Pho Bo (Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup)

Method

1. 1Rinse the bones, cover with cold water, bring to a boil, drain and rinse the bones and pot clean. Cover with 3 liters of fresh water and bring back to a boil.
2. 2Char the onion and ginger halves directly on a dry skillet or open flame until deeply blackened. In the same dry skillet, toast the star anise, cinnamon stick, cloves, and coriander seeds for 2 to 3 minutes until fragrant — this wakes up their oils before they go into the broth. Add everything, along with the peppercorns, to the pot. Simmer on the lowest possible heat for 2.5 to 3 hours, skimming foam regularly. Never let it boil.
3. 3About 1 hour before the end, add the cooking beef (brisket or shank) to the broth. Simmer until fork-tender — a knife should slide in with no resistance — then lift it out, let it cool, and slice thinly against the grain; this becomes the cooked beef topping. Keep the raw beef in the freezer until 20 minutes before serving, then slice it as thinly as possible against the grain — freezing it briefly firms up the meat enough to shave it paper-thin.
4. 4Add fish sauce, sugar, and salt to the broth. Strain through a fine sieve, discard the bones and spices, and just before serving bring the strained broth back to a rolling boil — only broth that's actually boiling will cook the raw beef in the bowl.
5. 5Cook the rice noodles according to the package instructions and divide them among deep bowls. Top with both the sliced cooked beef and a few slices of the raw beef. Ladle the boiling broth over each bowl — it should be hot enough to visibly turn the raw slices from red to grey within seconds.
6. 6Serve with green onion, cilantro, mint, bean sprouts, lime wedges, and chili on the side.