Passport & Plate - Antarctic-pho
Vietnam | Tuesday, February 24, 2015 | 4 photos
Ingredients
About 20 gallons of your desired stock - chicken, beef, or miso are recommended. From scratch is not necessary, and is, in fact, impossible if you're in Antarctica.
A handful of fennel seeds
A handful of cinnamon sticks
A handful of star anise
Half a handful of cloves
1/4 handful of cardamom pods (if you have)
Two handfuls of crushed knobs of ginger (substitute lemongrass if you're at the South Pole)
A handful of crushed garlic cloves
Four limes, cut in half or quarters
Fish sauce, start with half a bottle and add more to taste (omit for the miso broth if you're keeping it veggie, use soy instead)
A handful or two of cilantro stems (save the leaves)
A couple squirts of sriracha
Enough of the following to fill all the bowls in the galley with two or three leaves:
Cilantro leaves
Basil leaves - chiffonade if very large
Mint leaves - chiffonade if very large
Shallots, sliced
10-12 packages of rice noodles
Protein of choice - filet steak, chicken, or tofu
Carrots, shredded
Cucumber, julienned
Ginger, shredded
Thai red chilies, finely sliced
Water chestnuts, finely sliced
Mung sprouts - if you have
Shiitake mushrooms - if you have
Additional bottles of fish sauce
Additional bottles of sriracha
How to prepare this recipeTo start, bring your stock up to a rolling boil. I did 20 gallons of each. Then add all the ingredients from fennel seeds to a couple squirts of sriracha. Reduce to a faint simmer and cook for four hours or so - replenish the stock as it boils away but you should end up with about 15 gallons, which is what you want.
While the stock goes, prepare the "toppings" - shred the carrots, and ginger, julienne the cucumber, slice the chilies and water chestnuts, rehydrate the shiitakes if you're using dried, then slice them thinly as well. Put each in a separate container. I used a lovely beef fillet for the meat and sliced it very very thinly while it was still a little frozen. I also did some well-cooked shredded beef. I poached the chicken and then shredded that and then thinly sliced tofu as well. Keeping everything compartmentalized, each container when into our buffet line over ice.
Now prepare the "bowl sets" - pick the cilantro leaves, chiffonade the mint and basil if necessary, and slice the shallots finely.
As the stock gets close to ready - be sure to taste and adjust as necessary, adding more fish sauce (or soy) or lime juice - boil some water and rehydrated the rice noodles. Once they are softened, pour ice over them to stop them from overcooking. In each bowl, place a small handful of noodles, and a sprinkling of the herbs and shallots. Place onto sheet trays loaded into speed racks and position them in front of the buffet line.
Strain your stocks into clean pots and position over burners at the end of the buffet line (I used our giant flat top griddle which is to one side of the buffet line). In front of the flat top griddle, position the bottles of fish sauce and sriracha.
As your eaters enter the galley, they will take a bowl, add the toppings they want, then come to you and select the broth they want which you ladle out for them.
The story behind this recipeI fell in love with pho when I was in college in Boston from 2001-2005. It was cheap, portions were large, and it warmed you from the inside out during Boston winters. In 2008, my parents moved to Hanoi so when I visited them, I was introduced to the northern style pho, which is typically simpler than its southern counterpart. For the next few years, I sampled as much pho as I could every time I visited my parents.
In October 2013, I began my second deployment to Antarctica as a cook, where I would prepare food for the 900 people at McMurdo station for 5 months, then move to the South Pole station, preparing food for 40 people for the 9 months of winter. Just after our first delivery of Freshies that summer, I asked my sous chef if we could do a "pho bar". She and almost all the other supervisors said it would be a disaster. But one of the sous chefs talked to me about what I had in mind and decided it was definitely possible. He and his team helped me prepare the ingredients and pre-set the bowls for dinner that night while my team worked on other projects. It wasn't a strictly traditional pho - I would never normally add water chestnuts or mushrooms to my pho - but I've found that the best rule of thumb when cooking for so many people is to give them LOTS of options. And it was a total knockout hit! I had military personnel from small towns in North America who had never even heard of pho coming back for thirds and fourths. The community stuffed the comment box with thank you notes. I was so happy I could warm the days of so many people who work their butts off in sub zero temps far from home and their loved ones, and broaden some people's culinary experiences at the same time. It's what food is meant to do!
Sadly, I can't find any of the pictures from that first pho night, so I have attached ones from the pho night I did at the South Pole...easier in once sense since it's only 40 people but I had to substitute a LOT because there were NO fresh vegetables.
