4 comments about Vietnamese Cuisine.

1. The book is bilingual with instructions in both Chinese and English. Each section is graced with photos of the dishes.

   The book is flawed for its lack of details such as, time for preparation; and of procedures (either written or pictorial. Phrases such as, "Cook chicken until 80% done" - are not overly instructive.

   I would not recommend this book unless one is already familiar with cooking processes, Asian in particular. It does not give thorough background in either the history of the country nor dishes. This book also fails to teach a person on how to cook. There is an introducion of ingredients that does have photos but other than that you are on your own. IT is a simple repository of *very* modified recipes.

   The recipes are not quite right. An example is the "vietnamese pancake" or Ban Xeo which only uses wheat flour (try rice flour and potato starch) or the fact that the frequent sauces used section is missing caramel (an essential ingredient used in various stewed and stir fry dishes. Oh yes, the dipping sauce recipe is WAY off.

   You are much better off getting another Vietnamese cookbook to start you off such as, "Best of Vietnames and Thai Cooking" - Mai Pham which is an easy introduction to dishes and ingredients though somewhat westernized (not excessively). The Lonely Planet food guide to Viet Nam is better than this book - and that is not a cookbook but a guide to Vietnamese food. For the more hardcore go get Corinne Trang's "vietnamese cooking".

   If you are a collector and obsessed about having a complete collection then get this book but ONLY on a big discount.

   Not recommended for beginners and for advanced users it will be disappointing except as a possible cross reference for dishes.




2. I grew up in a multi-ethnic house, eating authentic Vietnamese food at least 5 days a week. I was very excited to find an illustrated cookbook that listed the dishes I wanted to cook, particularly since my mom and my favorite Vietnamese restaurant are both several hours away.

   I have to say, I was heartily disappointed with this cookbook. The recipes are close to what I know they SHOULD be, but something in them seems slightly off. I have a feeling that something was lost in the translation. This might be a good cookbook for those who already know what they're doing in the kitchen and just need inspiration, but it's definitely not for a new cook or someone new to Vietnamese cuisine.

   Your best bet with this book would be to look at the pictures and be creative. If you follow the recipes, you're likely to find disappointment.




3. I bought the Vietnamese Cuisine cookbook after reading the very favorable review in the LA Times. The review statement ¡K ¡§recipes so simple that anyone could make a Vietnamese meal without prior experience¡¨ is absolutely correct. The meal and procedure pictures were very helpful in preserving the authenticity of the dishes and I greatly appreciated the information on ingredient substitution to retain the Vietnamese flavors and tastes. As a person with not much patience, I appreciated the concise and cogent instructions. Interestingly, I found the plastic cover made it easy to clean the book when I¡¦m done with my typical ¡§messy¡¨ cooking. Highly recommended.



4. I would have liked it better if most of the pages weren't taken up with the chinese translation. Beautiful pictures and easy to understand. It even has pics of the typical ingredients used in Vietnamese cooking to give you an idea of what you need to buy.

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

1. Access to a well-stocked Asian grocery will be required for successful appreciation of GREEN MANGOES AND LEMON GRASS; but readers with such access will find this a fine introduction to the range of Southeast Asia's dishes, from Thailand's spicy cuisine to the French influences of Vietnamese dishes. Enjoy a Mimosa Rice from Vietnam spiced with coconut milk, fish sauce, Chinese sausages and onions; or a Spicy Minced Beef from Laos with lime juice and lemon grass. Beautiful color photos abound.



2. 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!



3. 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.



4. I love this book - it is one of my favorite cookbooks. This has delicious easy to make recipes including many variations on noodle soups, fried rice, curries, appetisers etc. The recipes taste authentic, such as the Singaporian laksa - which is as good as any I have had in Singapore
   It is very modern, the recipes are trendy, and the food tastes restaurant class. After cooking out of this cookbook it is very difficult to enjoy going out for Asian meals again - much nicer to cook it yourself using this book!



5. My Mom and I love this book! Only thing is, she bought it for much more money than I did through Amazon. Great Prices.

5 comments about Authentic Recipes from Vietnam (Authentic Recipes Series).

1. This book is excellent. Provides many images for each food/recipe and easy to follow. In this book, Vietnamese popular food/recipe today. Also, these recipe can be use for special occasion and everyday food.



2. What a terrific book! The recipes are succintly worded and truly authentic. The photography is so excellent, you want to devour the pages. An excellent follow-up to my recent visit to Vietnam.
   
