Soup puts the heart at ease, calms down the violence of hunger, eliminates the tension of the day, and awakens and refines the appetite.

– Auguste Escoffier

Man, I like to eat. Thankfully, I love to cook too. And, I love to cook for others; cooking for others brings me a sense of satisfaction that is indescribable.
Pho is on the menu this week. The broth recipe is from my favorite Vietnamese restaurant. The recipe (we will use this term loosely as all I know are the ingredients) seems pretty straight forward, and I’m hoping that the flavor profile turns out just right. There is one elusive ingredient that warrants a trip to the Asian market. Y’all ever heard of yellow rock sugar?
This time will be attempt number four for Pho. The first time I followed a recipe from the internet (I trusted the source as I have used many of their recipes with success) and it failed miserably. That soup was so bad I couldn’t even eat it.
Pho is essentially a broth, and truthfully how hard could it be to make your own? So I asked Hetanna, she owns the nail place, what she puts in her Pho and let me tell you, I was shocked (or should I say shook)! Apples and pears in a savory soup? No way was this right. But, I did it, and it was far better than the 1st try. It was still a little off from my coveted Pho. So I got brave and asked the proprietor of the Asian Star what she puts in her Pho. And, she told me. It is a little different from Hetenna, but it still has apples, but it also has charred onion, and celery. So this my friends, this is what I will be attempting to make this week.

Edit before even published: Today I went back to the Asian Star because the broth I made still didn’t turn out quite right. I asked again, and I think I misunderstood what she was telling me. The answer is sugarcane. The problem is I don’t know the amount of sugarcane that would need to go in the broth. While there, of course, I had to have a bowl of that beautiful elixir. After tasting the broth there, it is definitely a more full-bodied broth than mine. I will try, try again until I get it right.