so that's what I'm nervous about,

but we're gonna go on an adventure.

There's literally flame.

It's a meaty broth, it's just delicious.

There's a brisket in there, there's also a short rib.

Guys, this is gonna be amazing.

Finally, today's the day I'm gonna make pho at home

with Chef Jimmy Ly, from Madame Vo.

And he's known for making some of the best pho

in New York City.

And I'm also excited for my family to try it out

because it'll be their first time too.

Medha's dad: What is it? Pho?

Medha: Pho.

Dad: Pho!

And we're gonna give him a call and see how it goes.

Hello Chef Jimmy, where are you right now?

I'm in my man cave in my basement

at my house, so... (chuckles)

The first part of the process,

which is gonna be the most

time-consuming, will be the bones.

You can use a variety of different bones

depending on availability from your butcher.

Medha: So I went to the meat store, and what I got

was bone marrow bones, does that work?

And I can show you.

Jimmy: Yeah, you could use that.

For me, I would like to use two to three different cuts

of bones because that would add more depth

to the beefiness, to the broth.

Traditionally, there's three different types of pho.

Beef pho, obviously that's the most-well known,

most popular and then the second one would be chicken

and then the vegetarian.

That's pretty much it from the spectrum.

Anything outside of that

would be like fusion

or someone else's take and we're

making beef noodle pho.

And then down a little, like it's a little high.

Yeah, yeah, so you're trying to get all the moisture out,

so when you roast the bones,

you don't want the water to start flaring

once it hits the fat.

After this, you need to preheat your oven to 385 degrees.

Medha: After this, or right now?

Jimmy: You can do it right now.

If you have a sheet pan that you can just lay aluminum foil.

You don't wanna overcrowd.

You kinda wanna space them out a little bit.

Perfect (clapping).

Medha: So here's the coarse salt.

And my mom actually made a space in her cabinet.

Jimmy: Moms can be super territorial

with their kitchen space.

I totally get it.

Medha: Like literally, this is the kitchen,

this is my cupboard.

Jimmy: Oh wow, thanks mom. (laughing)

Medha: It doesn't stick, so I just drizzle it on?

Jimmy: You don't have to put it like individually,

you could just like, kind of do what Salt Bae does.

Like just like on top, like yeah, like that.

And then you're gonna set your timer for about 20 minutes.

Now we're gonna multitask, right?

Fill your pot up with water, three quarters full,

turn on the fire, get out your cutting board.

And we're going to start cutting our onions.

And we're gonna start charring, while it's roasting,

while the water is boiling.

As a chef, you wanna control your environment.

You wanna control everything.

And if something needs attention,

then you're just doing that one thing.

Medha: Do I need to cover the pot?

Jimmy: No, don't cover the pot.

Medha: We have 11 minutes left for the oven.

For the stove, do you want it to be in a

high, medium, or medium-low?

Jimmy: Right now you wanna bring it to high

because I want that water to be boiling.

Medha: Okay, great, which one do you like better?

Jimmy: The one on my left. Medha: Your left?

Jimmy: Yeah, right here. Medha: This one?

Jimmy: No, the other one, yeah. (laughing)

My left, my left.

Cut that part, yes. Medha: This?

Jimmy: The white stuff, just cut all that

and you're gonna use that in your broth.

Those green onions, you will save for garnishing at the end.

Medha: So I'm gonna...

You said to throw these away- Jimmy: No, throw those-

(laughing) Medha: Don't throw them away.

Jimmy: No, throw those in the pot.

How many onions do you have there?

Medha: I have one, two, three, four, five,

six, seven. Seven.

Jimmy: Okay, we're gonna use three onions today.

Medha: Like yellow onions, will these make me cry?

Jimmy: Yes.

So just keep your distance.

Once you clean them, slice them in halves.

Once you slice it in half,

you're gonna just take that first shell out.

After that, we're gonna start charring

our onions and ginger.

Medha: I think also just checking the timer on this,

22 seconds.

Jimmy: Just turn it off.

Medha: I was so scared I turned on the wrong oven,

but we're good, I turned on the right one.

Jimmy: And then I want you to take the bones out

and drop the bones into the pot.

Medha: Okay, so, all right.

Jimmy: Yeah, it's hot, it's hot, be careful.

Medha: They're heavy.

Jimmy: Very nice, very nice.

So now slowly put your bones into the stock pot.

Medha: Okay, I just got hit by some bone marrow juice

but I'm okay, so this is what it looks like.

This is the biggest one.

I'm just gonna move the pot to the back of the stove,

so we have space to char the vegetables.

Jimmy: How are you gonna char it?

You don't have a grill net, right?

