Vietnamese Books

Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors

Andrea Quynhgiao Nguyen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

One of the best! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

After reading so many bad Vietnamese cook book- This is an extreme pleasure.

The book was well organized with separated chapter for sauce and ingredient glossary.

I try out some, they all have very intelligent twist that make the original food very flavor full.

Editorial Review:

When author Andrea Nguyen's family was airlifted out of Saigon in 1975, one of the few belongings that her mother hurriedly packed for the journey was her small orange notebook of recipes. Thirty years later, Nguyen has written her own intimate collection of recipes, INTO THE VIETNAMESE KITCHEN, an ambitious debut cookbook that chronicles the food traditions of her native country. Robustly flavored yet delicate, sophisticated yet simple, the recipes include steamy pho noodle soups infused with the aromas of fresh herbs and lime; rich clay-pot preparations of catfish, chicken, and pork; classic bánh mì sandwiches; and an array of Vietnamese charcuterie. Nguyen helps readers shop for essential ingredients, master core cooking techniques, and prepare and serve satisfying meals, whether for two on a weeknight or 12 on a weekend.

The Little Saigon Cookbook: Vietnamese Cuisine and Culture in Southern California's Little Saigon

Ann Le

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 43 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A great taste of Vietnam!!! 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book is a great book if you want to explore the Vietnamese cuisine. The food is wonderful and so interesting. I was exposed to vietnamese cooking by my wife and got this book to surprise her. It was great and she was extremely happy. It really surprised her that I could do such a good job cooking the food that she grew up with. It was easy enough to cook, and very interesting to get exposed to what other cultures eat. I loved it.

TWO STARS rating...O.K. book, not for beginners. 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I wanted to give this book a TWO STARS rating, but I couldn't change the rating so it remained a 4 star rating.

This book is nowhere near the level of Andrea Nguyen's "Into The Vietnamese Kitchen" or Mai Pham's "Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table", but I still bought it because it has a few recipes that are not in other vietnamese cookbooks. This author's knowledge of Vietnamese cooking is not as comprehensive as Andrea Nguyen's or Mai Pham's, and it shows in her descriptions of the recipes and the ingredients. For example, Andrea Nguyen described yellow rock sugar as an ingredient that's often used in Vietnamese soups to give roundness and a slightly sweet taste to them; Andrea Nguyen also mentioned that yellow rock sugar gives vegetables their sheen; and Andrea Nguyen took pains to differentiate between yellow rock sugar and white rock sugar because they're usually sold side by side on store shelves, and she warned her readers not to buy the white rock sugar by mistake. This author (Ann Le), on the other hand, simply writes "rock sugar" and does not differentiate between yellow rock sugar and white rock sugar. I'm not sure that she even knows there are two types of rock sugar. For this author to simply calls it "rock sugar" and not "yellow rock sugar" is a really bad oversight and confuses her readers. This author does not give informative and interesting background details such as these when writing about Vietnamese ingredients. Sometimes this author's recipes are not very detailed. For example, sometimes she writes "12 ounces of tofu" without specifying whether it should be regular, firm, or extra firm tofu. Furthermore, she lacks Andrea Nguyen's flare for language when writing recipes. I bought this book because I'm not depending solely on this book to cook Vietnamese food. As I mentioned before, this book has a few recipes that are not in other Vietnamese cookbooks, and this is a good enough reason for me to buy this book because I'm serious about learning how to cook Vietnamese food. I think people make the mistake of wanting to buy just one Vietnamese cookbook and expect it to have everything. As for me, I think it's important to have several Vietnamese cookbooks in order to get as many recipes as possible, and each book has something new to teach me. Add this book to your collection AFTER you buy Andrea Nguyen's "Into The Vietnamese Kitchen" and Mai Pham's "Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table", which is an excellent book. If you do buy this book, then watch out for the salt/fish sauce contents because some of the recipes (i.e. Sauteed Bok Choy With Tofu And Hoisin Sauce) are way too salty. Seriously, you can hardly eat the foods because they're so salty! The reasons I like this book are:

1) It has a recipe for "banh canh" (pork hock and crab soup with Udon noodles). This is the only Vietnamese cookbook that I own that has this particular recipe. I usually order this noodle soup when I'm at a particular restaurant in Little Saigon because I really like it, and now I can make it at home. The only thing I don't like about this recipe is that the author uses pre-prepared Udon noodles. It would have been better if she includes a recipe regarding how to make the noodles fresh at home. I think the noodles can be made fresh at home from a combination of rice and tapioca flours.

2) Avocado shake recipe. Tastes good.

3) Good background information about restaurants and markets in Little Saigon in Southern California, which is the biggest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam.

This book is not comprehensive or detailed, and it's not well written. I'm not sure if the recipes were even well tested by the author. But it's still worthwhile to buy this book for a few scatter recipes that cannot be found in other Vietnamese cookbooks. However, this book is not at all necessary to add to your collection.