   Chef James



3. This book is bad in so many ways. It has very few recipes and is not worth it's price. The recipes it does have are for strange dishes most of which I (who's vietnamese and has grown up on authentic Vietnamese food) have never heard of and would never try (frog's legs??!!?). I'm sure there's someone out there who would eat these exotic harder-than-worth-to-make dishes but good luck to that person since the instructions are unclear,undetailed, and overall very poorly written.



4. Good food, along with its recipe and how to, is also about presentation. This book lacks the beautiful color pictures that means a thousand words.



5. Good recipes. I have had some of these before. Now I can make my own.

5 comments about Quick & Easy Vietnamese: 75 Everyday Recipes (Quick & Easy).

1. I have been looking for a good vietnamese cookbook for awhile. I checked this out at the library and fell in love with it so much I bought it to add to my collection. The fish in caramel sauce is marvelous. There is a recipe for meatballs that is great too. I'm still working my way through the book.



2. Let me first say that the bar was set very high: McDermott's Quick and Easy Thai is a masterpiece.
   
   These recipes are also delicious, and the ones I've tried have been easy. However, they're not nearly as quick and easy as the ones in the Thai book.
   
   What makes them not so quick? In a word, ingredients. Most recipe has lots of them, so there's a lot of measuring/chopping going on before you cook.
   
   Also, if you're a European American like me, you don't have these ingredients lying around, so a trip to an Asian market is a necessity, at least to stock up in the beginning.
   
   But don't let this deter you! Make fish sauce and lemon grass part of your standard staples, and McDermott does have an excellent section on ingredients, how to find them, and which are most important.
   
   The recipes also have notes on what to do if you can't find something: suggestions for substitutions or just leaving things out (though again, not as many as the Thai book.) These recipes are delicious and have complex flavors, so even if you leave something out it'll still be good.
   
   So to sum up, this is a great cookbook, but if you want to enter the world of SE Asian cooking, go with McDermott's Quick and Easy Thai first.



3. 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.



4. Bought this book because of it's good reviews and high star rating. The layout and instructions of this book are easy to follow and pleasant on the eyes (vibrant colors and good quality pages). However none of that matters if the instructions are all slightly off (recipes that called for medium-high heat for 20 minutes was in actually 1 hour on high heat while covered in order for the meat to be cooked enough to eat. Resulted in good enough looking food but tasted off and not at all "authentic" vietnamese. I've grown up on Vietnamese food and TRUST ME you do not want to use the foods made from this cookbook to represent what Vietnamese food should taste like. My mom laughed and suggested I throw out the cookbook and finally accept her traditional method of Vietnamese cooking (a dash of this and a glob of that measurements) instead. I wonder if I can still return this book since it will definately be unused and collecting dust on my shelf!



5. While the initial cost of buying ingridents for these recpies can be
   
   expensive, once you invest you are in for a treat! The direction of the
   
   recipes are easy to follow , authentic and tasty too! We went to Vietnam
   
   recently and now cooking from this book brings back culinary delightful
   
   memories. The recipes can be time consuming but if you love to cook that
   
   won't matter, have a glass of wine! The PHO is my husbands favorite,
   
   Lemongrass Beef ummmmm good! Don't Miss

1 comments about Vietnamese Fusion: Vegetarian Cuisine.

1. 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.

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

1. Being a Vietnamese-American, I have found this book useful in supplementing what I had learned as a kid growing up in Viet Nam.
   
   The notable recipes included Beef Noodle Soup (the spice mix is the trick to get the right flavor in the broth) and spring rolls and related sauces (hoisin-based and fish-sauce based). My mother, who has been cooking since her teens, has also found the recipes very useful.
   
   My only gripe would be wanting more recipes! :)
   
   All in all, worth the money. I am looking forward to trying the dishes at Lemongrass in Sacramento.



2. 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.



3. I've been using this cookbook for years and I have yet to make something that I am not pleased with from it.
   
   Some of my favorites include "Warm Beef on Cool Noodles", a classic Vietnamese dish. The Cornish hen stew, (made with a chicken instead) was insanely good (use Japanese style yellow curry, i think they say it in the book).
   
   The curry recipes are quite good, although I prefer to defer to Simply Thai Cooking for their technique with curry recipes (involves lots of boiling of curry and coconut milk). But these recipes are definitely great.
   
   There is also a great recipe for Shrimp with a homemade paste made with peppercorns, cilantro, and chiles that is excellent, even when I completely riffed on it.
   
   The format is easy to read, and the book has held up to my extremely messy cooking style. I also enjoy the author's anecdotes about Thailand and Vietnam.



