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October 15, 2013Vietnamese Cookbooks List
Itprobably doesn’t surprise you to know that Vietnamese cookbooks make up a fairshare of my cookbook collection. I've been collecting them for decades,gleaning them not just for recipes and techniques, but also social history.That’s how I justify owning books written in English, Vietnamese, French,Chinese, and Japanese. (I can barely read Chinese characters and forget about Japanese!)
Partof the original VWK website constructed in 2002 was a page with short recaps of English-languageVietnamese cookbooks that I owned. I pulled down the page when I switched to ablog format in 2007 because I didn’t think people were all that interested. Noone seemed to notice until this year. Rick from the UK and another gal emailedabout the list. “Where did it go? Would you publish it again?” they asked.
Iput their request on my to-do list and finally had time to work on it over theweekend. Here it is, with Vietnamese cookbooks that date back to 1968! I’ll tryto keep this list updated as I review more Viet cookbooks so bookmark thispage. Or, return to VWK and search for “Vietnamese cookbooks.” Hang on to your hat, this is a long list.
Vietnamese Home Cooking (2012)
Charles Phan and Jessica Battilana
A great book for fans of Charles Phan, the Chinese-Vietnamese chef/restaurateurof the Slanted Door restaurant group in San Francisco. His debut cookbook,written as a collaboration with Jessica Battilana, includes many of the dishesserved at the restaurant (hello Slanted Door’s shaking beef!) as well as Cantonesedishes of his heritage. There are Thai recipes (his wife is Thai) as well asideas drawn from Japan. Techniques and recipes tend to be fussy, reflecting therestaurant’s kitchen, not that of Viet home cooks. More in this review of the book. I also madefresh bun rice noodles from Vietnamese Home Cooking too.
VietnameseStreet Food (2011)
Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl
People are crazy for street food these days and Vietnam has much to offer. Inthis photogenic book, Tracey and her husband take to the streets. They live inHanoi and have documented the beloved recipes savored throughout the country. Therecipes are easy to follow if you’re familiar with Viet cooking and Asianingredients. Futher details are in this Q&A with Tracey on Vietnamesestreet food tips. For a sample recipe, try this vegan faux crab and ricenoodle soup (bun rieu cua chay).
Indochine:Baguette and Banh Mi (2011)
Luke Nguyen
I’m not one to say thatViet food is an offshoot of French cooking as Viet cooks are not one to kowtow. That said, it’s hard to avoid getting into the Franco spirit when you’relooking at colonial buildings in semi-decrepit states. This is Luke Nguyen’sthird book (his second solo work) and it parallels his television show. In thebook, he canvases traditional and modern Vietnamese food to paint apicture of timeless fusion cooking. He recounts interactions withVietnamese, French-Vietnamese, French, and Vietnamese-French people andincludes their recipes, which range from street food to fancy plated fare. Fromthat mix of content, you get an interesting global perspective of Vietnamesecuisine.
Appetitesand Aspirations in Vietnam (2011)
EricaPeters
If youyearn for a historic and rigorous look at the French colonial era in Vietnam, checkthis work by historian Erica Peters. It presents the push-pull dynamic of the colonialFrench-Viet relationship, all from the perspective of food.
The Songs ofSapa (2009)
Luke Nguyen
I met chef and restaurateur Luke Nguyen in Sydney in 2009 and he was beginning anew project – a food and travel television show. This book was the first ofseveral that he pumped out as works that accompany his series. The location photographyis compelling, though the recipe writing can challenge cooks who are not wellversed in Asian or Viet ingredients and cooking techniques. A beautifulpublication. The original book was released as The Songs of Sapa but it was reissued in 2011 as My Vietnam in the United States. I tried Luke’s recipe for roast pork here and was inspired to cookokra his way.
Secrets of the RedLantern: Stories and Recipes from the Heart (2008)
Pauline Nguyen and Luke Nguyen
A lovely book from the brother-and-sister team behind Red Lantern, a charminglychic Vietnamese restaurant in Sydney, Australia. It’s an interesting book for comparingand contrasting Vietnamese restaurant fare inside and outside of the motherland.If you’re interested in the Viet diaspora, this book spotlightsViet-Australians exceptionally well. For more, see this postor try this recipe for red rice.
Wild, Wild East:Recipes and Stories from Vietnam (2008)
Bobby Chinn
Chef/restaurateur/travel television show host Bobby Chinn takes a brash andunnerving approach to getting recipes from folks in Vietnam. He distilled hisexperiences and insights into this book. Based in Hanoi, Bobby's work has nicelocation photography. The recipe collection includes many modern takes on oldfavorites. I included it in the 2008 round-upof notable Asian cookbooks. Bobby has smuggled Phu Quoc fish sauce in his luggage for me. What a friend!
Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors (2006)
Andrea Nguyen
My labor of love for several years, this is a collection of 175+ recipes thatpays homage to old-fashioned methods and classic Viet dishes yet providesreaders with instructions on how to prepare the delectable foods in a modernkitchen. Recipes cover the broad spectrum of foods, from the super simple (justa few ingredients needed) to more elaborate time-honored treats like banh chung (Tet sticky ricecakes) and banh nuong (moon cakes). For more details on my book, check this page.
