Answer to Question 1
Pho is the defining dish of Vietnamese cuisine. It can be eaten at any time of the
day but is commonly eaten to start the day. Pho is essentially a well flavored broth
with multiple ingredients including meats, vegetables, and rice noodles. It is
finished with fresh herbs, chilies, fish sauce, and lime juice.
To prepare pho one first must begin with a rich meaty stock with spices like ginger,
onions, cinnamon, star anise, coriander seed, cloves, and cardamom. Rice noodles
are essential to pho and must be soaked in warm water to soften, similar to the rice
papers, and then dipped into boiling water until tender, no more than a minute.
Mung bean sprouts should be blanched in the stock to soften. Meats, chicken, or
seafood should be simmered in the broth until barely done.
The soup is layered with noodles, sprouts or other vegetables (Chinese cabbage),
meat, chicken or seafood, and green onions and herbs. Hot broth is ladled over
this layered bowl.
It is served with chili sauce, lime sections, fish sauce, vinegar, fried shallots, and
bird's eye chilies.
Answer to Question 2
Rice paper wrappers are dried and can be somewhat brittle so they require careful
handling. When fresh rice rolls are being made the dried rice wrappers have to be
softened to make them pliable for folding and rolling. A bowl of warm water (not
too hot to ease handling) should be set up in the work space. The wrappers should
be immersed in the water individually for approximately 1 minute or, until the rice
paper is pliable. Now they are ready for rolling.
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