Start by cutting chicken into 4 equal parts, separating the white and dark meat. Wash thoroughly. Place chicken parts into a 10 quart stock pot. Fill with enough water to cover all chicken parts. About 5 quarts of water. Set on stove and turn to high heat. Bring to boil and skim all impurities with a fine mesh strainer. Continue to strain until liquid is free of all impurities from chicken. Turn heat to med low. Add salt and rock sugar and continue to simmer gently.

Cut onion in half. Place onion and ginger on a baking sheet and place in preheated oven set to 475 degrees. Let onion and ginger char, while turning occasionally to avoid burning. This process should take roughly 20 min or until onion and ginger are soft to the touch. Remove from oven.

Add star anise, cloves, coriander, fennel, and cinnamon to a small pan and roast over medium heat. Move spice around frequently to avoid burning. Continue to roast until fragrant. About 5-8 min. Remove from heat. Once cooled, add spice to cheese cloth and secure with a knot.

Remove chicken from stock pot after 2 hours of total cook time and cool with ice bath. Once cooled, hand shred chicken, removing skin and separating white meat from dark. Set aside.

While chicken is cooling in ice bath. Fill water to almost top of pot. At this point, you should have about 8 quarts of liquid in your pot. Add charred onions, charred ginger, green onion stalks, roasted spice mixture and mushroom seasoning to stock pot. Simmer for 1 hour. After simmering for an hour, remove all solid contents from stock pot and strain any excess impurities from chicken pho broth. Taste pho broth and adjust as needed with fish sauce. You are ready to serve!

Cook pho noodles or any other noodle of your choice and place in large bowl. Garnish with chicken, cilantro, red and green onions. Ladle steaming hot pho broth over noodles. You are now ready to add bean sprouts, lime, jalapeños, and Thai basil to your liking. Then spice it up with Sriracha and Hoisin sauce to your preference.