> If your wife wants to freepmail me her recipe for the broth, this male caucasian would be ecstatic.
My daughter has been trying to get my wife to write down her pho recipe for the last 20+ years. I do know she simmers the broth with the beef bones and some spices overnight in a big 8 or 10 quart pot. The rice noodles come from the local Asian store. The sliced shallots and other greens go in just before it is served.
The secret to any soup is to add ingredients at the right time. A lot of people just toss everything in at once and there are ingredients that end up becoming goo.
I typically use the (I think) French style of preparing a roux with usually olive oil, garlic, onions, and the spices.... hot oil can help release the flavors of dry spices but it’s easy to burn this in the process and has to be tended carefully. Like your wife I pre-cook the meat. I love the marrow and so I guess that’s what she’s going after. Chicken however gets tasteless and tough if you cook it too long so I use pre-packed chicken broth and add the chicken already cooked or mostly cooked.
No one has mentioned lamb or goat. Both are excellent meats for soup.
The starch - I use either potatoes (Irish here), noodles (I prefer egg noodles like for Jewish food), or rice. Rice can be either the short kind which I toss into the roux and then add the broth or long rice (the most common) which I sometimes cook separately since oils and seasonings can toughen it.
It sounds complicated but it isn’t. It’s a good way to clean out the vegetable drawer in your fridge. I just started a diet so no more of this type of soup for a while but by next winter I’ll start in again.
I always add heat to my soups, fresh habaneros are my favorite. And my soups are usually better the second or third day.