Shadowing Practice: Saigon HIDDEN Noodle Tour!! Must Try Before You Die!! - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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In this video, you'll discover four of Saigon's must-try noodles.
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But let me back up.
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Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City, is not the capital, but it's still Vietnam's biggest city.
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A city humming with energy, life, and food.
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Do locals even eat breakfast at home.
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People here go crazy for the noodles.
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Because it's so tasty.
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I know what that is.
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It's delicious.
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They make a simple bowl of noodles look like a symphony affordable to chow down on the streets.
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You can smell...
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Today, Calvin and I are on a mission to show you the best this city has to offer.
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Each bite is like its own experience.
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And it absolutely starts here.
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Many times in this city, a completely average-looking restaurant exterior paired with a Microsoft Paint level of graphic design
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and a name as uninspiring as Pho Vietnam are all the cues you need to know there's magic happening inside.
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Good morning and welcome to Saigon.
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I came here for the perfect breakfast.
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This is like the quintessential breakfast of Vietnam.
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I'm talking about pho.
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Rice noodles, your choice of protein, fresh herbs, and a complex, deep, almost philosophical broth.
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This dish transforms whatever mood you brought with you into overwhelming comfort.
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Traditionally, you'll find pho with all its ingredients sunk in a savory broth.
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Here, it's a completely different story.
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They're doing kind of a deconstructed, fought experience.
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They've really elevated this dish to a new level.
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Upgrade one, the protein.
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Beef shake, beef flank, beef brisket, beef ribs.
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Did I mention yet that this dish cost under $10?
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Oh, and there's still more beef.
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Oxtail, a coveted delicacy that you'd never see paired with this dish.
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Upgrade two, the noodles.
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This restaurant's been open for five years, and up until now, they're the only pho restaurant in Saigon dishing out their own fresh, handmade ban pho.
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Steamed rice flour batter for a couple minutes, and you get these thick, soft, chewy noodles, ready for action.
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Finally, this dish's most crucial element.
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Oh, a steaming sauna of delicious, aromatic flavors.
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I smell cumin, star anise, cloves, plus all the bones that were cooking in there overnight.
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All the flavors blended together.
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It smells good.
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Soon this broth is going to be in a stone pot, bubbling, boiling away, and that's going to come to our table.
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Put a stone bowl over a raging flame until it's seriously hot.
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Then add oxtail, ribs, flank, brisket, and spring onion.
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Next, the glorious broth.
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Blanch the noodles and put them on the side, together with thin beef shank slices and herbs.
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So I need to be careful here.
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If he drops it, then I can't have children.
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Take a look at this.
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It is insanely hot.
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I think we should start with a little taste of this broth.
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It's almost like a consomme.
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Oh, it's so hot.
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It is oily, aromatic, savory.
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If you could try one cut inside of here.
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Oh, for me, it'd be the oxtail.
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Oh, it's really about that gelatinous texture.
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Just look at how jiggly it is.
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It's highly desired.
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You cannot have a good bowl of pho without a nice fatty soft brisket My gosh,
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dude super soft meat I mean it's a little bit more on the drier side compared to
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that tail But it's cut so thin that's so delicate in your mouth and then the beef shank
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What makes beef shank special beef shank
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or any shanks on animals are usually the most toughest part
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But if you handle it with care and with technique
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and a quick swoosh in the broth You're gonna get something that's super flavorful and super exciting to eat Mmm, there's so many combinations here.
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So put some shank meat in first, we'll put some noodles in, add some green onions, and by the time your green onions hit the broth, they should be perfectly ready to eat.
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This is pho at its best.
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I want to come here every day now.
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I want to open this restaurant in my living room.
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I want to invite all the staff.
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I want to put that kitchen in my kitchen.
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This experience truly signifies how amazing Vietnamese food is and can be.
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We have peaked early, my friend, but we have three more noodles we still have to try to manage to eat today somehow.
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Most countries have their own version or interpretation of other countries' cuisine.
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Cuba has a lot of Spanish tradition.
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That's why we inherit the churros in our culture.
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It's no different when it comes to Vietnam, recreating their idea of the perfect Thai noodle dish, called simply Bun Thai.
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Customers from all over the world come to Vietnam and try her Bun Thai.
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They go elsewhere, but they always come back here.
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It's always that good.
