorites]

I have nothing useful to add except "Mmmm, pho".
posted by cozenedindigo at 3:51 PM on March 9, 2010 [1 favorite]

A Vietnamese friend of mine eats her pho shabu-shabu style, asking for the beef on the side which she adds into the broth later herself. Her reasoning was so that the meat wouldn't be overcooked. I've never seen anyone else do this but my friend swears by it.
posted by cazoo at 3:52 PM on March 9, 2010

I've always pronounced "pro" like "pruh," though.

Wikipedia has a pronunciation clip.

Do you know French? Think "feu", as in "pot-au-feu", which some theorize the dish evolved from. If not, just pretend you're swearing when you say it.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 4:46 PM on March 9, 2010

Agreeing with everyone above that it's all to taste. While I wait for the food to be served, I prep a little dipping plate with hoisin sauce. I don't like spicy food, so I avoid the other sauces. When the bowl comes, I pull the noodles up a bit and drop the bean sprouts under them to cook and cool down the soup. A bit of noodles get piled into the spoon with a bit of soup in it. I hold the noodles there a bit to cool. (Yes, I know, I can't handle boiling hot food) While that's cooling, I pick up some beef and dip it in the sauce. Excess sauce gets plopped onto the noodles piled in the spoon. Eat the beef. Eat the spoonful of noodle/soupy/sauce. Repeat.

I don't put the sauce into the bowl because I find it gets watered down by the soup. I like a heaping bit of sauce for every spoonful of noodles. Oh yea, and at the end, I don't eat the bean sprouts. Those were just put in there to temper the boil.
posted by watch out for turtles at 5:53 PM on March 9, 2010

Try a few combos and see what you like! Me, I am not a minimalist. I put in all the onions, sprouts, cilantro, basil/sawleaf, jalapenos, squeeze the lime/lemon (and leave the wedge in). And I put some Sri Racha in the broth.

DELISH!
posted by kookaburra at 5:54 PM on March 9, 2010

Lime squeeze, sliced peppers, some torn basil, and the whole plate of vinegar onions (including the vinegar). I use two spoons - one sits on the table with hoisin and hot sauce - that's for dipping the beef before I eat it. The other spoon, I curl little bites of noodles in it sometimes then dip it in the broth, then I eat it like pho shooters.
posted by ersatzkat at 6:58 PM on March 9, 2010

Vietnamese food and pho allows for a lot of customization within reason.

1) take a quick taste of broth and determine from that taste what you need. As you taste you ask: does the broth the need a bit more salt, then some fish sauce is added. Heat? A squirt of chili sauce? Sweet? Hoisin. Some brightness? lime or lemon juice.

* for some northern Vietnamese all the major sauces like the sriracha and hoisin go into a tiny bowl or plate so that you can dip the meat or add minute amounts to portions because it is ALL about the broth and adding too much sauce just makes it murky;

** many southern vietnamese will add the chili and hoisin straight to the bowl but again, it is all about the broth.

2) the "salad" plate will be of various mints and leafy herbs; bean sprouts; oniona, chili and a lime wedge. If you are not sure about the leafy herb then try it before using it in the broth. Some herbs have very strong flavours and being added to the hot broth will release their oils and influence the broth greatly. The beansprouts are about texture and you can add it to the bowl when you wish and the same goes for the onions which, should be razor thin to allow for easy cooking in the broth;

3) the herbs are plucked from the stem. You shake off the excess water, if any from the branches/stems of the herbs before plucking the best leaves to add to your bowl. The lime rind is NOT added to the bowl it is the juice that you are after not the bitter pith and the unwashed skin which will leave an unappetizing sheen to the broth;

4) keep tasting the broth and adjust accordingly. Be sure to "stir" the soup by flipping over the noodles and distributing the meats, herbs and flavor components throughout the bowl. You do this to distribute the elements evenly and also to declump the noodles

You are not obliged to eat all on the salad plate. This is about customizing to your palate whether it is for more acid, heat, salt or sweet. It is about the feel in your mouth of warmth, liquid, softness, chew and crunch. Further, it is steam on the face, aromas and the sound of your pleasure and the surrounding pleasure of others.

Food is pleasure. Do not be anxious about it.
posted by jadepearl at 7:16 PM on March 9, 2010 [4 favorites]

I always add my bean sprouts first, to make sure they get a little cooked. I don't tear my basil a lot, because I'm not interested in eating it; just getting some of its flavor into the broth. And I'll second Cazoo - I've noticed people (mostly asians) asking for the beef on the side so that it can be added shabu-shabu style, and now go this route as well.

Other than that, experiment! Figure out what (and how much) of that giant plate of herbs tastes right to you.
posted by deludingmyself at 7:43 AM on March 10, 2010