I’ve been tinkering around with the eventual recipe for Division Street* Pho, which is traditionally identified as a pho chay, for months now. Tinker, tinker. I found myself on what became an epic quest for vegan pho chay in Portland last winter (which I’ll be compiling one of these days), and really studying the flavors in the bowls in front of me. Specifically, which broths boasted or lacked flavor, spices, development. I turned to google search and Vietnamese cookbooks to read up on just what makes traditional pho broth (Spoiler alert: charred, simmered bones), how to avoid the off-putting canned broths and salty flavor packets, the building blocks of the Buddhist vegetarian version (chay), the requisite spices and herbs, and ultimately, how I could achieve my own animal-free depth of flavor. Continue reading »