The Food – Beef Shank Pho

Hello my friends! As you know, The Workout of the Week posts are on hold for the next few weeks as I attend the Disc Golf Strong Performance Academy.

While doing that, I am writing The Food posts instead of Workouts. This week, I made Pho, in my Instant Pot. I had the pot rolling for a couple days and just kept adding water. The weather got a bit colder this week, and this pot of delicous broth helped keep me warm! 🙂

Cheap Cut of Beef

Beef Shank is probably my favorite cut of beef. #CheapCutsOfBeef It’s usually the cheapest cut where I shop at about $3.99/lbs most of the time. This cut has a marrow bone chunk, good fat marbling, and is perfect for cooking in the instant pot or slow cooking in a crock pot.

Beef Pho – In The Instant Pot

Making Pho in the Instant Pot is super easy! Basically, make a good beef bone broth with some pho spices and you got it! The beef shank cut is great for beef broth because of the marrowbone and the fat. Marrowbone and fat = flavor!

I also had just a plain old frozen marrow bone too. I tossed that in the pot as well.

The Beef Shank Pho Video

How to Make Pho

1. Chop a large white onion, or a few small white onions. I keep them in about 1 inch chunks. If one large onion, save about a quarter onion to slice in long slices (soak these in water) for the pho later. Chop some green onion; smash the bottom ends, chop the green parts. Slice some cilantro and jalapeno (or other pepper).
2. Turn the Instant Pot on to sautee, normal, 30. When hot, add about 1 tablespoon of oil. Then add the onion chunks and the white ends from the green onions. Add a sprinkle of salt. Stir occasionally until the onions get a little char on each side. Deglaze the pot with water or beef broth as needed. When about five minutes are left I add the beef shank. For this one, I also had just a regular beef marrowbone and I added that, and the beef shank, to the pot with about five minute left on the sautee.
3. The “Pho Spice packet”. Using the same “coffee filter and tea bag string method”, I made a pho spice packet and added that to the pot. Clove, fennel seed, star anise seed, coriander, cilantro stalks, garlic, caraway seed, 1/4 cinnamon stick, and this time I found some candied ginger in my cabinet that I added. The “Pho Spice Packet” is key! Without this, you will not get that Pho flavor in your broth. I put all that stuff into a coffee filter, then tie it with a string from a teabag. Then toss that in the Instant Pot right before you start pressure cooking.
4. Add water to just under the 2/3 full mark on the pot. Then add about three or four teaspoons of salt. Last add a cube of beef bouillon. Put the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure the steam valve is in the sealing position. Set the Pot to pressure cook on high cook 1 hour.
5. Slow vent, or release the steam! DO NOT OPEN YOUR INSTANT POT WITHOUT RELEASING THE PRESSURE! You will seriously ruin your day (understatement) if you do not use care when using an Instant Pot. The pressure can cause SEVERE burns! ALWAYS make sure the pressure has been released BEFORE opening your Instant Pot lid after pressure cooking! THIS IS CRITICAL. People have seriously hurt themselves by not following simple safety rules. *Number one, always make sure the pressure is fully released before removing the instant pot lid. Once pressure is released remove the lid.
6. Skim the broth. At this time I let the broth cool a bit so the fat starts to settle on the top. Once it does, skim the fat off. You could use a fat separator or even just a ladle to do this. This is key to getting a clear Pho broth.
7. After skimming, I turn the Instant Pot back on to sautee, normal, for 30 minutes. I let the pot come to a boil and roll for that time. I soak some rice noodles in water and let them sit for about 30 minutes.
8. Boil the rice noodles. I boiled mine right in the Pho pot for a few minutes. You could do a side pot with just boiling water, I don’t think it’s needed, but go for it if you want to! 🙂
9. Add noodles, broth, shank meat, and “fixins” to a bowl. I splash in a little fish sauce and add jalapenos, green onion, cilantro, sliced white onion, red pepper flakes, and a couple of french fried onions to top it off.
10. Eat that Pho! Pho real y’all! SO Good

Thanks for reading!

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you like this recipe. This has been Beef Shank Pho from GoodAttitudeFood.com

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Make it a Great Week!

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AND EAT GOOD FOOD WHILE YOU DO IT!