Vietnamese Home Cooking: [A Cookbook]

If you feel a bit overwhelmed when you venture into an Asian market and would like to change that feeling, this book will be immensely helpful to you. The book is overflowing with information, and I love a cookbook written to include such helpful insight, instruction and coaching.I am a sponge for new cooking techniques and new ingredients. I was born in the U. S. and my first language is English. I'm of Polish decent. I've been interested in Asian cooking for about four years now. I cook all kinds of dishes, but we really love fresh fish, oriental greens and the unique flavors found in Asian recipes. We love the simplicity of the dishes and we love the contrasts of salty, sweet, tangy and good Texas jasmine rice. Our winter garden is currently full--really full--of Asian greens and veggies. And with that said: I think this is a great cookbook. I've used it over and over again--in just the short few months I've owned it.So, while I can't speak for someone born in Vietnam and relocated here and I can't speak for someone who has a Vietnamese Grandmother on which to rely, I can speak for a majority of those looking at this review and wondering whether to buy this book or not: You will learn a lot from this cookbook, and you will be happy you bought it (or proud you gave it as a present). Use it as a reference book; use it for its recipes; enjoy the pictures; delight in the way the author coaxes all of your senses to blossom; take it with you to your favorite Asian grocery store and smile a lot and nod your head while you refer to it as you search out ingredients, (yes, take it with you instead of just a grocery list and spread the word.)The author went at this cookbook venture with the intent to teach. And I'm here to say he taught me quite a lot; and thank you so much! This cookbook is not only filled with wonderful, enticing, not overwhelming recipes; it is filled with information. You will get helpful and unbiased wisdom on: Woks, ceramic pots, cleavers, grills, how to choose condiments and important ingredients, and much more.If you are considering this cookbook and live out in the middle of nowhere, with no access to an Asian market, you may want to check this out of your library before purchase.The recipes are divided between techniques: Steaming, frying, braising, grilling, and stir-frying; plus soup and street food. There are recipes for condiments, dipping sauces and a few pickles.Personally, I now have precise times for steaming my whole fish; assurance that I'm grilling my whole fish in the best way possible; I have great fillings for steamed buns; I know how to prime my wok properly and for how long to let the oil heat up before adding food; I know the importance of caramel sauce, and much, much more. I've always loved a broth-y fish soup and now I have a beautiful and simple recipe using a whole fish--and I already know I will turn to it often. Because I personally zone in on whole fish in this paragraph, don't let me mislead you into thinking this is a seafood cookbook; it's really encompassing and covers beef, pork, other seafood, rice, noodles and veggies.It's got beautiful pictures; easy-to-read and easy-to-understand ingredient lists and concise directions; a terrific glossary; an adequate index, plus it is a bound, hard-covered book, with pages made of quality paper.The author mentions his family and his restaurants frequently, but those mentions don't seem overpowering, they just add to the charm of the writing.Not that I'm ready to compare it with other Asian cookbooks, I can already say that this is more of a hands-on, take-it-and-cook-with-it book, than "Beyond the Great Wall" and "Hot Sour Salty Sweet' by Alford and Duguid. (While I love those two, they slant more towards coupling recipes with an area and therefore seem a bit travel-related and coffee-table style).I'm very glad to have purchased this cookbook.

