Bò Kho: Vietnamese Beef Stew with Lemongrass and Star Anise

The story of bò kho: a morning stall and a red stew

In the morning kitchen, when you smash lemongrass with the flat of a knife, a scent like green citrus rises from the board. Add five-spice, star anise, cinnamon and fish sauce, and the pot starts moving in a different direction from ordinary beef stew. The red of tomato, the orange of annatto and the savoriness of beef layer together, and finally you tear a baguette and dip it in the broth. That moment is when bò kho is most fun.

Bò kho is a Vietnamese beef stew seasoned with aromatics. Bò means beef and kho means to braise or simmer down, and in English it is often introduced as Vietnamese beef stew. But it is not a dish thickened with flour like a Western beef stew. A light red broth carries the aroma of beef shank or shoulder, carrots, lemongrass, star anise and cinnamon.

In Vietnam it is served for breakfast or lunch with baguette, or eaten with rice noodles added, as in bún bò kho. Among Vietnamese dishes, unlike the clear chicken broth of phở gà or the spicy beef broth of bún bò Huế (in Japanese), bò kho is a red stew of spices and tomato. That the baguette culture of the French colonial period, Chinese-origin five-spice and Southeast Asian lemongrass go into the same pot is what makes it so typically Vietnamese.

The peaks of difficulty when you cook it at home are making the meat tender, keeping the aroma clear and keeping the carrots from falling apart. Choose not a luxury steak cut but stewing cuts such as shank, shoulder and short rib. Lemongrass and star anise are the skeleton of the aroma, so these are worth seeking out. Five-spice is sometimes found at supermarkets, and annatto can be left out, but with it you get the red-orange color characteristic of bò kho.

Why it is neither phở nor curry

If you think of bò kho only as "Vietnamese beef stew," you want to thicken it with flour. If you think of it as "curry," you want to add coconut milk or chile. Both taste good, but they move away from the outline of bò kho.

In English-language Vietnamese recipes, there are many examples of bò kho with lemongrass, star anise, cinnamon and five-spice. In the Serious Eats recipe, the spices are bloomed in oil and the beef is browned well before simmering, building depth with a short ingredient list. Andrea Nguyen's recipe also uses star anise and lemongrass and presents it as a dish eaten with baguette or rice noodles.

What matters is layering aroma rather than thickening the broth. The broth of bò kho is just right at a thickness that soaks into bread. If a wooden spoon at the bottom of the pot catches heavily and thickly, it has reduced too far. You aim for small red beads of oil floating, the beef fibers loosened, and the carrots keeping their corners.

Ingredients (serves 4): beef shank and the shopping for aroma

Serves 4. Beef shank suits it best, but some days you can't find it. In that case use a block of chuck or shoulder, a block of beef short rib, or cubed beef sold for stew. Lean round alone tends to stay tough even after a long simmer.

Main ingredients

Ingredients that are hard to decide on when shopping

The ingredients for bò kho that are often missing from a nearby supermarket are lemongrass, annatto and star anise. Five-spice can sometimes be found on the Chinese spice shelf. Fish sauce has become easier to find at large supermarkets and import stores, but Vietnamese nước mắm is more natural if you can find it.

Ranked by how worthwhile they are to buy extra: lemongrass, fish sauce, star anise, annatto. Lemongrass and fish sauce also carry over to bún thịt nướng, bún chả and tom yum goong (in Japanese). Star anise dominates if overdone, but even a small amount takes the aroma of bò kho a step deeper.

Ingredients that build the skeleton of aroma are more satisfying to shop for than ordinary meat and vegetables. If you will make Vietnamese dishes several times, gathering these first makes the kitchen suddenly easier.

Method: wake up the aroma before simmering

If you just put everything in the pot and simmer, the aroma of bò kho is weak. Brown the beef, bloom the aromatics and spices in oil, and then simmer over low heat. In this order, the broth is light but the flavor is deep.

Where it goes wrong: too thick, too thin, tough

The most common failure is reducing the broth too much. Bò kho is not a dish where a sauce clings to the meat; it is a soup dish that soaks into bread and noodles. If it has reduced until you can see the bottom of the pot, add 100 ml of water and warm over low heat for 5 minutes to bring back the aroma. If it is too salty, add not only water but 1 tsp of sugar and 1 tsp of lime juice to round the edges.

If the beef is tough, the heat was too high or the time too short. Boiling hard shrinks the meat fibers, and the outside looks tender but the center is dry. Return to low heat, add 50 ml of water and check after simmering another 15 minutes at a time. Shank can pass 90 minutes depending on the cut. Keeping a gentle bubble is faster than hurrying with high heat.