The Little Saigon Cookbook: Vietnamese Cuisine andCulture in Southern California's Little Saigon (2006)
Ann Le
Here's a book that covers Viet cooking as it is presented in Little Saigon, thelargest Vietnamese American enclave located in Westminster, California. Asouthern California resident, Ann works in the finance industry and has putlots of heart into this work in order to represent her community well. The useof olive oil in the some of the recipes, however, is a bit odd.
Quick& Easy Vietnamese: 75 Everyday Recipes (2005)
Nancie McDermott
This is part of publisher Chronicle Books' series of quick and easy ethniccookbooks. The books are not designed to be in-depth or comprehensive, butNancie is a veteran writer and you're in good hands. Her first work, RealThai (1992), anamazing book regional Thai cookbook that I still cook from.
A Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Family Recipes (2005)
Ha Roda
Like Ann Le's book above, this one presents Viet food as it is prepared in theVietnamese immigrant kitchen in America. Ha Roda is a media arts professionalbased in Los Angeles. She's not a professional food writer, but if you'refamiliar with Viet cooking or are a seasoned cook, you can follow her recipes.However, the use bouillon cubes, prepackaged seasoning mixes, and KitchenBouquet are rather disappointing, though a fair number of Viet American cooksuse those prepackaged ingredients. Hippocrene Books, the publisher, should havespent more on photography. The black and white images are unattractive.
Didier Corlou'sVietnamese Cuisine (2003)
Didier Corlou
French chef Corlou's cookbook contains gorgeous photography from Vietnam, wherehe was based as key staff person of the Sofitel hotels. He was formerly theexecutive chef at the Metropole in Hanoi. Corlou has an unending passion forVietnamese cooking (he's married to a Viet woman), and the book offerstraditional as well as modern recipes that he developed. The recipeinstructions are not in depth and somewhat hard to follow. However, it's asophisticated, lovely work. Pick up a copy at the Metropole in Hanoi. This bookisn't available online.
VietnameseHome Cooking (2003)
Robert Carmack, Didier Corlou, Nguyen Thanh Van
A title in Periplus series on Asian home cooking, this work comes fromprofessional cooks based in Vietnam at the Hanoi Metropole Hotel. Carmack isthe professional writer. Beautiful photography, but the ingredients andinstructions aren't easily adapted to the American home kitchen. If you're aseasoned Asian cook, this title is worth having.
TheVietnamese Cookbook (2003)
Diana Tran
A nice small book written by a Vietnamese-American career woman who offers hercontemporary, time-saving approaches to putting Viet favorites on the table forher family. Theinstructions can be breezy so beginner cooks may have a hard time.
Lemongrassand Lime: New Vietnam Cooking (2001)
Mark Read
A book from London’s Bam-bou restaurant that focused on modern Vietnamese food.Beautiful photography, poorly laid-out design of recipes. The ingredients arelisted at the bottom of each page in a horizontal fashion. The recipes blendChinese, Thai and Vietnamese elements, which how the Bam-bou bills itself. Ah,that explains the use of kaffir lime among the book’s essential ingredientslisting.
Pleasuresof the Vietnamese Table (2001)
Mai Pham
This second work from Mai Pham, a restauranteur in Sacramento, CA, was verywell received by both the LosAngeles Times and New York Times. The recipeswere developed from her travels and research in Vietnam. She gathered recipesand flavors from street-food hawkers and Viet home cooks. The instructions arewell written and as usual, Pham knows her stuff. For those who've traveled toVietnam, this may be a great book to remind them of their eating adventures. Itdoesn't mirror food from Viet-American kitchens, and that's not its objective.For overseas Vietnamese, this book offers great information on how food andculture are evolving in Vietnam. There's a nice discussion on herbs andingredients. Go to Pham's first book, The Best of Vietnamese and ThaiCooking or check herout at www.lemongrassrestaurant.com
AuthenticVietnamese Cooking: Food from a Family Table (1999)
Corinne Trang
Not particularly authentic, as the name suggests. The author is CambodianChinese French, not Vietnamese. A lot of work went into this book, and Trang isa capable recipe writer, having worked in the test kitchen at Saveur magazine. Nonetheless, you comeaway wondering about how to best define authenticity. It's difficult tounderstand who the author is. It made me want Trang to pen a book on herexperiences growing up in France and eating/preparing ethnic Chinese-SoutheastAsian food there.
Café Vietnam (1999)
Annabel Jackson
A nice little paperback with cool photos. The recipes are based on foodsprepared in Vietnam, not what's cooked in America. As a result, theingredients, flavors, etc. are not what you may expect or may have experiencedin Vietnamese American homes, restaurants and delis. This work is part of theConran Octopus 'Café' Cookbook series.
TheFood of Vietnam: Authentic Recipes from the Ascending Dragon (1997)
Trieu Thi Choi, Marcel Isaak
Based on 'old world' recipes from a Vietnam-based chef, this book is bestunderstood and used by people who are familiar with traditional Vietnamesecooking. Some of the ingredients, such as pork fatback, would put health-consciouscooks off. Sometimes the proportions for seasoning are heavy handed. My motherlikes the recipes because the Vietnamese author "speaks" to her.However, when Mom tried out one of the recipes, she cut out the fat and halvedthe seasonings. There's a nice history section in this book about traditionalfoodways. This work is part of a Periplus series of ethnic cookbooks.
