Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table: Recipes and Reminiscences from Vietnam's Best Market Kitchens, Street Cafes, and Home Cooks

by Mai Pham

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 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.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Food and Drink, Collections

242 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2001

Reviews

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

To many people all Asian food is broadly the same with, if one is lucky, them managing to separate Indian-styled and Chinese-styled food from the “Asian Food” tag. Yet the differences are tremendously wide if one only knows and, of course, many dishes have been localised so even if you have identified and eaten a specific national dish in your own country, it is not necessarily an authentic dish.
At least this book will set you right and also let you make your own authentic dishes in the comfort of your own home. Vietnamese food, an often forgotten genre of Asian cuisine, naturally shares a broad commonality with other Asiatic cuisines but once you drill down to the core it is clear that there is a variety of regional differences and styles.
Through the author, one is transported to Vietnam to enjoy a guided culinary tour of various market kitchens, street cafes and homes and given the opportunity to learn about the distinctive flavours and types of authentic Vietnamese food. First of all one is given an introduction to the basics and history of Vietnamese cuisine such as special ingredients, cooking techniques and traditional cooking utensils. Intwined with the hard facts are a range of reminiscences from the author and her family and stories and folklore from around the country.
Many elements are often combined to produce a dish so an element of harmony and complimentary association is required. One gains an insight into the range of various dipping sauces which are commonplace along with accompaniments and herbs. For example not all Soy sauces are the same and one begins to appreciate the often subtle differences that can exist and see how they can affect a particular dish.
Separate chapters exist covering the entire gamut of dishes from salads and savouries, sweets, meat dishes, items suitable for vegetarians and even drinks. All recipes are detailed and relatively easy-to-follow once you have mastered the basics and gained confidence. This is much more than just a recipe book as it feels like a hybrid between a journal, travel book and the inner-most secrets of a top chef.
The book, despite being published a long time ago, is still highly regarded and remains in demand with a price tag to match. It would be nice to see a more up-to-date version, if only for the useful resource guide at the back being quite of out date and the addition of even more colour pictures to help guide the unwary and boost their confidence. But don’t let those minor points for one second change the highly positive view towards this book.

Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table, written by Mai Pham and published by HarperCollins. ISBN 0060192585, 258 pages. Typical price: GBP18.


// This review appeared in YUM.fi and is reproduced here in full with permission of YUM.fi. YUM.fi celebrates the worldwide diversity of food and drink, as presented through the humble book. Whether you call it a cookery book, cook book, recipe book or something else (in the language of your choice) YUM will provide you with news and reviews of the latest books on the marketplace. //

[Emily M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always love it when cookbooks don’t just give you recipes but set those recipes in a context of culture or personal history or whatever the source of inspiration was. Mai Pham and her parents left Vietnam in 1975 unsure if they’d ever be able to return. But in 1995 she made her first trip back and the story portions of this book recount that joyful reunion with her grandmother and home food culture!

There are several different sections to this book, but my favorite is the vegetarian one, called “Return to the grandmotherland”. Said grandmother switched to a meatless diet when her husband died young as a way of gaining Buddhist spiritual merit and luck for herself and her seven children. And, heck, it seems to have worked, since she not only made it through the war but at the time of writing was 102!

Recipes I’ve tried
- Spicy lemongrass tofu (Really yummy! I recommend getting lemongrass puree in a tube and freezing the extra, especially if you can’t grow lemongrass in your area – much better than struggling with the dried up stalks from the grocery store)
- Grilled lemongrass shrimp (I added onion to the shrimp & marinade, grilled them on a fine grid instead of trying to put them on skewers, and served with some vinegar cucumbers; there’s a slightly more involved cucumber salad in this book you could use instead as a side. You can also cook them in a pan with snow or sugar peas, and that is also very tasty)
- Salad rolls with mushrooms and tofu (I used rehydrated dried shiitake for this and found the result really flavorful and delicious! I might cut down on the bean thread noodles next time, though, to get a higher concentration of the herbs, mushrooms, and tofu in each bite)
- Grilled 5 spice chicken (A great flavorful marinade. I put the star anise in the rice I served with it instead, though, because I didn’t think I could pulverize it enough that it wouldn’t be crunchy on the chicken)
- Sea bass with lily buds, mushrooms, and cellophane noodles (I had bought dried lily buds and black mushrooms for a dish from another cookbook, and this turned out to be another tasty way to use them. Any white, medium-thick fish should do; I used barramundi. As the author notes, if you don’t have a large enough steamer you can make this in a pan on the stove.)
- Beef stew with star anise and basil (I don’t eat a ton of beef, but the unusual seasoning blend here – annatto, garlic, lemongrass, chilies, star anise, and curry powder – plus the brightness of fresh basil added at the end made for a satisfying winter dish)

I have yet to explore the extensive section on soups because they seem like a lot of work and good pho isn’t too hard to find in California. I already had collected recipes for shrimp salad rolls, stirfried chicken with lemongrass and chilies, shaking beef, and eggplant with garlic & basil, so I haven’t tried this book’s version of those either…but they look similar to the ones in my collection, so should be good.

There are still are many other recipes I’m still itching to try out, though, such as black mushroom with bean threads in claypot, Hanoi calamari salad, bean thread noodles w/ crab, braised duck with pineapple, and vegetarian salad rolls with jicama peanuts and basil.

[Genevieve Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Going through my cookbook stash to prep for a move, and this one is going to go, but I have a deep appreciation for it. I took pictures of quite a few recipes to make at a later day, but i will caution that most of these require a kitchen predisposed to Vietnamese food. In America, that’s difficult but not impossible by any means.

[Lindsey Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful and evocative analysis of Vietnamese dishes, this book shares personal stories, historical explanation, and dissects where the recipes digress from tradition and why ... exactly what you want for education, entertainment and the ability to take these meals into the kitchen. I still find myself frustrated by the inclusion of rare ingredients, but the author does a good job of describing their purpose, so at least you can discern whether they can be omitted, substituted, and/or what you lose if you do. I feel like I have a much deeper understanding of this cuisine after reading this book.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I checked this cookbook out from the library having no idea that the author is the chef of the Lemon Grass restaurant in Sacramento. As soon as I realized that, I immediately hit the index and found Catfish in a Claypot, which I almost always get when I go there. I made it a couple days ago, I need to practice a bit to get it just like the restaurant, but it was almost there. I may have to buy this one.

[erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never been to Vietnam, but this book is detailed, full of cultural context and stories, and seems authentic. It isn't simplified or altered for local tastes/ingredients (you'll need a solid asian market), but that's probably why it is so often recommended by Vietnamese-americans.

[Tam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Involved procedures but unfailingly delicious results.

I cooked about 70% of this book during law school. It's taught me techniques and provided cooking times that my ma could never articulate. (She's never been one for recipes.)

Note: southern-style Vietnamese cooking.

[Isis Isis · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to traditional french-Vietnamese influenced cuisine. I have been cooking Vietnamese cuisine for eleven years, this book is very close to the traditional recipes used by my husband's family.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite of my half-dozen or so Vietnamese cookbooks. Pham is explains the culture behind the way the Vietnamese eat, which makes creating the meals an exercise in cultural immersion.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of yummy inspiration to be found here!

[Foxthyme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! If you want some well done authentic Vietnamese recipes and you have access to all the tasty ingredients, lovely book.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

All-time favorite restaurant is Lemon Grass in Sacramento!