4. I'm Vietnamese-American & grew up eating lots of Vietnamese food but never actually knew how to make anything myself so it is nice to have a cookbook that includes many of the traditional Vietnamese recipes, like carmelized ginger chicken, congee (chicken & rice soup), pho, etc. Also, the book includes Thai recipes which seem interesting though I haven't tried them yet. I've followed a couple of the former recipes and they provide good guidelines for the dish, however, I don't like how the author has "Americanized" the recipes and seems to make the highest priority presentation because I'm really just interested in eating simple, good food that's easy to make. Also, her narrative often includes "plugs" for her own or her husband's businesses which is a turn-off and detracts from the focus and authenticity of the book (which is supposed to be about cooking, not personal advertising). Still, the recipes seem ok and serve the purpose for Vietnamese-style cooking.



5. When I first bought this book I thought it was great but since then I have purchased Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors which is much more detailed and authentic. This "lemongrass" book is good for an introduction to both THAI and Vietnamese cuisine but I find it leans more towards "Americanizing" its flavors and for someone like myself who is trying to learn Vietnamese cuisine for her husbands sake..isn't the best. I being Hispanic, like the recipes but my Asian husband said they lacked TRUE flavor..hence my second purchase, which is a big hit. I like the Thai recipes in this book but tend to turn to the before mentioned book for Vietnamese recipes.

5 comments about Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table.

1. aesthetically pleasing book with interesting background information on the dishes and good recipes. more pictures of the actual dishes would have helped, especially for those that you are not familiar with, but the easy to follow step-by-step directions made up for the lack of pictures



2. My Mother-in-law (MIL)is Vietnamese which makes it difficult for us to find a great Vietnamese cookbook since we're always comparing it to her cooking. We wanted a cookbook that featured authentic dishes. And being that I'm hispanic it was really hard for me to replicate instictively what I saw my MIL make in her kitchen. But after getting this book...Wow! The dishes truly tasted the way they were supposed to! I know some reviewers have stated that the recipes are too time consuming, but you can always "modernize" a bit if your in a rush (Ex. She tells you to make the coconut milk from scratch. Very Time consuming! But just substitute for a good asian brand of canned coconut milk and the results are VERY close, specially if you're in a time crunch. That's what my MIL does!). The first time I made a recipe from this book my husband couldn't believe I had made it myself! It's true that you would need a pretty good asian/vietnamese market nearby for best results but I've done slight modifications when needed and still had a tasty meal at hand.
   This is a great book to have in your library. You might not use this book every month but it has the BEST truly Vietnamese recipes I've ever tried. If you're not concerned about the authenticity of a recipe then you might prefer a different book that is "easier" but probably more suited to our american palates than the vietnamese...



3. Great book! Easy to follow instructions, gives background info about the ingredients, and everything tastes great. The only complaint that I have, is that the book is not glossy, so it is easy to destroy if it gets wet.



4. Other reviewers mentioned that "Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table" is not for them because they are not hardcore cooks who want to slave over the stove for hours, and I know what they are talking about. I can sympathize with their problems because there are many ingredients they have to deal with. But if they live near major Vietnamese or Chinese supermarkets, then they definitely would not have to worry about finding the ingredients. For me, "Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table" is special because I want to learn how to cook these Vietnamese recipes authentically, meaning taking more time and effort rather than using short cuts. It's important to me because I'm Vietnamese, and I want to learn and preserve Vietnamese cuisine as authentically as possible for future generations. I love Mai Pham's "Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table" for its cultural values via authentic Vietnamese recipes. The author actually went back to Vietnam and collected these recipes from excellent street vendors and home cooks. This book is a real treasure because it is the only Vietnamese cookbook out there that has authentic recipes as they are cooked in Vietnam today by street vendors and home cooks. This book is well written, the procedures are detailed, and the recipes are delicious. The reasons I like this book are:
   
   1) Excellent recipe for "banh beo" (steamed round rice cakes with shrimp), which is delicious. The author got this recipe from a vendor (in Vietnam) who has been making and selling "banh beo" for decades. This recipe is different than the one in Andrea Nguyen's book "Into The Vietnamese Kitchen", and I have to say that I like this recipe better than Andrea Nguyen's.
   
   2) Marinated daikon and carrots recipe. I like the fact that the author offers the readers a choice between using rice vinegar or distilled white vinegar. Other Vietnamese cookbooks tell readers to use distilled white vinegar entirely or to use rice vinegar entirely, rather than giving them a choice between the two vinegars. Personally, I prefer rice vinegar. This recipe would go great with Vietnamese sandwich, but you would need to slice the daikon into thick matchsticks rather than thick slices.
   