Quick & Easy Vietnamese: Home Cooking for Everyone (Quick and Easy Series)

Andre Nguyen, Yukiko Moriyama

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

INTRODUCTION
Vietnam is a country of natural beauty with a coastline of sandy beaches stretching about 2000 miles (3225 km) from the northern to the southern tip of the South China Sea. Along the coast, fishing is the main livelihood. The majority of Vietnamese people are Kinh race people (87%) with the remaining of 53 different ethnic minority groups. For more than 2000 years, the country has been subjected to a near continuing series of foreign occupations from China, France, Japan, and America. One consequence of these occupations is the lasting influence on Vietnamese cuisine. Among Vietnamese dishes, perhaps the best known in the West is Pho, a noodle soup. Another is the deep-fried spring roll called Nern in the north, and Cha Goi in the south. Rice is a staple food used as a side dish, or a main dish when combined with other ingredients, such as beef, pork, chicken, or seafood. Vietnamese dishes consist of many different blends of herbs and spices. Most dishes are not fiery hot, nor greasy. Seafood and vegetarian dishes like An Chay are very popular. Today, Vietnamese cuisine is gaining increased international attention due to the fact that it is quite healthy.
This book is an introduction to a new generation for a delicious journey through Vietnamese cuisine. While the combination of flavors may seem experimental to some, they will result in a savory experience. All ingredients used in these recipes can be found in supermarkets, natural food stores or in Asian food markets. It is our pleasure to share these quick and delicious Vietnamese recipes with you. Enjoy the good nutrition that comes with it.

The Best of Vietnamese & Thai Cooking: Favorite Recipes from Lemon Grass Restaurant and Cafes

Mai Pham

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 35 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great background Info--Not so great recipes 3 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

There were a lot of things I really liked about this book. There's a detailed section on ingredients where she gives brand preferences on things like fish sauce, and substitution suggestions for hard to find ingredients. (The brand of specialty sauce you use can make a big difference in outcome in Thai/Asian food, and if you're not familiar with those foods, it's hard to know what brand to pick. And her preferences generally line up with what I've heard elsewhere.) The recipes that I've tried are fairly easy and straightforward. And I wouldn't care about authenticity if I liked the food. My problem is that while, for the most part, the results were perfectly edible, there was nothing I would want to make again. The lemongrass chicken was tasteless. And I love lemongrass chicken when I get it in Vietnamese restaurants! The lemongrass lemonade was very good, but not worth the work. The curried rice with kaffir lime leaves and the Thai Green Curry with chicken were both good, but definately missing something. This might just reflect my taste preferences--I live in New York, so I might be used to a relatively authentic restaurant version, or it might have been my technique or my lack of stellar ingredients. However, I've had much better sucess in general with Nancie McDermott's books. I will hang on to the book for the ingredient introduction, and I may try one of the recipes again if there's something I can't find elsewhere, but probably not.

Editorial Review:

Mai Pham has woven wonderful memories between the recipes of this beautiful book: memories of her childhood in Bangkok, her Vietnamese family and their reverence for good food, her husband's search for the best pho recipe in Saigon. The recipes themselves are light, healthy, and loaded with the unique flavors -- strong and delicate, tangy and mild, sweet and mouth-puckeringly sour, always exotic and delicious -- of Southeast Asia. Pham owns the Lemon Grass Restaurant and Cafes in Sacramento, and is a well-known teacher of Southeast Asian cooking.

Vietnamese Fusion: Vegetarian Cuisine

Chat Mingkwan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Enhanced with color photographs of completed dishes, a list of references, mail order sources 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

The distinctive local herbs and produce of Vietnamese cuisine has been heavily impacted French, Chinese, and Indian influences with respect ingredients and techniques. Now this culinary tradition has been further influenced and developed by Chat Mingkwan who transforms classic ethnic recipes into gourmet quality vegetarian dishes through utilizing customary Vietnamese seasons and ingredients, but substituting innovative animal-free alternatives for meat or fish in the recipes comprising "Vietnamese Fusion: Vegetarian Cuisine". After informing the kitchen cook about the characteristics of Vietnamese cuisine, soy products, and other ingredients fundamental to Vietnamese dishes including herbs and spices, vegetables and fruits, rice, noodles, wrappers, and seasonings, "Vietnamese Fusion" organizes the recipes themselves into sections on sauces, snacks and appetizers, soups and salads, main dishes, sweets and beverages. The easy -o-follow, step-by-step recipes themselves range from Sot Dau Phong (Peanut Sauce); to Canh Chua Thom (Hot-and-Sour Soup with Pineapple and Tamarind); to Nam Rom Nhung Dam (Mushrooms in Vinegar Fondue); to Banh Goi (Steamed Rice Cakes in Banana Leaves). Enhanced with color photographs of completed dishes, a list of references, mail order sources, an author biography, and an index, "Vietnamese Fusion" is especially recommended for personal and community library multi-ethnic and vegetarian cookbook collections.

