Bo Kho Vietnamese Beef Stew Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is Bo Kho seasoning made of? ›

It's one of those dishes that seems simple—spicy beef soup, right?—but that you know must be more complex given how flavorful and delicious it is. And, indeed, Bo Kho is flavored with chili, five-spice, fish sauce, lemongrass, plenty of garlic, and tomato.

For most types of stew, it takes time to develop great flavor. Stew uses collagen-rich, tough cuts of meat, which need at least two hours to break down. If you try to rush it and boil the stew, the muscle fibers will shrink and become tough. So give yourself a few hours to let it do its thing.

Always sear your meat before you add the liquid and vegetables. A caramelised sear is essential to the flavour profile of a good stew, adding a rich undertone that you just won't get by throwing in the meat in its raw state. You want the stew to be slightly thickened, but not gloopy.

Add spices such as turmeric, coriander and cumin at the early stage of cooking, when you are frying onions and garlic, to enhance the taste of the beef stew. Fresh herbs like coriander and bay leaves also contribute a distinct flavour without making the dish too spicy for the younger members of the family.

One of my favourite dishes in Vietnam, bò kho (beef stew) is a hearty, spicy and aromatic broth with diced beef, carrot and lemongrass.

Vietnamese food is characterized by the use of fresh herbs, such as mint, cilantro, basil, and lemongrass, along with spices like star anise, cinnamon, and ginger. These ingredients provide a refreshing and lively flavor profile that makes the cuisine stand out.

The most important key to making stew meat tender is being sure to cook it for a long time. If you want super tender beef, you'll need to cook it on a low heat in a Dutch oven on the stove or a slow cooker for at least a few hours.

Part of what makes a stew a stew and not a soup is the mixture's thickness and the chunks of ingredients. The liquid suspending the chunky ingredients in a stew should be more of a gravy than a watery dish.

All the browned fat and bits in the bottom of the pan (AKA fond) is big, big flavour. Cooking the onions, garlic and other aromatics in the fond ensures that flavour makes it to the slow cooker.

When should celery be added to stew? ›

Once the meat is tender - but not falling apart, add the potatoes, celery, carrots and butternut squash. Pour over another 2 cups of beef broth and enough water to cover the vegetables. Raise heat and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer partially covered for about 30 minutes - until the vegetables are tender.

Forgetting the Acid. The paradox of beef stew is that all that braised goodness can be a little bit heavy on the palate. It's easy to forget to add some sort of wine, vinegar, or yes, even lemon juice, to brighten things up. Adding some fresh thyme in the last 30 minutes of cooking can help brighten things up as well.

If you have homemade beef stock, use it! However, most commercially produced beef broths taste rather fake; chicken broths are much richer and complex. Bay leaves and thyme – Aromatics for more flavor! Carrots, potatoes and peas are the staple of a traditional stew.

The best cuts of stew meat are lean with a high concentration of collagen-rich connective tissues—such as chuck or shoulder cuts—that also have some fat marbling for flavor. Lean cuts of meat come from parts of the animal that have lots of muscle, like the legs.

Not browning the beef enough would be the first possible problem. That adds a lot of flavour to the finished stew. You can toss the beef in seasoned flour before browning it which will also help thicken the stew. Not adding enough seasoning would be the second potential issue.

The broth is prepared by simmering beef bones and beef shank with lemongrass, and then seasoned with fermented shrimp sauce and sugar for taste. Spicy chili oil is added later during the cooking process. Bún bò usually includes thin slices of marinated and boiled beef shank, chunks of oxtail, and pig's knuckles.

Lemon pepper (also called lemon pepper seasoning) is a seasoning made from granulated lemon zest and cracked black peppercorns. The lemon zest is mashed with the pepper to allow the citrus oil to infuse into the pepper.

compared to pho, bo kho has a deeper umami taste, due to the tomatoes and fish sauce in the broth. it's almost like the vietnamese version of beef bourguignon, but this time served on rice noodles!

What ingredients are in Dan-O's Seasoning? The following ingredients are in Dan-O's Seasoning: onion, garlic, orange peel, lemon peel, rosemary, and natural sea salt are the ones that make up the main flavor profile. There are several unnamed ingredients to keep Dan-O's a secret, but these are common ingredients.