TheBest of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking (1996)
Mai Pham
Mai Pham owns Lemongrass restaurant in Sacramento, which offers diners Thai andVietnamese food. She's a competent cook who also does her research. This is anice book with traditional recipes. However, the inclusion of Thai recipes sortof makes things confusing.
TheFlavours of Vietnam (1995,2002)
Meera Freeman, Le Van Nhan
From Australia comes this work by professional cookbook writer Freeman andrestaurant chef Le. There's little cultural information on the recipes, and themeasurements are in metric. However, if you're familiar with Viet cooking, thiswork is worth exploring.
TheSimple Art of Vietnamese Cooking (1991)
Binh Duong, Marcia Kiesel
Out of print but worth having on hand for the recipes, which blends traditionalViet methods with a skilled restaurateur's modern cooking knowledge. Read theinstructions carefully to make sure everything makes sense. No photosunfortunately.
TheFoods of Vietnam (1989and 1999)
Nicole Routhier
One the first Vietnamese cookbooks in the U.S. Nicole Routhier is VietnameseFrench and was raised in Vietnam and Laos. NewYork Times food writerCraig Claiborne wrote the foreword. One of the oddities of this book is the useof olive oil as an ingredient. Cream is suggested as a substitute for coconutmilk. Perhaps because Routhier wrote the book in the 80s, when Asianingredients were not easily available. Reprinted in 1999 with a new cover, itstands out in terms of beautiful photography.
Livingand Cooking Vietnamese: An American Woman's Experience (1990)
Paula Tran
For an interesting perspective, try this book of 80 recipes written by anAmerican woman who married a Vietnamese man.
Cookingthe Vietnamese Way (1985)
Chi Nguyen, Judy Monroe
A very small collection of 24 recipes comprise this title.
TheClassic Cuisine of Vietnam (1979and 1986)
Bach Ngo, Gloria Zimmerman
Probably the first Vietnamese cookbook printed in America after the massarrival of refugees. For Vietnamese cooks who came during the first wave, thisbook will remind them of the initial trials and tribulations of fixing foods oftheir homeland. Though some of the ingredients have since changed as moreauthentic ingredients are now available at Asian markets, the basic methods andideas for preparing Vietnamese food in an American kitchen still apply.
Happyin My Stomach (1975)
Marjorie Doughty
This small spiral bound community cookbook contains recipes of super fresh Vietimmigrants to the U.S. who were staying at the Eglin Refugee Reception Centerin Florida in the spring and summer of 1975. It's a charming, sweet book thatoffers hand-drawn illustrations, short pieces on Viet and Chinese customs,along with recipes. If you're a cookbook collector or into tracing theevolution of Viet cooking in the States, this one is a must to have.
VietnameseDishes (1973)
Duong Thi Thanh Lien
I found this book in Viet bookstore in San Jose, CA. The author, born in 1933,was a medical doctor and professor of medicine (pretty impressive for a womanat that time!) in Saigon. It is bilingual, with Vietnamese recipes on one pageand its English version on the other. Dr. Lien discusses life as during thevarious foreign occupations of Vietnam during the 20th century. Her writingoffers insight into how people cooked and ate in the pre-1975 era of Vietnam.Like Miller's book below, this has significant historic value.
VietnameseCookery (1968)
Jill Nhu Huong Miller
Find and buy this book for its historic value. Born in Vietnam, the author wasa language instructor for the US Armed Forces. There's a certain Hawaiian touchbecause that's where the author conceived the book. Only a few recipes havebilingual Vietnamese English titles, requiring a little extra energy to figureout the original Viet equivalent.
Where to buy these books? From brick-and-mortar bookstores, online retailers, wherever you find books! The out-of-print ones will take some searching. If you know of some worthy or obscure work that I've missed, shoot me a message.
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| Comments Vietnamese Cookbooks List
Itprobably doesn’t surprise you to know that Vietnamese cookbooks make up a fairshare of my cookbook collection. I've been collecting them for decades,gleaning them not just for recipes and techniques, but also social history.That’s how I justify owning books written in English, Vietnamese, French,Chinese, and Japanese. (I can barely read Chinese characters and forget about Japanese!)
Partof the original VWK website constructed in 2002 was a page with short recaps of English-languageVietnamese cookbooks that I owned. I pulled down the page when I switched to ablog format in 2007 because I didn’t think people were all that interested. Noone seemed to notice until this year. Rick from the UK and another gal emailedabout the list. “Where did it go? Would you publish it again?” they asked.
Iput their request on my to-do list and finally had time to work on it over theweekend. Here it is, with Vietnamese cookbooks that date back to 1968! I’ll tryto keep this list updated as I review more Viet cookbooks so bookmark thispage. Or, return to VWK and search for “Vietnamese cookbooks.” Hang on to your hat, this is a long list.
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