Product Description

A land of vibrant cultures and vivid contrasts, Vietnam is also home to some of the most delicious and intriguing food in the world. While its cooking traditions have been influenced by those of China, France, and even India, Vietnam has created a cuisine with a spirit and a flavor all its own.

Chef and restaurateur Mai Pham brings to life this diverse and exciting cooking in Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table. Born and raised in Saigon before emigrating to the United States, Mai has often returned to her native land to learn the secrets of authentic Vietnamese cooking, from family, friends, home cooks, street vendors, and master chefs. Traveling from region to region, she has gathered the simple, classic recipes that define Vietnamese food today: Green Mango Salad with Grilled Beef, Stir-Fried Chicken with Lemongrass and Chilies, Caramelized Garlic Shrimp, and especially pho, the country's beloved beef-and-noodle soup. With more than 100 recipes in all, Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table offers home cooks the chance to create and savor the traditional flavors of Vietnam in their own kitchen.

Filled with enchanting stories and stirring black-and-white photos of life in Vietnam, Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table provides a captivating taste of an enduring culture and its irresistible cuisine.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #241988 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-01
• Released on: 2001-07-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 242 pages

Amazon.com's Best of 2001
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

From Publishers Weekly
Pham (The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking) recently began making a yearly visit to her relatives in the Mekong Delta and found treasures in the culinary heritage of her homeland. She already had plenty of experience cooking Southeast Asian food (she co-owns and cooks at the successful Lemon Grass Caf‚ and Restaurant in Sacramento and has taught at the Culinary Institute of America), but this was a chance to reconnect with her family. Artfully arranged with beautiful photographs, this collection of recipes is a celebration of family traditions as well as the popular national dishes of Vietnam. A list of basic pantry elements describes important tools, such as the clay pots used for making Kho (braised meats), condiments and the intricacies of rice paper, including how to make your own with an improvised fresh-rice-wrapper cooker. She also offers recipes for salads, steamed rice cakes, delicacies such as Rice Rolls with Shrimp and Wood-Ear Mushrooms and a variety of noodle dishes with fresh herbs, grilled pork, shrimp and shaved beef. In addition, the book includes many steamed, poached, simmered and grilled seafood dishes and a whole chapter of vegetarian specialties inspired by Pham's grandmother, all enlivened with the keen flavors of shrimp paste, lemongrass, fish sauce and lots of ginger and garlic. An excellent introduction to Vietnamese food for all skill levels. B&w photos and illus. (Aug.)Forecast: Vietnamese cooking is increasingly popular, with restaurants opening nationwide, and Vietnam is a tourist destination for many Americans. Author appearances in five major cities will help this book find the commercial success it deserves.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Pham, who fled Vietnam with her family in 1975, is now co chef and owner of the Lemon Grass Restaurant in Sacramento, CA. She first returned to Vietnam six years ago and has been back every year since, visiting her feisty 101-year-old grandmother and traveling throughout the country. Pham's first cookbook was The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking (1996). Here she focuses on the wonderful food sold at markets and street corner stalls in Vietnam, starting with Pho, the famous rice noodle and beef soup, and moving on to salads and savory snacks, rice and noodle dishes, seafood such as Salt-and-Pepper Crab, and vegetarian dishes. Pham points out that street food is highly regarded in Vietnam and that the cooks who offer these delicacies are regarded as master chefs, since many "have spent a lifetime perfecting one, or at most a few, specialty recipes dishes typically packed with flavors." She also provides an overview of Vietnamese food and includes a separate chapter on the sauces and other condiments ("Layer After Layer") that are essential to finishing and individualizing each dish. Readable, personal, and filled with delicious recipes, this is highly recommended.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Good for experienced cooks
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

Great authentic Vietnamese recipes.
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.

just like the restaurant!
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.