So, I bought this book because it covers Vietnamese home cooking - not just foods from restaurants and street eating but a wider range of everyday dishes. I'm not Vietnamese so I really have no idea what I'm talking about, but my sense is that the recipes contained do cover dishes on the simpler/family-style end of the range. Phan is also American, so I do notice that he goes pretty light on the French-inspired dishes that I have seen in other experiences of Vietnamese food (pate etc.).The positives: This is a beautiful text, nicely bound, laid out, and photographed. The ingredient guide in the back alone is like eye candy. I like the fact that it is grouped by cooking style (e.g. steaming, stir frying), and that he will go into one style of cooking or one type of food (e.g. steamed buns or clay pot) and then teach you several varieties on that. As far as I can tell this is a great book for someone who really wants to get into Vietnamese cooking as an art, understanding the cuisine as a whole rather than dabbling in a few dishes. I find his advice pretty low-key/practical, and he really walks you through certain details of e.g. how to choose a cleaver, what the difference between using a clay pot and a dutch oven might be. The conclusion is not always "buy the most expensive/task-specific equipment" which I appreciate a lot.The negatives: I do find the book frustration-, ingredient-, and labor-intensive, so you have to commit. I wouldn't recommend buying this book if you don't have access to a good food processor, a good butcher, and a well-stocked Asian grocery store. This is also really not for someone who wants to throw together an Asian-inspired dinner in 20 minutes after getting home from work (though both the lemongrass porkchop and lemongrass chicken are great quick recipes) - for the most part this is weekend cooking for which you have to plan ahead and acquire the ingredients over several trips to the store.I also do feel like sometimes, the recipes are not written in the most logical way (e.g. pork steamed bun says FIRST to make the dough - which must rise over 2 hrs - and THEN to make the pork - which must marinate overnight) or they actively make things harder (e.g. the sweet potato shrimp fritters instructions have you cross-hatching sweet potato sticks in the frying oil - after a while I just gave up and threw a whole clump in the oil which worked just as well). Other things really do just take a few tries to get right. I feel like these are the types of recipes where you sort of find your way after the second or third time making them and then they're pretty good - but following the steps to the letter does not seem to be the optimal way to proceed.For people with a Western palate, I'd add: Vietnamese cooking really does use a lot of sugar and salt, and while I thought this book might cut down on those ingredients given SF's health-crazed foodies, I do still find the recipes pretty sweet and salty so you may need to adjust accordingly. Also, it is quite common to combine meat and fish in the same dish, which takes some getting used to and is worth being prepared for (since that applies to a lot of the recipes).Overall, I really do enjoy the food that has come out of this book and I give Phan credit for what I think is a truly unique/distinct cookbook - it clearly has a lot of his personal voice/work/knowledge wrapped in and I think it covers a different segment of Vietnamese cuisine than many other cookbooks might. It's also pretty region-agnostic which is cool (since many of the recipes he seems to have collected through travels around Vietnam, so it's not along the lines of those cookbooks that just display a list of specialties from a chef's grandmother's hometown). As it's my first Vietnamese cookbook, though, I might supplement it with another volume that's a bit easier to cook along with.

learned a lot of great recipes

My partner and I are second generation Canadians with our respective parents who immigrated from both South and North Vietnam. Our taste profile has always been extremely flexible, having grown up in the diverse Canadian culture whilst experiencing authentic Vietnamese home cooking since childhood. This book really hits close to home for us.The recipe book includes not just Vietnamese dishes, but other mixed-Asian cuisine often inspired by Vietnamese cooking. We find that Charles Phan's recipes provides a thorough walk-through for the most iconic Vietnamese dishes, while eliminating or changing some aspects of certain dishes to suit 'western' taste profiles better, though you are not losing any of the bright, aromatic, sweet experiences that comes with eating Vietnamese food. Many of the dishes also came with other variations you can try which is also important, as a lot of Vietnamese cooking can be eaten in a variety of ways.Charles Phan is incredibly detail-oriented, describing in excruciating detail how to execute the methods for cooking perfectly. He goes in-depth to list out major foods, spices and herbs found in Vietnamese cooking, labeling and providing excellently portrayed imagery, often with style.Outside of the recipes and tutorials themselves, the book is a pleasing read. Charles Phan has captivating experiences to share and describes them in a way that resonates with you so well you can picture yourself in his shoes.

After seeing that the one and only review on this book contained no comments on the "cooking", I felt compelled to write this review. I am not Vietnamese, but I've have had a love for Vietnamese cuisine since tasting my first nem at age 8. Hmm I can still remember it. I have a few well-worn Vietnamese cookbooks (Into the Vietnamese Table, Pleasures of the Vietnamese Kitchen). This one stands alone. Some of the recipes may seem complicated, but Phan does more than just give you a series of recipes (as other books often do), he gives you a method and he explains to you what the ingredients are meant to do. For instance, I wanted to make the daikon rice cake (it was amazing), but did not have the preserved turnips the recipe called for. Phan however had explained that the turnips were meant to provide saltiness so I used the kimchi I had instead. It worked beautifully. After making some of the recipes in this book, I truly feel that I have a better understanding of Vietnamese cooking.

Very interesting presentation and recipes. Tad more ancillary information than may have made for an interesting read for some individuals interested in his personal perspective.

I would recommend this book. I have tried a few recipes. They worked well and congrats on your success. We need more entrepreneurs like you.