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Bun Thai is a flavor-packed soupy surf and turf that rings up at only about three bucks per bowl.
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Oh, this is 60 pounds of Bun.
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It's a white vermicelli noodle made from rice, but the Thai part, what is Bun Thai?
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I made it like Thailand.
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The broth is influenced by Thai.
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It has a sweet and sour flavor known in Thailand.
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Calvin's referring to tam yum, a Thai noodle soup famous for its pleasurably spicy and sour broth.
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It's so satisfying.
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Of course, in Vietnam, we took that recipe and we adjusted it on the sour and the spicy level.
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The ingredients you'll find here are very local to the Vietnam area.
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You have so many different ingredients in here, tons of fresh seafood, and then you have this.
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What is this?
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Fried fish cake is made with freshwater fish.
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The fillets are then blended with spices and then made into a patty.
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Ah!
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Unnecessary.
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I love doing that.
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Mmm.
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Mmm.
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Mmm.
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A little spongy, but great fish flavor and beautiful spices inside.
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It's really good.
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First, blanch the noodles.
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Thin, soft rice vermicelli.
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Next, an onslaught of protein.
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Beef, fish cake, fish, fish, shrimp, squid, another shrimp, and clams.
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Plug the bowl with a sweet and sour fish bone broth.
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Garnish and serve.
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Mmm.
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Super fragrant, light, sugary, a little bit sour.
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And then that really earthiness comes from the galangal root, which is a Thai root.
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It kind of makes your throat feel good.
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It's like a lossy.
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Yeah, it's like a delicious cough drop.
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Thai flavor.
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We've got some of this beef.
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That's fish sauce with sliced chilies.
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I'll do the fermented chili sauce over here.
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Very nice.
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Little shrimpy.
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Oh, dip in the broth?
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I'm just gonna hit it in the broth.
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How do you eat the shrimp?
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With my mouth.
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Ah.
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Sweet, meaty.
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Vietnam has some of the best seafood in all of Southeast Asia.
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Absolutely.
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This is what these noodles are all about right here.
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It's a local fresh fish pot here in Vietnam.
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You can taste the Mekong on the fish.
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This is delicious.
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This sweet sour broth is perfect for seafood.
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There's no truer fusion than this.
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It's like the abstract idea of Thailand put into a broth mixed with tons of seafood
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and meat and sold for just a few bucks.
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Delicious.
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When it comes to noodles, what's better?
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Handmade or machine made?
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Our next chef seems to think the machines can conquer any nimble-fingered noodle handler.
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In the comments section, you're gonna see Civil War.
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I've come to Chinatown to find out.
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Egg noodles.
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This noodle, one of my absolute favorites, It dates back thousands of years.
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Though widely known to be a Chinese creation, Italians and Arabs will tell you a very different origin story.
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I can't say for sure, so let's see what the chef thinks.
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There you go.
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Well, there you go.
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As much as folks in Vietnam love noodles, egg noodles don't appear often.
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We see that so many noodles here have a rice base.
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What is it that makes this noodle so different?
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These noodles only have two ingredients.
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They have flour and they have eggs.
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What, like chicken eggs?
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Chicken eggs.
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I was leading it.
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Like chicken eggs?
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No, duck eggs.
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Tucked away in a nearby alleyway, you'll find Mr. Han's fresh egg noodle laboratory.
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His process for manufacturing machine-made noodles starts with wheat flour, duck eggs, and liwana.
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Why duck eggs and not chicken eggs?
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There's something in the duck egg that makes these noodles extra...
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That's yai.
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Elastic?
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Extra elastic.
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After 15 minutes of mixing, the dough is ready.
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With this machine, they press the dough into sheets.
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This process is repeated several times until they reach the desired thickness and texture consistency.
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The moment has come.
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They are squeezing the dough right now between two cylinders and it's about to go into the noodle press.
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Oh, yes!
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It is like raining noodles.
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Can I put my finger in here?
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Sorry, I don't know.
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Sometimes I listen to the invasive thoughts I shouldn't.
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Here in Saigon's Chinatown, you'll find a large Chinese-Vietnamese population dishing out generations-old traditional recipes.
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And all it starts to do is create even more variety of food that you can experience when you're in this city.
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When it comes to noodles, traditional means handmade.
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So how do machine made noodles stack up?
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Is there a difference between machine made noodles and hand pulled noodles?
