Pho Meatballs (Vietnamese “Bo Vien”)

Pho is life, pho is happiness, pho is the cure to your next hangover. My favorite pho, since first tasting it with my family back in highschool, is Pho Bo or “beef” pho. The “beef” in beef pho can mean many things; it can include thinly sliced rare beef, cooked beef, beef brisket, beef tendon and/or beef balls (to name a few, there are many more options I’m sure). One of my favorite things to order in my pho is sometimes written on the menu as “beef balls.”

Meatballs in the west are tender and seasoned with aromatics more common to Europe, where Vietnamese beef balls are bouncier and seasoned with ginger and sometimes warming spices native to parts of Asia. I do NOT mean this in a bad way, but these meatballs are “rubberier” than Western meatballs (I can’t think of a more accurate word). The bouncy nature of these balls make for an interesting texture that’s both fun to eat, satisfying AND exactly what I want in my bowl of pho. I hope you dig! 🤘🏼 Adam

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Pho Meatballs (Vietnamese “Bo Vien”)

Ingredients

• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 inch piece Ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
• ½ Yellow Onion
• 1 ½ pounds Beef Shank, thinly sliced and chilled
• 2 Tbsp Fish Sauce
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1 tsp Potato Starch
• Black Pepper, to taste
• ½ cup Crushed Ice

Instructions

1. Add garlic, ginger and onion to a food processor and puree until as smooth as possible. Add the cold beef, fish sauce, baking powder, salt, sugar, potato starch and black pepper to the food processor and process for 3 minutes. Put the whole processor bowl in the freezer for 30 minutes.
2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Remove the meat from the freezer and process for 1 minute, begin adding in the ice with the machine running and process for 2 more minutes, 3 total. Once the mixture is completely smooth and pink-ish, remove it from the bowl and shape 12 evenly sized meatballs.
3. Poach the meatballs in the simmering water for 10 minutes, then shock in an ice bath. To serve, allow to warm to room temperature, slice in half and add to a warm bowl of pho.

Adam's Notes

• I left it out in the recipe, but you can also add in some blanched and chopped beef tendon for extra texture. I feel that the interconnective tissue from the shank gives more than enough additional texture without the tendon, but some people LOVE it.



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