Vietnamese pho

mickjcat · Post by **mickjcat** » Sat Jul 21, 2012 2:58 pm

Hey fellow PP's

I got to thinking about Pho, the Vietnamese soup that is made from bone broths, and they add different proteins to it with rice noodles. I do understand that each restaurant is different.....but if you could find one that is GF, MSG free, wouldn't that be a good fortifier for our ailing colons? I know I would have to be careful about adding any of the sauces that are on the table.

By the way I have found some organic grass fed beef soup bones that are in the crock pot now...tick, tick, tick. This condition is teaching me patience too>

At the very least, I think I will try to do my own version of Pho, pronouned fuh

Update on flare up:

July 19th:

Started eating

White Rice
Pumpkin
Bananas
Applesauce
Filtered water

July 21st:
Added a little homemade chicken stock to rice.

Progress is slow, but everyday my gut is less reactive, and on the Bristol Stool Chart, I have gone from 7, to 6....slow but sure.

Thanks for letting me purge to all of you good folks, I appreciate your support and kindness.

Mickey

Deb · Post by **Deb** » Sat Jul 21, 2012 3:14 pm

Mickey, I really like Pho but would be hesitant to order it in most restaurants around here. Even ingredients like fish sauce can have gluten and I haven't found the restaurants here to be very well-informed about gluten issues. I think your safest bet is to make it yourself. Now you've got me craving it! :) Deb

mickjcat · Post by **mickjcat** » Sat Jul 21, 2012 3:20 pm

Deb,
I know you are right.....but that soup is a good one :-) And I will try to do a homemade version when the beef broth is ready......tomorrow

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:42 am

Mickey,

Please post your pho recipe when you figure it out! Thanks.
Did you find the grass fed beef bones in a regular store or a special farm?

Hugs,

Polly

P.S. I had to laugh at your use of the word "purge" - it conjures up very appropriate imagery for MCers!

mickjcat · Post by **mickjcat** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:10 am

Hi Polly,

I got the organic grass fed beef bones at a place called the Traders Point Creamery. It is on the west side of Indianapolis. I will try to do a url and see if you can link to it. The bones were frozen, sometimes I trust that more, I think they have been laying around a long time. http://tpfo.createsend1.com/t/ViewEmail ... E77B563B81 let me know if this works. If not, you should be able to google it and find the website.

Yes, I will send along the recipe I use once the bones are ready, I am checking the progress of the meat falling off the bone and the marrow working its way out.

I know, I am double purging

Lesley · Post by **Lesley** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:41 pm

Did you roast the bones? It gives an added element of depth to the soup.

mickjcat · Post by **mickjcat** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 8:42 am

Hi Lesley,

No, I saw several recipes, and just decided to throw it all in a crockpot. I am going on 47 hours now. I did pull out a couple of pieces of the meat, and used some broth over rice, and then at dinner used some broth over a baked potato. It is very good.

Since these are soup bones, I think the marrow in the skinny long bones are still staying in the bone.
I will take it off later today, and try to do a simplified Pho.
Thanks for the tip, and I know I will try to do the broths in various ways to see what tastes and is the best for me.

Being able to do some sort of cooking and looking at recipes helps me to do some cooking....love to cook!

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:34 pm

I eat Pho at least one a month at a dedicated Pho restaurant, Pho 75. They are known to be safe in the celiac community near me, since they make their broth from scratch, and they don't make any other gluten-containing foods there and use only rice noodles (some places offer egg noodle options that may contain wheat). There is a seafood Pho option that includes imitation crab and meatballs - but that's added at the end). I know to avoid the hoison sauce, and I don't think the broth has fish sauce (but I don't react to fish sauce). Mmm, I'm craving the full-day supply of sodium now!

mickjcat · Post by **mickjcat** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:15 pm

Hi Zizzle,
I am getting ready to add the dry spices that I found at an Asian food market, it comes with a mesh bag, so I can add as little as I want, which will be very little, and I found some noodles, cellophane, that were sweet potato....I also will add these sparingly... :cool:

I think basically it will be a glorified beef broth, but I am happy to play with cooking my own foods I enjoy that may be safe.

I am going to call my Vietnamese restaurant and see what they put in their pho, and I too enjoy a seafood soup that my place has, and I would indeed have them leave out the fake crab.
Baby steps, I am still flaring, but each new day brings a calmer gut...I am so happy to report.

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 1:34 pm

Make sure they leave out fishballs or fishcake too. I meant to say fishball instead of meatballs. Basically, if the meat is not in a recognizable form, don't eat it. And if the broth is made from a condensed, processed version, don't eat it. My biggest weakness is squid/calamari. I actually had spicy lemongrass squid at a vietnamese restaurant with no reaction at all. It had a suspicious-looking brown sauce, but they assured me it was from caramelized sugar, not soy sauce or related sauces. Delicious, albeit too spicy for my taste.

mickjcat · Post by **mickjcat** » Mon Jul 23, 2012 2:09 pm

Hey Zizzle,
Good info, I don't think my King Wok, has the fish cake, or balls in it.
I am having some the homemade beef bone broth pho, I did leave out all the garnishes, peppers, bean sprouts, basil etc. I am keeping pretty basic. I didn't let the spice bag stay too long, added some fish sauce and I did add a bit of sesame oil at the end.....just cause I like it in almost any Asian dish

mickjcat · Post by **mickjcat** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 1:13 pm

Update on Pho,

Well, I think the pho was a little too much for my still fragile gut. I put the spice pack in the whole of the broth.

So, I think I will not use the rest of the broth.....to risky. Of course it could have been the sweet potato noodles, or the fish sauce, or the sesame oil.....

Which I did not add until I put it in the bowl. I just don't trust the spice pack, and honestly I didn't like the flavor it produced.

So, I will go back to my safe foods, and leave out the extra stuff for later. Live and learn....

Thanks folks for letting me diary on this very safe feeling site. :tigerpoobearhug:

Post by **tex** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 5:01 pm

Mickey,

Bummer, but such is life with this disease, unfortunately.

Maybe in a few months it will work better.

Thanks for the update,
Tex

mickjcat · Post by **mickjcat** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 5:07 pm

Thanks Tex,

I am back to baked organic chicken and making a broth with the caracas. The baked chicken felt good to my belly, and a baked new potato. Happy to have that for now.

Bifcus16 · Post by **Bifcus16** » Tue Jul 24, 2012 5:21 pm

Micki,

You never know what is in a mixed spice pack. You could still try a simplified pho - I have done this more than once.

If you take your beef broth and add the individual spices you would be safe. Try a tiny pinch each of ground star anise, cloves, cinnamon, sichuan pepper and fennel. Together this makes a five spice flavour.

Then just use your safe meat and vegies (forget the noodles). Add a few drops of sesame oil on top if this is safe for you. I do this from time to time. The most important flavour seems to be the tiny bit of star anise - and I sometimes just use it with european herbs like oregano and basil. You could simply put a star, a clove and a stick in the broth to avoid any risk of contamination from the ground spice.

For vegies I use broccoli, chopped bok choy, snow peas, onions and/or bean sprouts.

Then I add raw finely sliced beef fillet to the hot soup so it just cooks from the heat of the soup. yum. Or cooked chicken if it is chicken broth.

It won't be exactly the same, but it can still be good.

Lyn