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Hand pulled noodles could never be as good as machine made noodles.
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That is the claim of the century, holy cow.
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Can the machine also put love into the noodles?
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After pressing, boil for a couple of minutes, and they're ready for their sidekick, the wontons.
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Back in the noodle lab, flat dough sheets are cut down to size and filled with minced pork, shrimp, crab, and fish.
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Give them a little bit of a dip and pair them with the noodles.
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Add bok choy, black pepper, a mixture of soy sauce and oyster sauce, white pepper, green onions, fried pork fat, and finally, a savory pork bone broth.
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Mmm, if that tasted that good and that's a vegetable, just wait until we eat the noodles.
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I'm very curious about this broth and so that's why I want to taste it.
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Well, I got a great idea, let's taste it.
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That logic follows, right?
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It's a bit sweet, fatty, very rich.
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It is simple and straightforward, but it's still awesome.
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Not every broth to me has to be like a complex labyrinth of flavor.
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Sometimes it can be like, oh, I know what that is.
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It's delicious.
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Look how big that is.
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This wonton is reckless.
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It's out of control.
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It's morbidly obese.
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Hey, not you.
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You're body shaming me.
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Not yet.
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It almost slips down your throat like a slime.
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It's like eating a little shumai, the density of the meat.
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Not the same, but similar flavors and a similar texture to me.
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Right here, not a noodle at all.
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They cook these pork bones overnight to achieve peach-like softness.
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The tendons become moist and delicious and you just peel it off
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and whatever you get is what you get and people love it, right?
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You know what?
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It's a look of the draw.
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Life is like a bone of chocolate.
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Life is like a bone of chocolate.
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Add broth, then top it with green onions and pepper to complete this epic side dish.
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I'm gonna gnaw on it.
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I love gnawing on bones.
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Don't give me a joke right now.
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There's nothing appropriate to tie.
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There is nothing funny about that.
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Fatty and delicious.
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I flippin' love that.
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The meat closest to the bone always has the most flavor.
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This is the noodle right here.
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Super controversial.
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You were asking him what is better between a hand-pulled noodle
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and a machine-made noodle and it seemed like he didn't even have to think about it.
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He knew instantly that this is the superior noodle.
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Go for it, go for it.
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This bowl is perfect for a rainy day in Saigon.
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Oh, I'm sorry, do you have like a different noodle that you eat depending on weather patterns?
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What do you eat when it's foggy?
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Flat noodles.
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What about when it's sprinkling?
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Ribbercelli.
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What about when it's waning?
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Mi-wank.
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Fun.
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I've had hand-pulled noodles, I've had machine-made noodles, I cannot pretend to be expert enough to tell you which is better.
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The obvious go-to is like, oh, handmade is better.
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It's made with a human's touch.
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But, you know, there's advantages to machine-made too.
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It's more efficient.
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I like that every noodle is conform.
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You like conformity.
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Put me in a box.
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Yes, comfort.
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Guys, who wants to stand out?
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For me, it's blend in or nothing at all.
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Our next noodley dish is only known to true Vietnamese food lovers.
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The star of this dish is actually right here.
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This is called bò hò.
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This bò hò was made with a generations-old recipe.
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What you taste today is the same as what you would experience decades ago.
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Boho begins with a broth made of beef bones, lemongrass, ginger, five spice, and annatto spice.
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Next, add big chunks of beef brisket and tendon and let them stew slowly for hours, dissolving every last flavor crystal into its viscous broth.
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It looks so awesome.
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Delicious stewed beef inspired by French cooking, made with love and time.
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Oh, and there's carrots too.
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Prepare with Boho our noodle.
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This is Hootiu, a soft, thick rice-based noodle.
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After blanching the noodles with bean sprouts, fill the bowl with this thick, savory beef stew.
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Imagine Ditimor stew times 10.
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Would you call it a broth?
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Would you call it a stew, a sauce?
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I do call it a stew because there's meat in it.
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I don't really call it a broth because there's no bones that are being used to make this dish.
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Oh It's surprisingly light the Thai basil really helps cut a lot of
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that richness really nice aromatic flavors vegan hot dog here we go
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There might see of my mom put some carrots in a crock-pot
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This looks incredible huge pieces of beef They kept all those twarts on there
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that ordinarily would not be great unless you braise it for hours Super tender juicy and I mean you use it's just
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It's so good.
