midweek gems #20
pho spice stars | pressure cooker buying guide + 8 recipes | 3 Superbowl recipes | egg prices and safety
Hello everyone!
I hope your Year of the Snake is off to a positive start. If it is time to shed some skin and start anew, perhaps you’ll follow Dave’s lead to make the pressure cooker beef short rib-vegetable pho? His recent feedback from the recipe:
That, plus a PTFS chat thread about pressure cookers, led me to compose this week’s gems.
💎 Pho spice stars: smoked star anise and Chinese black cardamom
Having good star anise is important for an aromatic, flavorful pot of beef pho broth. However, if you use smoked star anise, the broth has an exceptionally deep flavor that I can only describe as the perfect blending of northern and southern style pho.
Northern-style pho typically employs a blend of spices that includes star anise (dai hoi in Vietnamese, ba jiao in Mandarin) for sweet warmth and Chinese black cardamom for an alluring woodsy, mentholish quality. Southern-style pho does not have the cardamom, which when it’s not of great quality, can turn your pot of pho very medicinal tasting.
I use Chinese black cardamon carefully in my spice formulas in The Pho Cookbook. If you’re going to make lots of pho, get your paws on some and the book.
If you’re just experimenting or want to add a smoky sweet edge to your pho, track down some smoked star anise. The spice magically amplifies the good qualities of hearty meats like beef, lamb, pork, and duck. The food tastes better than it did before and it already tasted good!
Recipe reading tip: For star anise, my recipes always include a number of “robust points” (technically they’re seed pods). Count them, not whole star anise because few of them are ever whole.
That means your your beef pho broth will have greater complexity, as will your lemongrass-y bo kho bolognese, bespoke Chinese five spice blend, iconic Taiwanese five-spice pork sauce (lu rou fan), and many other dishes. Spices can sometimes do that.
I’ve been using smoked star anise for well over a year. Burlap and Barrel imports the smoked star anise that I use. (The small bottle is unavailable now so invest in the big one and share with special friends, or wait till it comes back in stock.) For the black cardamom, shop at a Chinese or Viet market and look in the spice aisle. The package sometimes says nutmeg, which is so wrong!
💎 Pressure Cooker Tips + 8 recipes
And, even though the beef short rib-vegetable pho recipe can be made in a regular stockpot, you’ll save time and get just a little more flavor from a pressure cooker. I have owned (gulp) over six pressure cookers in the recent past. If you own own one, weigh in on the community thread in which Evvy shares a pressure cooker sticky rice method.
If you’re new to pressure cookers, check out my pressure cooker buying guide to figure out if you want an Instant Pot or a stovetop cooker.
Already friendly with pressure cookers? Here are a few recipes to cook up.
Pressure Cooker Short-Rib Vegetable Pho (here at PTFS)
💎 Superbowl bites 🏈
It’s a sporting event, cultural phenomenon, community gathering, and also an opportunity to graze on lots of fun food. I’m not going to suggest dips because. you have plenty of those. If I were hosting a Superbowl party, I’d want small bites, such as:
Tsukune — Japanese chicken meatballs cloaked in salty sweet sauce. The recipe I use is by Ivan Orkin, a chef who’s expert in the cuisine. Get the recipe.
Sweetened condensed milk rolls, which are like excellent Hawaiian sweet bread. You can bake them days ahead and reheat to serve. Make little sandwiches with them. You could put that Japanese meatball inside them. Grab the recipe.
Topra prak coconut fudge is a three-ingredient sweet ditty that counts condensed milk as one of its ingredients. It’s super easy and by Meera Sodha, a fab recipe writer based in the U.K. Get the recipe.
I would add pickles to cut some of the sweet richness and a salad to balance out the meal! Sparkling water, beer, and other low-watt beverages because game day is a long day.
💎 Dumpling class warmup
I’ve been practicing my dumpling making skills for our upcoming February 23 class. The ones below were made from whole grain flour and fried up very crispy. I’ll show folks how to make fresh wrappers, fill, shape and cook up the dumplings in many ways.
⚡️ If you don’t know what I’m talking about (or haven’t signed up), the DIY Dumpling class information and registration is here.
😉 Paid subscribers save 20 percent with the discount promo code on this page.
💎 Egg prices and safety 🐣
According to the USDA’s price outlook for eggs, it’s going to be an up and hopefully downward ride this year. Some say that egg prices are expected to increase by 20 percent this year. I just saw a headline predicting prices will drop in the second quarter of 2025. Who knows, but one thing’s for sure: the price increase is due to Avian (bird) flu, which has required the culling of many many flocks of infected birds. It will take a while to recover from.
Meantime, if you’re concerned about eating eggs, here’s an article worth scanning and digesting: “Are Eggs Safe to Eat as Bird Flu Spreads?” (the gift article link expires in 30 days, but you’ll have read it by then, yes?!). Hint: You may not want to dip your tsukune in egg yolk as the is the traditional practice.
Coming down the pipeline on Sunday, I’m asking paid subscribers to weigh in on what they’d like to learn and know about in 2025. Join us, if you have not!
Catching up on my PTFS reading. Is the Chinese black cardamom different than the black cardamom used in South Asian recipes?
Hah, I've been wishing my pressure cooker will be broken so I can get an IP. As someone who wants to make more vegan yogurt and sometimes tempeh, its yogurt setting is the main selling point for me.
I didn't know that southern pho doesn't have star anise. I think black cardamom is mislabeled as nutmeg because the names after often confusing: black cardamom = thảo quả, green cardamom (barely used in Viet and Chinese cusines) = bạch đậu khấu, nutmeg = nhục đậu khấu.