Medha: No, I do not, but...

Will it work? Jimmy: It's a splatter screen.

(suspenseful music)

Medha: I know, but I was like, maybe-

Jimmy: That's metal netting.

Medha: Well, it just looks like a grill net,

in my eyes. Jimmy: Yeah, okay, okay.

I think we could go without it,

just because of safety precaution.

I don't want it to melt or like burn down the house.

Medha: Okay then, I'm down with that.

Jimmy: We can grill your vegetables

on top of your stove top right now.

Okay, so you ready? Medha: Yeah.

Jimmy: Don't be afraid of the fire.

Once you see that it's kind of starting to really burn,

like move it to make sure it's evenly charred.

Medha: I smell it already.

I'm just scared of the fire and the onion just exploding.

Jimmy: It's not gonna explode, don't worry.

(laughing)

You can do a little bit more, another minute.

Medha: Not there yet, oh, this one is.

Jimmy: Yeah, that's perfect, that's done.

You don't want it to be too black

because once you put that into the broth,

it's gonna make the broth a little bit black,

so right now it's just activating flavors.

Medha: Oh my God. (laughing)

It's getting hot in here.

It's not really that...

Oh my God, they're so slippery.

Jimmy: And we're gonna wrap that up

and then we're going to char the ginger.

Medha: Got it. Jimmy: The ginger is gonna take

a little bit longer, 'cause it's much thicker.

From my experience, like ginger takes double

the time of onions.

You're gonna have to scrape the black pieces off

and then you're gonna start hammering it.

Medha: What if I don't have a hammer at the ready?

Should I get that at the ready?

Jimmy: If you don't have a hammer, which is fine,

you see that bottle of fish sauce that you have

that you're gonna use?

Just lay a paper towel and then you can just use

it to just kinda, yeah, just bang on it.

Turn the fire on high right now.

Okay, on high, okay, and we're gonna do that for a minute.

Medha: There's so much crackle in the flame

like spitting out.

Jimmy: That's fine, see, now we're speeding up the process.

All right we're done, you can shut it off now.

You can put it in a bowl, you can run it in cold water

right now, so it's easier for you to just like to skin them

and also for the ginger to cool off,

so you don't burn your hands.

Medha: I'm an amateur.

Well, I've cooked in the past,

but this is some intense cooking.

(laughing)

Jimmy: And then you want the ginger to kind of crack

because you want the water to extract all the nutrients

from the ginger.

How is that going?

Medha: I'm recording.

Huh?

Can you bring it?

Oh, my mom said she has a hammer.

Okay, thanks Momma.

She's gonna go get it. Jimmy: Yeah, just slam it harder,

like you just got into argument with somebody

like yeah, perfect, perfect.

There, okay you're good, you're good.

That's it, you're done.

Medha: Mom just brought the hammer.

Jimmy: Okay. Medha: I'll just give it a go

once.

Jimmy: Perfect, okay, they're smashed.

Okay, so now you're gonna place the onion

and the ginger into the stock pot.

You can just turn it on a little bit more,

'cause you wanna see some bubbling, but very minimal.

Get some salt, just add that into the water.

So right now that's done.

Keep it at a low boil and just leave it on all day.

Medha: Oh, leave it on all day?

Jimmy: Leave it on all day.

And just check on the pot like every two to three hours,

because obviously it's gonna evaporate.

Once they reduce just add water.

Medha: Okay so always keep it at like a 3/4 level of water.

Jimmy: Yes, before you go to bed,

I want you to turn off the stove and just let it sit.

Don't put it in the fridge, don't cover it.

Okay, I want the broth to air out.

The first thing you do when you get up,

before you brush your teeth, turn it on.

Turn it on, on low flame and just let it cook through.

Medha: And right now the broth is still clear.

It hasn't really, you know...

I don't think it's cloudy yet.

I think I can definitely smell it more,

which is a good sign.

So I'm gonna check back again in around three more hours.

It's very clear as you can see

and I think it's getting to the point...

Oh, and there's my sister.

We're all up, we shouldn't be up, it's literally midnight,

but the broth is clear.

Do you guys smell anything? Medha's brother: What?

Medha: Do you guys smell anything?

Medha's brother: I also don't. Medha's sister: No.

Medha: No, go closer, actually smell.

Brother: It smells more like ginger- Sister: Oh it smells like-

Brother: I smell mostly ginger. Sister: Yeah it smells very gingery.

Medha: Yeah so I also smelled an exuberant amount of ginger

so I actually decided to take out a small piece of ginger

because I thought the ginger was overpowering

every other smell.

So it's 12:15, I'm gonna turn it off.