Do You Believe In Magic

It all starts with bones.

Believe it or not almost all cooking, going back to the first civilizations, begins with bones. We used everything else, why not the bones? Just put them in a pot, roasted or not, add aromatic vegetables and aromatic herbs, cover in water and simmer anywhere from 6 hours to 2 days. Once that's done, strain it through cheese cloth, skim of the fat and you have "Stock"

It all starts with stock.

Walk into any kitchen in the world on any given day and 90% of the time you will find at least one large pot, cauldron, kettle, what have you, of stock. We use it for everything, my kitchen goes through 6 gallons a day. Those glazed vegetables, cooked in stock. That sauce on your fish, reduced stock. That braised lamb shank, cooked in stock. Stock is magical. And if you add meat to it and a few more aromatics, simmer for anywhere from 3 hours to 2 days and now you have broth.

It all begins with broth.

Broth, made correctly, is rich and deep, clear and flavorful. Now what do you do with it?

It all begins with flower.

Mix that flower with eggs and kneed. Work it together to build up the gluten. Then, in a process that is unfortunately a mystery to me, roll it out. Now you have noodles. Once you have noodles the possibilities are endless. And I do mean endless.

Now we have noodles and broth. These two things would go remarkably well together. We could add some meat to that, my prefrance is thin sliced grilled pork. At this point we've achieved perfection. The beauty of food is that perfection can be improved upon. Add scallions, bean sprouts, Thai basil, lime and sriracha and suddenly you have Pho. It's delicious, it's filling, it's cheap.

And to think, it all begins with bones.