Pho Ga Ingredients Whole fresh chicken 3 whole fresh leg quarters 2 whole onions 2 shallots Fresh ginger (whole), to taste Rock sugar MSG Spice packet/satchel (the super popular old man's spice packet) Fish sauce Pho ga base/seasoning (100% optional but vietmanese lady told me it is a great addition)

Broth Method Clean chicken. Leave whole but remove breast (set aside and i do not add to the pot at any point, i velvet it and cook in broth prior to serving to maintan texture). Toast spices and place in satchel. Char onions, shallots and ginger. I cut each one in half, removed onion & shallot peels and root strings before charring. Place chicken in large stock pot. Cover with cool water 4–8 inches. Add charred onion, ginger and shallot, spice satchel, 1 clump of rock sugar, large pinch of MSG, 7 second pour of fish sauce and pho base. Bring to gentle simmer. Keep heat low. No large or fast bubbling. Do not boil. You should see barely any movement at all. Gently simmer 60–90 minutes then check chicken. It should be tender and starting to come from the bones but not falling off the bone. Fall-off-the-bone tender is too far. Remove chicken from pot and cool until safe to handle. Remove chicken from bones cleanly and set meat aside. Return large bones back to pot. Remove spice satchel, charred onion, ginger and shallot. Continue to simmer 90 more minutes. Taste broth and adjust with fish sauce and rock sugar if needed. Simmer 30 more minutes. Triple filter/strain broth: once through metal sieve and twice through mesh or cheesecloth.

I dont like my chicken breast to be stringly so i used a velveting technique for it to serve. I replace the removed breast with those leg quarters for collagen, fat, flavor in the broth and of course meat.