If the carrots fall apart, you put them in from the start. The carrots in bò kho are best large with their corners remaining. Add them once the beef is nearly tender and stop at 20 to 25 minutes. If you plan to reheat the next day, it is fine to turn off the heat with the first day's carrots slightly firm.

If the aroma is so strong it is like herbal medicine, you have overdone the star anise, cinnamon and five-spice. Two star anise are enough. If the aroma comes forward too much during the simmer, take out the star anise and cinnamon, add 1 tsp of tomato paste and 50 ml of water and simmer 10 minutes. Keeping the outline of lemongrass and fish sauce is more Vietnamese than adding more spices.

Storage and eating it the next day

Bò kho is a dish whose flavor settles by the next day. Cool it a little, and keep the meat and broth in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 days as a guide. Carrots fall apart easily, so if possible keep them in a separate container. To freeze, divide only the meat and broth into single servings and freeze for about 1 month. Carrots lose some texture when frozen.

Reheating in a pot is recommended. Put the refrigerated bò kho in a pot, add 2 to 4 tbsp of water, and warm over medium-low heat for about 8 minutes. When it bubbles, lower to low heat and turn off when the meat is hot through to the center. If you use a microwave, warm it at 600 W for 2 minutes, stir and warm 1 minute more. Put on the herbs and lime after reheating.

Changing how you eat it the next day keeps it from getting boring. In the morning, toast the baguette and dip it in the broth. At lunch, add rice noodles in the style of bún bò kho. At dinner, pour it over rice and add a little black pepper and lime, for a light stewed rice that differs from curry. If you have leftover baguette the day after making bánh mì, bò kho is a very good partner for it.

Background: a Vietnamese stew that is neither French nor Chinese

Vietnamese cooking has the power to draw ingredients and cooking methods that came from outside to its own table with fish sauce, herbs, rice noodles and lemongrass, rather than leaving them as they were. Bò kho is a clear example. With the baguette alongside you sense French influence, but the aroma of the broth is different from French beef stew. Star anise and five-spice are close to the aroma of the Chinese-speaking world, but with fish sauce and lemongrass the pot lands in Vietnam.

English-language recipes such as Viet World Kitchen and Serious Eats present bò kho as a dish to combine with baguette, rice noodles and sometimes rice. This range of ways to eat it is a help in a home kitchen. Even if you made it for bread, you can turn it into noodles the next day. Even if you simmered it for noodles, you can pour it over rice. This is the reason to leave the broth.

Spice strength differs from home to home, so for the first time stop at 2 star anise and 1 tsp of five-spice and increase or decrease from the next time, which is less likely to fail.

To widen out with other Vietnamese meat dishes, moving on to bún chả (in Japanese), where you enjoy the aroma of charcoal, bún thịt nướng, which turns lemongrass pork into a mixed noodle dish, and bánh mì, which enjoys baguette culture in another direction, shows the connection of "bread, rice noodles and herbs" in Vietnamese cooking.

Frequently asked questions

What cuts suit if I don't have beef shank?

Beef chuck, blocks of short rib and stewing cubes are easy to use. Round alone has little fat and gelatin and tends to dry out even after a long simmer. When using stewing cubes, since the cuts are mixed, take out the pieces that are tender at 90 minutes of simmering first, and simmer the tough ones another 15 minutes, and the texture evens out.

Can I make it without lemongrass?

You can, but the green aroma characteristic of bò kho gets much weaker. To substitute, increase the ginger by 5 g and add only 1/2 tsp of lemon zest. But this is a shortcut for a home kitchen. If you like it, look for frozen lemongrass next time. Frozen is easy to chop and carries over to tom kha gai (in Japanese) too.

Which is correct, baguette or rice noodles?

Both are natural. For breakfast or a light lunch, dipping baguette is easy, and adding rice noodles makes it satisfying as a bowl of noodles. Eat it with baguette the first time and change to rice noodles the next day, and you enjoy the same pot twice. When pouring it over rice, adding black pepper while keeping it light suits it better than reducing the broth.

Can I fix it if I put in too much five-spice?

You can't fully undo it, but you can dilute it. Take out the star anise and cinnamon, add 100 ml of water, 1 tsp of tomato paste and 1 tsp of fish sauce and warm for 10 minutes over low heat. On days when the spice aroma is strong, squeeze extra lime right before eating to lighten the outline. Next time start with 1/2 tsp of five-spice.

Can I freeze it?

The meat and broth can be frozen. Divide into single servings and freeze for about 1 month. The texture of carrots changes easily when frozen, so eat them refrigerated if possible. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, put in a pot over medium-low heat, and warm with 2 to 4 tbsp of water added. Don't freeze the herbs, lime, baguette or rice noodles; prepare them right before eating.

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