   3) Great lotus stem salad recipe.
   
   4) Great "bun bo Hue" recipe.
   
   5) Fantastic Vietnamese spring rolls ("cha gio").
   
   6) Great rice paper-wrapped salad rolls ("goi cuon"). This book has the most authentic Bean Dipping sauce for these rolls because the sauce is made from fermented whole soybeans. Other Vietnamese cookbooks use short cuts such as using hoisin sauce and peanut butter to make the bean dipping sauce. This book is so valuable because it teaches readers how to cook authentic Vietnamese foods as seen in Vietnam today. No short cuts here.
   
   7) Delicious Vietnamese rice cakes in banana leaves ("banh chung") for the Lunar New Year celebration.
   
   8) Great chapter on Vietnamese vegetarian dishes.
   
   9) Interesting background information regarding the street vendors and home cooks who contributed the recipes for this book.
   
   This book has all the common recipes that you usually order at Vietnamese restaurants and delis. The only negative thing about this book is that its Glossary/Guide To Ingredients is not as detailed as that in Andrea Nguyen's book "Into The Vietnamese Kitchen". However, the recipes in this book are second to none. Don't be afraid to cook from this book because the recipes are not unreasonably complex. In fact, I find it easy to cook from this book because it's well written and thorough. Of all the Vietnamese cookbooks written in English on the market today, this book is the most authentic one, and it's charming. There are no color photos, and most recipes are not accompanied by photos; but this book is still my favorite Vietnamese cookbook. It's priceless. You won't regret buying this book.



5. Very authentic cook book. THough it lacks color pictures, if you are familiar with these dishes you will not need them. Flavors are very familiar to what my parents would cook- easy instruction though recipes are time consuming (inherent in the recipes not the authors writing). Get this book to cook a wonderful meal on the weekends and if you have access to these ingredients

5 comments about Quick & Easy Vietnamese: Home Cooking for Everyone (Quick and Easy Series).

1. I wanted to give this book only a FOUR STARS rating, but I couldn't edit that part; so it shows a five stars rating instead.
   
   This book is good for beginners who want to cook Vietnamese food on a superficial level but do not want to delve too deeply into Vietnamese cuisine. The author, Andre Nguyen, is a Vietnamese chef who owns a Vietnamese restaurant, so he knows how to cook very well. The recipes have only a few ingredients that are easy to find in a Vietnamese or Chinese supermarkets, and they taste good. If you want 100% authentic Vietnamese recipes which will take quite some time to prepare, then this book is not for you. But if you want good Vietnamese recipes that have been simplified by substituting ingredients that are easier to find and make, then this book is definitely for you. This book also has great color photos of every recipe, so they're very helpful. This book is not meant to be comprehensive or detailed, rather it is meant for people who want to put Vietnamese food on the table fast! If you're really serious about learning how to cook Vietnamese food, then I would recommend Andrea Nguyen's "Into The Vietnamese Kitchen" and Mai Pham's "Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table".



2. I LOVE Andre's cookbook!
   
   His recipes are pretty authentic and straightforward. He doesn't B.S. Highly recommended for beginners. For those who are experienced in Vietnamese cooking, I find this book useful as a quick reference for weekly meal planning. Like with any other cookbooks, the recipes serve only as a basis for basic ingredients. Alter the flavor according to your own liking (sweetness, tang, saltiness, etc..)
   
   Enjoy..



3. Of all six vietnamese cookbook, this came pretty decent. The pictures are great to prep for the food. I like the fact that you don't have to worry if you bought the wrong ingredients or not. I am glad I bought this one. Banh Xeo and Bun Rieu is pretty decent.



4. Giving pictures of the major ingriedients was very thoughtful. The recipes are pretty streamlined and easy but thats fine with me, I don't have any aspirations to be a chef. Personally I wouldn't go to the trouble of making my own soup stock like the author suggests when you can just buy the cubes, but I guess it just depends on how serios you are about cooking. So far the book has been easy to follow and the food produced has been delicious which is whats most important to me.



5. The recipes in this book is pretty much basic vietnamese cooking. It is simple and easy to follow instructions. Great pictures that would leave you salivating and wanting to try the recipes.

5 comments about The Little Saigon Cookbook: Vietnamese Cuisine and Culture in Southern California's Little Saigon.

1. 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.



2. 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.



