Phở Gà

Broth and chicken

• whole chicken1.6 kg
• onions2
• fresh ginger60 g
• star anise2
• coriander seeds1 tbsp
• whole cloves2
• cinnamon1 stick
• rock sugar20 g
• fish sauce3–4 tbsp
• salt2 tsp
• water3½ l

Bowls

• flat rice noodles400 g
• spring onions4
• onions1
• white pepper

To serve

• fresh coriander1 bunch
• Vietnamese coriander (optional)1 bunch
• bean sprouts (optional)200 g
• limes2
• bird’s eye chillies (optional)2

Broth and chicken

1. 01

   Pull the pads of fat out of the chicken's cavity and keep them. Sit the bird breast down in a pot that just holds it and pour over the cold water. Do not rinse it: that only splashes raw-chicken bacteria round the sink, and a whole bird is clean enough to start in the pot as it is. There is nothing here to blanch and throw away.

2. 02

   Halve the two onions for the broth and cut the ginger in half lengthways. Lay them flat on a dry pan, cut face to the metal, and leave them alone over a fierce heat until the undersides go black and the kitchen smells sweet, 8 to 10 minutes. Scrape and rinse away the loose charred skin.

3. 03

   Toast the star anise, coriander seeds, cloves and cinnamon in the same dry pan for 1–2 minutes, until they smell warm, then tie them into muslin. Keep to these quantities. Phở gà is spiced with a light hand, and one star anise too many buries the chicken.

4. 04

   Bring the pot up slowly, over about 25 minutes, skimming off the grey foam as it gathers. Hold it just under a simmer, with a bubble breaking every few seconds, and never let it boil. Add the charred onion and ginger, the spice bag, 15 g of the rock sugar and 1 tsp of the salt.

5. 05

   Poach for 35 to 40 minutes, until the juices at the thigh run clear and a thermometer in the thickest part of the leg reads 75°C.

6. 06

   Lift the chicken into a bowl of iced water for 10 minutes, then drain it and leave it to cool. The cold stops the meat cooking, keeps the breast juicy and tightens the skin so it does not shred.

7. 07

   Pull all the meat off the bones in strips with your fingers, skin and all, and cover it so it does not dry out. Phở gà is torn, not carved. Return the carcass to the pot and hold it just under a simmer for another 45 minutes.

8. 08

   Pour the broth through a fine sieve and lift the fat off the surface, leaving a thin gloss behind. Season with fish sauce, then the rest of the salt or rock sugar, until it tastes clean and rounded: phở gà is drunk as it is, so stop when you would happily take a cupful. You should be left with about 2.5 litres.

9. 09

   Slice the spring onions, keeping the whites and greens apart. Render the reserved chicken fat in a small pan over low heat for 10 minutes, discard the solids and fry the sliced spring onion whites in it for 30 seconds. A spoonful of this spring onion oil on each bowl is the touch phở shops add and home cooks often skip.

Bowls

10. 10

    Soak or boil the rice noodles as the packet says, then rinse them under cold water so they stop cooking and stay loose. Slice the onion for the bowls paper-thin, cut the limes into wedges, slice the chillies, if using, and pick the coriander leaves. Put the broth back on to a rolling boil, and line up the chicken, coriander and lime wedges before you ladle: once pouring starts there is no time to fetch anything.

11. 11

    Divide the noodles between six bowls, lay the shredded chicken over them and scatter with the spring onion greens, the paper-thin onion and a good pinch of white pepper.

12. 12

    Ladle the boiling broth over, spoon a little spring onion oil on top and serve at once, with the fresh coriander, the Vietnamese coriander (rau răm), bean sprouts, lime wedges and bird’s eye chillies on a plate for everyone to add as they eat.