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I like how they didn't use very expensive cuts.
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Those cheaper cuts tend to have more flavor.
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Underneath everything we have The noodle.
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So check out this beautiful sheen of this rich beef oil.
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That stew just coats every strand of noodle here.
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The noodle is super super soft.
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It is kind of fun to slurp up.
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When you put the soft noodles with that little kind of chewy grizzly meat, it's a nice combination.
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Oh, take a look at this.
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This is what I'm talking about.
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This is just straight up tendon.
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This is the Achilles heel of this cow.
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That might be my top bite of the day right there.
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So rich, gelatinous, gooey.
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I'm gonna hit that with some noodles.
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This stands in contrast to everything else we've had today.
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It just has a completely different personality.
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It doesn't care if you like it.
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It feels like it's very confident in itself.
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It's a little bit arrogant.
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It has like a little body odor, but you're like, maybe that's what a man's supposed to smell like.
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It's a very nice day today.
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It's an incredible noodle selection that we've experienced.
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Calvin, there's nothing left to do but the conclusion.
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Best Ever Food Review Show is a small team of independent creators, and everything we do here works because of you guys.
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Click the link in our description to join our Patreon and receive exclusive benefits.
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Appease.
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Calvin, you've been to Thailand many times before.
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Yes.
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I'm not gonna tell anybody why you go there, But you did realize recently they also have food.
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Not everybody goes there for sex changes.
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It's very Chinese flavored.
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May I say that?
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Yeah, I think so, but China has so many flavors.
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Ginger and...
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and etc. You guys don't want to be bothered with me just defining all the different spices
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that are in here just by wanting it.
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I mean, I could.
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Calvin, if you had to redo your childhood
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and either you had to choose between your parents or a noodle machine that was capable of love...
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Stop, stop, stop.
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A noodle machine.
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Hands down.
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A noodle machine.
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A noodle machine would give so much more love, even as a machine.
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You got a deal.
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I think pho is a dish that kids grow up with.
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Before they go to school, their fathers would take them.
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Not one, but two fathers.
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Ooh.
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Vanilla Frosty.
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Oh, they just think their iPhone right there.
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Boom, that is the end of the video.
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Four noodles down.
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Guys, big thank you to Calvin for joining me today.
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You can find him on FKN Deliciousness on YouTube and on Instagram.
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Follow his fun food journey in Vietnam.
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Guys, that is it for this one.
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Thank you so much for watching.
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I'll see you next time.
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Peace!
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Peace!
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Dude, I'm really pregnant with a noodle.
About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will immerse yourself in a vibrant description of Saigon's famous noodle dishes, particularly focusing on pho. As you engage with the content, you will practice IELTS speaking skills by learning to articulate your thoughts about food culture, enhancing your fluency and comfort in discussing culinary experiences. The lesson emphasizes improving your English pronunciation while you describe what makes these noodle dishes unique. You'll also learn to express your feelings and sensory experiences, which are crucial in effective English speaking practice.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Quintessential: The most perfect or typical example of a quality or class.
- Symphony: A complex and harmonious combination of elements.
- Deconstructed: Presenting the components of a dish separately rather than mixed together.
- Aromatic: Having a pleasant and distinctive smell, often used in the context of food.
- Broth: A savory liquid made by simmering meat, bones, and/or vegetables.
- Coveted: Desirable and highly sought after.
- Steamed: Cooked using steam, usually resulting in tender textures.
- Elevate: To raise something to a higher level, often used in the context of improving quality.
Practice Tips
To effectively improve your pronunciation and fluency, consider using a shadowspeak technique after watching the video. First, listen carefully to how the speaker describes the dishes and their personal experiences. Pay attention to their tone, rhythm, and speed. The speaker's pace might vary, so try to match your speaking speed to theirs as closely as possible. This will help you enhance your English speaking practice.
When using a shadowing app, focus on mimicking not just the words but also the emotional nuance in the speaker's voice. For example, when they express excitement about the aroma of the broth, try to capture that emotion as you repeat the phrase. You can also practice by focusing on the key vocabulary listed above. Create practice sentences that incorporate these terms to build your confidence.
Lastly, record your voice while practicing. Listening back will allow you to identify areas where you can improve. This form of self-feedback is crucial for mastering English pronunciation and ensuring you can discuss culinary topics with comfort and fluency.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.