3. I found "The Little Saigon Cookbook" to be amongst the best of any of my Vietnamese/Asian cookbooks. It is vivid in its descriptions and illustrations. It also provides any serious enthusiast with some excellent recipes. My last dental assistant was Vietnamese and taught me a great deal before I had to retire and this cookbook reflects much of what she took the time to teach me. I also found the narrative of the author's coming to this country very interesting and inspiring.
   
   I regret that there is a "one-star" rating on this book. But I have found that if you investigate grossly deviant ratings/reviews you can usually disregard them due to personal agendas, lack of experience, etc.
   
   No, I am not Vietnamese, but I have been cooking and learning about Vietnamese cooking before most non-immigrants even knew much about this incredible cuisine. I can remember finally finding one of the few Vietnamese grocery stores at that time in south downtown Houston. This was just south of my dental practice and the owners couldn't believe that this "round-eyed" American was interested, much less knew anything about their foods. My first cookbook was a first edition by Bach Ngo. Since then I have collected most Vietnamese cookbooks in print and several out of print.



4. I've tried a few recipes in this book and it is not too bad. There isn't a book out there that you follow exact steps to get a perfect dish. You will still have to modify it a bit to fit your taste bud. This book was able to be that base starting point for me. Highly recommended.



5. This book of recipes is complete and easy to follow. It is also in brand new condition.

5 comments about Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors.

1. 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.



2. I was just mentioning to someone that what I like about this cookbook is that it has recipes in it for everyday type of food. Not fancy. Easy ingredients, and very good. Too often cookbooks only have those recipes that would be intended for banquets or special occasions and take hours to make with lots of ingredients. This cookbook has an excellent assortment of easy/good vietnamese food with some good descriptive reading to go along with it. I'd recommend it to anyone.



3. Andrea Nguyen has written a wonderful, easy to use cookbook on Vietnamese cooking. We just returned from Vietnam in April (2008) and Ms Nguyen has put together a wonderful, comprehensive book that sums up the wonderful cuisine of Vietnam. We traveled from Hanoi to Saigon and never had a bad meal. Ms Nguyen recreated our experience 100 times!!! She recounts the evacuation of her family from Saigon in 1975 and relocation in San Jose. How her family became accustomed to their new life, but continued to cook wonderful Vietnamese food. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Vietnamese cooking...I have made a number of the recipes and they have turned out fabulously. Every dish I make reminds me of our wonderful trip to Vietnam.



4. When I got this book I had very limited knowledge on Vietnamese food. There is a striking difference in ingredients, spices and herbs used in the Vietnamese cuisine compared to western cooking and the author takes the time to explain all the different ingredients used, how and where to purchase them and how to store them. I found that very helpful! All the recipes in the book are explained in detail and often take more than one page. The ingredients are also very well listed and the dishes are very well organized in chapters.The recipes are very easy to follow and I have been really satisfied from everything I have cooked until now! The author also tells a few words about each dish and its origin and characteristics making the book a true journey into the Vietnamese kitchen (and culinary culture) rather than a mere cookbook. I have a much better understanding and appreciation of Vietnamese food now and a lot of it is due to Andrea Nguen's book.



5. I'm American-born Vietnamese, and my parents came to the U.S. in 1975 at the tailend of the war. I have been searching for a thorough Vietnamese cookbook for quite some time. My mom sifted through the book in great detail and compared it to her set of Vietnamese recipes that have been passed down through generations. She kept commenting how thorough the recipes were and how authentic.
   
   What I love about this book is:
   1. Vietnamese cooking is difficult, meticulous, and takes patience. What I love what the author does is simplifies these recipes to make them adaptable to American kitchen equipment, while still keeping authentic flavor. Yes, you may have gotten there differently, but you end up in the same place.
   
   2. The intro and appendix chapters to teach you about the foundations of Vietnamese cooking and explaining the different ingredients (how to store them, how to cut them, where to find them)
   
   3. The equivalent Vietnamese names and pictures help me associate the dishes to the botched English translations. Any Vietnamese person will say that the English translations do not translate directly to what the author has named them in this book, but having the exact Vietnamese name helps me recall what the recipe is...and for anyone else, helps you recognize it on a menu to order at a restaurant later!
   
   4. The group of recipes provided really encompass end-to-end Vietnamese cuisine that consist of classic dishes and "Dac Biet" dishes (fancy dishes usually saved for special occasions). From crab asparagus soup to Moon Cakes, each dish brings back all of my childhood memories of my favorite dishes that my mom is now too tired to cook herself.
   
   Bottom line, the recipes are simplified - it's no 30-minute meal - but instead of brewing pho broth for a full day, she gives alternatives of how to shorten it....but also still providing the recipe for the all-day broth.