Pho, Yo!

Brigitte's been on a Vietnamese kick recently. She eyes noodle shops as if they were big game. I want an Algerian halal filet mignon sandwich -- she wants Pho. (She just called from on the road and asked if I wanted to have some Pho. I said No, but Pho Christ's sake, girl! I'll make you a vat of Pho this weekend! You can sip it with your scotch and Fresca.)

"It's healthy, not greasy, like some Chinese, it tastes great . . . " Can't argue with the truth.

I must admit I go through food fads. Some can last as much as a year: mostly pasta. Or mostly American. Or mostly Asian. I think my Asian Period (Cretaceous, oh, and crustaceous!) lasted almost two years.

So it's a whole new project. Master Vietnamese. I've done Thai and I can do it pretty well. Indian is well, well behind me. I've dabbled with Chinese and the east Asians, but never concentrated on Vietnam.

I've been sorting through the various recipes for Banh Pho Bo (Beef Noodle Soup) and trying to deconstruct the soup at Cinq Epices entirely mentally, and I've decided that the secret ingredient is star anise, which I've never worked with before.

I'm certainly not going to spend three hours with beef bones building a broth from scratch, but perhaps with a little fiddling, a nice veal broth from Atlantique and some STAR ANISE, I'll be Phoin' bePho You Knowin'.

Update this weekend.