Saigon Social’s ‘Nontraditional Traditional’ Pho Broth Uses Dry-Aged Beef | Eater

"Chef and owner Helen Nguyen crafts a distinctive pho built from a deeply developed ‘‘mother stock’’ made with oxtail, brisket, beef shank and dry‑aged rib bones, calling her approach ‘‘nontraditional traditional’’ because she layers techniques true to how she eats and cooks. She butchers meat by hand roughly every ten days, returns to the restaurant to start a stock she restarts once a year, and simmers it—skimming and tasting—over eight hours (not counting time spent at the meat warehouse) to create a hearty, beefy base. Nguyen repurposes every cut pulled from the pot into other menu items (for example, oxtail fried rice and shaken beef steak), then adds spices and aromatics to the remaining liquid to finish the pho broth, emphasizing hands‑on butchery, minimal waste, and deeply layered flavor." - Annie Harrigan