Ingredients
8 ounces small or medium dried rice sticks
8 cups beef stock
1 small yellow onion, peeled, halved, and thinly sliced
8 ounces beef eye of round, slightly frozen, sliced paper-thin (if serving special meats from stock recipe, only use 4 ounces eye of round)
4 ounces cooked special beef cuts (from making stock), thinly sliced (optional)
traditional herbs
1 cup mung bean sprouts, root ends trimmed
2 or more red bird's eye or Thai chilies, stemmed, seeded, and thinly sliced
1/2 cup fried shallots
1 lime, quartered
Hoisin sauce
fish sauce

Directions

1. Place the rice sticks in a dish with lukewarm water to cover. Let soak until pliable, about 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, pour the beef stock into a pot and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the onion, and partially cover until ready to use.
3. Bring a pot filled with water to a boil over high heat. Drain and divide the rice stick noodles into 4 equal portions. Place them, one portion at a time, in a sieve and lower it into the boiling water. Untangle the noodles with chopsticks, and boil until tender but firm, about 7 seconds. Remove and drain the noodles, then place them in a large soup bowl. Repeat this step until you have 4 individual servings.
4. Set a few slices of raw beef eye of round on top of the rice noodles (or if you prefer, cook them first using the smae strainer and boiling water as in step 3). At this time you can also add some slices of one or more of the special cuts of beef. Pour a generous amount of hot broth with some onions over each serving and garnish with some traditional herbs, mung bean sprouts, chilies, and fried shallots, and squeeze a wedge of lime over each serving. Sweeten the broth with hoisin sauce and adjust the seasoning with fish sauce as desired.

Serving
Serve 4 as part of a multi-course meal.