People hang out in the huge ballroom with a steaming bowl of soup in one hand and chopsticks and napkins in the other.
The air was filled with warm octagonal, cloves and cinnamon.
The chefs added aromatic broth to the soft rice noodles and the team worked like an assembly line decorated with meat, seafood and vegetables.
League Dance Team-wearing two-
Dragon costume-
People perform when they eat spicy green papaya salad.
This is the second chef of river Powder King.
Closed, it is in full swing. This cook-
Perhaps the most extensive.
A glimpse of the growing and diverse pho scene of Des Moines.
It is full of tips on how to discover a good bowl of river powder, where to find it and how to make it at home.
What I learned is that the scene of Des Moines pho is growing --
And it's growing fast.
Our urban population is very diverse and there are pho restaurants in the whole area
There are more on the road.
Some chefs operate in other places or do pop music
Adventure around town
"I think it would be good to try pho from different chefs without going through Des Moines," said participant Han Wu . ".
He took part in the first game last year and came back for more.
About 500 food lovers attend
Rest at the Val Air Ballroom in Des Moines west on March 11.
Open at 11. m.
Watch the five celebrity judges of the six entries to the VIP bearer taste pho to determine the winning Pho King chef.
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At noon, all the people began to enter. you-can-
Tasting Food, the chefs keep the lines moving fast, while those eager to taste work hard in six variations of pho dishes.
The competition was hosted by Justin Kinnard, who was also in charge of overseeing the diet competition.
Participants were given tickets to vote for the People's Choice Award.
Pho King cooking
Off is the idea of Nu Huynh, executive director of the Iowa Asian Union.
She put forward the idea of adding another event in September 2015 to help support the Alliance's annual Asia Pacific Islander Food Culture Festival, celebraasian.
"In the summer before, I wanted to do something around the food to attract a new audience," Huynh said . ".
"I have seen a restaurant on the West Coast called Pho King Good and so on, and I like it very much.
That's great, I think. Let’s do this.
I got an amazing response.
"Last year, Pho King was held at the Des Moines Social Club with a ticket sales cap of 250 people --
Sold out soon.
Huynh decided to double the size of the game to move the game to the Val Air Ballroom instead.
This is who owns the best pho in des Menes nguyen, tasting all six versions of pho, as well as Luna berlinobi, Michael Laval, Roger Melman and
River powder is served only with broth, noodles and meat-
No decorations and condiments.
Five judges were blindfolded every time they tasted.
In this way, they can't see which chef made the river powder.
"Each chef has its own pho variant, depending on the area they come from," said Nguyen . ".
Chef WinnersSix added their pho version to the competition, including two competitors --
Chef Taylor Zhong and Paul Huon of Fu manzhong
He moved to Houston five years ago but came back to play.
Huynh made a vegetarian meal with vegetable soup.
The local participants were: Pho 515 won only half the choice of Pho King Chef and Pho King People, while Lucky bamboo won the first place --up.
Pho 515 made pho variants with lobster and crab meat.
Don Cotran accepted the trophy.
This is a family business located in C fresh food market, 801 University Avenue.
"I have been running this restaurant for three years and it is improving every day," Cotran said . ".
He hopes the restaurant will have another separate location in the future.
The side dish for this year's competition is papaya salad side dish: som Ethereum.
Som tum is a spicy Thai salad made of green papaya, cherry tomatoes, peanuts and peppers from julinine with a powerful seasoning made of garlic, dried shrimp and fish sauce.
In the People's Choice vote, four entries competed for the champion of the Pho King sidetrophy trophy.
The winner is a Korean restaurant led by Des Moines chef Ben Zheng.
Jung has Ingersoll Rand wines and spirits, but hopes to have its own restaurant in the future.
His peanuts are a big hit.
"My secret weapon is my mother," Jung said . "
"She was here earlier so she hasn't found out yet.
Other competitors are the chef of the rolling Pot Cafe;
Lori of Aroy and chef Somm BarkanDee;
Malay chef at Fuzion cafe
You can do pho yourself. Here’s how.
The pronunciation of Pho is "fuh ".
This is a traditional soup.
Like Vietnamese, it is a combination of broth, rice flour and meat.
For breakfast, lunch and dinner, you can decorate with herbs, lime and bean sprouts.
It is considered a comfortable food, and some people swear that its healing power is a hangover drug.
Celebrity Judge Vinh Nguyen said the broth was "about 80 to 90% of the decision to pho ".
Nguyen is the head of the Des Moines school English learning program and an advocate for the immigrant community.
"The broth should be clear, not cloudy. ”Here’s my go-
Recipe, but here comes the hacker.
The Pho broth is made of beef bones and tendons.
They cook in a large pot of water for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, you dump the whole pot. That's right.
After washing the bones and tendons under running water, you throw away the whole pot of fish and start over.
This is the trick to avoid muddy broth.
This is the easiest way to remove impurities.
The flavor of the spice broth comes mainly from the bones, but it becomes more fragrant with the addition of Octagonal, full cloves and cinnamon sticks.
"You Bake spices in the pan first," Nguyen said . ".
"Then you tie it up (in cheesecloth)
Add it to the broth.
"Then you add burnt white onions and crushed ginger and stew for six to eight hours under low heat, be careful not to cook the broth, during this time, cut meat can be cooked until tender in the broth, such as chuck, briisketand oxtail.
PhoPho broth is usually best eaten the next day.
"What you do is turn off the heating and let it cool," Nguyen said . ".
"Then, let the taste sit down and have time to work through the broth.
Nguyen recommends slightly passing the top fat during the cooling process, but leaving only a little to keep the taste.
The next day, the broth was re-heated and stirred on soaked rice noodles and thin slices of beef bris, meatballs, chuck steaks and calves.
Some chefs use chicken, pork or seafood.
You can even find the vegetarian version of pho.
What you put in your phoPho is served with bean sprouts, fresh lime and fresh ngo gai leaves or Vietnamese coriander.
But Nguyen is a purist.
"A real person who eats River powder will not put anything into the river powder before tasting the broth," Nguyen said . ".
He strongly recommends eating river powder when eating river powder, especially in public.