Editorial Review:

Fresh Spring Rolls - Glass Noodle Soup - Papaya Salad - Clay Pot Vegetables - Lemongrass Dry Noodles. Enjoy many of your favorite Vietnamese dishes now with a vegetarian twist. Renown Asian culinary expert Chat Mingkwan presents time-honored favorites using completely plant-based ingredients. You're offered a bevy of delicious choices, whether you're making an ensemble for a multi-course meal or an extravagant dish with a host of accompaniments. Typical Vietnamese cooking is already characterized by the use of a vast array of fresh herbs and vegetables. Introducing soy-based alternatives in place of the traditional meat and fish, Chat makes this already nutritious fare even better for you and the planet.

Vietnamese Cooking Made Easy: Simple, Flavorful and Quick Meals (Learn to Cook Series)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

I Like This Book 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I like this small compact spiral-binded book: pictures on every recipe. Nice to have this as part of your vietnamese cooking library.

Editorial Review:

Vietnamese cooking is famous for its fresh flavors and artfully composed meal it is the true "light cuisine" of Asia. Delicate soups and stir-fries, and well-seasoned grilled foods served with rice or noodles are packed with fresh herbs and spices. Stunning photography and simple step-by-step instructions make Vietnamese Cooking Made Easy the perfect introduction to the world of Vietnamese cuisine.

Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table

Mai Pham

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

When Mai Pham--chef and owner of the renowned Lemon Grass Restaurant in Sacramento, California--left her home and her grandmother in Saigon in 1975, just days before the city fell to communist rule, she never thought she'd see either again. Happily for her, she returned 20 years later to rediscover her roots and reconnect with her 100-year-old grandmother. Happily for us, she's written Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table, in which she shares that journey--and the vibrant cuisine of her homeland. She weaves a stirring tale of rediscovery; of visiting with cooks in market stalls and street cafés and home kitchens; and, perhaps most importantly, of rediscovering her "favorite food on earth," pho, the noodle soup often referred to as the national dish of Vietnam.

Pham begins with a chapter on dipping sauces, condiments, and herbs, which, she explains, are the true backbone of Vietnamese cooking. She explores culinary variations: the "rice bowl" of the southern peninsula and the French- and Indian-inspired foods of Saigon; the more robust style of the cooler central region of Hue; and the straightforward style of the mountainous north. And she shares the simple, classic recipes that define Vietnamese food. Green Mango Salad with Grilled Beef is at once salty (from the ubiquitous fish sauce), sweet from the fruit, and tangy and spicy from Chili-Lime Sauce. Ginger Chicken is bright with the flavor of ginger and spicy with dried chilies; caramel sauce adds body and an intriguing sweet and smoky element to the dish. And of course, one can't forget the beloved pho, which gets a whole chapter to itself. The traditional Hanoi-style Vietnamese "Pho" Rice Noodle Soup with Beef is fragrant with anise and ginger and thick with velvety noodles and delectably rare beef suspended in the hot broth.

Featured throughout the book are black-and-white photographs of the country and its people, stories of Pham's childhood, and enchanting tales of the history and people of Vietnam that, taken together, highlight a rich and vibrant picture of the ancient cuisine of this complex country. Helpful guides to the Vietnamese pantry and cooking techniques, along with a glossary, menu suggestions, and a list of resources for the more exotic ingredients make the book extremely useful to even the uninitiated. --Robin Donovan

Quick & Easy Vietnamese: 75 Everyday Recipes (Quick & Easy)

Nancie McDermott

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A great and authentic starter to Vietnamese cooking 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Though I grew up in the states, my family is of Vietnamese descent and I travelled (and ate) my way through Vietnam, especially Hanoi. This book was my first attempt at making Vietnamese food at home and boy am I impressed at how AUTHENTIC it is to what I ate in Vietnam and in local Vietnamese restaurants. I'll think twice about eating out now that I know how easy it is to make at home.

Editorial Review:

From the author of the popular Quick & Easy Thai come these 75 oh-so-delicious recipes for every level of cook. Though it shares certain culinary traditions with its Asian neighbors, Vietnamese cuisine is entirely distinct, focusing on a bounty of fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs for signature clear, bright flavors with contrasting notes of salty, sweet, sour, and spicy. Creamy chicken curry is paired with the zesty tang of lime juice and the heat from ground pepper and chilies. Crisp, fried fish is served with a puree of pineapple-chili sauce. Delicate, rice paper wrapped summer rolls merit a rich and savory soybean dipping sauce. From snacks and soups to grilled meats and seafood to the essential noodle dishes and desserts, Quick & Easy Vietnamese presents the full spectrum of Vietnamese cooking at its most simply delicious.

Green Mangoes and Lemon Grass: Southeast Asia's Best Recipes from Bangkok to Bali

Wendy Hutton, Charmaine Solomon, Masano Kawana

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Fantastic book! 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Not only is this book beautiful to look at, the recipes produce the most delicious (and authentic tasting) food. The simple recipes are easy enough even for people who aren't that confident in the kitchen (like my spouse); the fancier ones are perfect for dinner parties. Highly recommended!

Reliable and handsome 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 9 people found this review helpful.

Ms. Hutton offers reliable, clear recipes in a beautiful book, with clear advice as to ingredients, combinations, and cooking techniques. Lush photographs make everything look scrumptious. Good design keeps one recipe together on one page. I have had very good results with the three recipes I have tried. I bought the hardback because I expect to be using this book often, and appreciate the author's identification of recipes that require extra time and effort--a whole chapter. Another approach I appreciate is a good use of English that is not too British, not too American--but comprehensible to both, I hope. I am an American cook but sometimes use metric measures and having both is helpful.

Editorial Review:

From roadside to restaurant, Green Mangoes and Lemon Grass presents a mouthwatering culinary tour of Southeast Asia's most scrumptious food. Enjoy an abundance of different dishes from Southeast Asia's rich and varied cuisine, such as Singapore's fascinating cosmopolitan offerings, Thailand's sinfully spicy dishes or Vietnam's refreshingly healthy recipes.

Featuring expertly-written text recipes from Wendy Hutton, one of the stars of Asian cuisine, Green Mangoes and Lemon Grass will help you whip up an Asian festival of food in your very own kitchen!

1,001 Low-Fat Vegetarian Recipes, 2nd ed.

Sue Spitler, Linda R. Yoakam

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 30 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

This book is the bargain basement of vegetarian recipes: 3 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Having gone veggie a few years ago, this was my first non-introductory style vegetarian cookbook, and although I commend Spitler and company for the sheer quantity of recipes here, I've found the recipes to be very hit or miss. I think this is partly due to the often non-intuitive combinations of ingredients found in many of the recipes. While sometimes these out-of-place ingredients are genius (i.e. the black -not adzuki- beans in the egg rolls, or the more than liberal use of celery seed in the bleu cheese dressing), sometimes these combinations can turn what seemed like a tasty dinner into something even my dog looks askance at (like the orange juice and zest in the hummus or the cream cheese and cranberries in the savory wontons). The dishes err more on the sweet side of the palate than on the spicy side. That said, all of the dessert type foods I have tried so far have been solidly good, while the majority of the entrees required a healthy dose of crushed red pepper. My suspicion is that these recipes were generated by a crew less than adequately familiar with vegetarianism, as many of the recipes attempt to make use of meat substitutes (i.e. Mexi "meatball" soup, rigatoni with italian "sausage" and fennel pesto, "burgers" provencal, swedish "meatball" and dilled potato cassarole, etc, etc)with less than appetizing results. There are a least two problems here: first, there are plenty of amazing veggie dishes that don't try to imitate the "meat and potato" style meal (there are almost NO Indian entrees in this book), and second, nothing makes one miss the real thing more than a poor substitute. Yes, those tvp crumbles look innocent enough in the grocery aisle and are easy enough to throw into the pasta sauce, but unless you want to spend you're evening sobbing over your half eaten plate of "sausage" lasagna for your momma's home cooking, then PLEASE skip the phoneys and throw in some chopped baby bellas instead. To summarize, this book is like the bargain basement of vegetarian recipes: over-stuffed with so-so items, but amidst the bland and the out-and-out bad, there are a few gems that make this book deserving of a place on your shelf.

As a bonus for those tracking diet information: each recipe is tagged as vegan, lacto-ovo, lacto, or ovo, to make finding appropriate recipes easy, and all recipes come with calorie counts, basic nutrition information, and the exchange listings for the ADA.

Editorial Review:

Just because it's vegetarian doesn't mean it's low fat! In this revised edition, Sue Spitler has developed and tested over one thousand tempting creations, including 500 entrees, virtually all with less than 30% of calories derived from fat. You'll find appetizers, soups, salads, entrees, side dishes, beans and grains, pastas, pizzas, desserts, and much more. Recipes for delicious Spinach and Cheese Crepes, Italian Sausage pizza, Shepherd's Veggie Pot Pie, Dim Sum Platter, Cheddar Cheese Souffle, and hundreds of others, are easy and quick to make, and use most of the foods you've always eaten. Every recipe is coded, so you can tell whether it's lacto-vegetarian, ovo-vegetarian, or pure vegan. Vegetarian or not, you'll never run out of ideas with this book. A new chapter has been added: "Veg Express," for meals that are ready in less than 20 minutes.