The Pho Cookbook: Easy to Adventurous Recipes for Vietnam’s Favorite Soup and Noodles by Andrea Nguyen (PDF)

Description

Winner of the 2018 James Beard Foundation Book Award for “Single Subject” categoryWith this comprehensive cookbook, Vietnam’s most beloved, aromatic comfort food–the broth and noodle soup known as pho–is now within your reach. Author Andrea Nguyen first tasted pho in Vietnam as a child, sitting at a Saigon street stall with her parents. That experience sparked a lifelong love of the iconic noodle soup, long before it became a cult food item in the United States.Here Andrea dives deep into pho’s lively past, visiting its birthplace and then teaching you how to successfully make it at home. Options range from quick weeknight cheats to impressive weekend feasts with broth and condiments from scratch, as well as other pho rice noodle favorites. Over fifty versatile recipes, including snacks, salads, companion dishes, and vegetarian and gluten-free options, welcome everyone to the pho table.With a thoughtful guide on ingredients and techniques, plus evocative location photography and deep historical knowledge, The Pho Cookbook enables you to make this comforting classic your own.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Andrea Nguyen has done the English-speaking world a tremendous favor with this book, the most authoritative guide to pho I’ve ever seen. It dispels rumors, tells truths, and thoughtfully chronicles Vietnam’s rich but underexplored soup culture. Andrea lays out the facts about pho in a way that makes you slurp them down, and then chases the lessons with a stack of recipes that will send you directly to the kitchen. The marriage of purpose and passion that she’s brought to this book is a rare thing.”- DAVID CHANG, coauthor of Momofuku and cofounder of Lucky Peach “Andrea Nguyen is the world’s greatest expert in Vietnamese cooking. Her latest book is a stunning and comprehensive guide to pho, that country’s most delicious food. Everything you ever wanted to know about pho is here: how to make it, how to eat it, its history, its regional variations—and so much more. All lovers of Asian food need to own this most extraordinary book.”- JAMES OSELAND, author Cradle of Flavor: Home Cooking from the Spice Islands of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore “Andrea Nguyen is the kind of writer who doesn’t just show you how to follow her recipes, she also teaches you how to be a better cook. This book is a fantastic example. You’ll learn how to make delicious pho while also gaining a whole new sensibility around an unfamiliar pantry. Buy this book. Cook from it. You’ll end up a far better cook than you were before.”- PIM TECHAMUANVIVIT, proprietress of Kin Khao “Nguyen’s recipes are a cook’s dream: well tested, easy to follow, and written in a friendly, conversational style. This is not unique to The Pho Cookbook; cooking from any of Nguyen’s books is like listening to an incredibly patient friend explain a recipe over the telephone.”- Lucky Peach”Nguyen is a master teacher when it comes Vietnam’s national dish, and in her new book she provides meticulously clear instructions for every imaginable variety—we recommend you cook through every chapter.”- Food & Wine”With the same clarity and care displayed in her previous books, Nguyen guides even the nervous first-time pho navigator to slurp-worthy success.”- NPR.org, Best Books of 2017″Great for: Pho addicts or home cooks enamored with fragrant broths and Vietnamese comfort food.”- Bay Area News Group”For lovers of pho, the hearty and delicious Vietnamese noodle soup, this is a wonderfully approachable guide to making your own at home.”- NPR’s Here & Now Best Cookbooks of 2017 About the Author ANDREA NGUYEN is an author, teacher, and consultant based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Born in Vietman, she came to the United States at the age of six. Her first book, a children’s book, chronicles that journey. She has written a number of acclaimed cookbooks, including Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, Asian Dumplings, and The Banh Mi Handbook. Her food writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Cooking Light, Lucky Peach, Saveur, and Rodale’s Organic Life, where she is a contributing editor. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. What is Pho?Pho is so elemental to Vietnamese culture that people talk about it in terms of romantic relationships. Rice is the dutiful wife that you can rely on, we say. Pho is the flirty mistress that you slip away to visit. I once asked my parents about this comparison. My dad shook his hips to illustrate the mistress. My mom laughed and quipped, “Pho is fun but you can’t have it every day. You would get bored. All things in moderation.” The soup first seduced me in 1974, when I perched on a wooden bench at my parents’ favorite pho joint and wielded chopsticks and spoon with dexterity and determination. The shop owners marveled; mom and dad beamed with pride. The fragrant broth, savory beef, and springy rice noodles captivated me as I emptied the bowl. I was five years old and suddenly hooked on soup. That experience is among the most vivid from my childhood in Vietnam. After we immigrated to the States in 1975, there were no neighborhood pho shops to frequent in San Clemente, California, where my family resettled. My pho forays were often homemade, for Sunday brunch. Like many Vietnamese expatriates, we began savoring pho as a very special food, a gateway to our cultural roots. My mother regularly brewed beef or chicken pho broth on Saturday, then the next morning after eight o’clock mass, we sped home. Everyone had a job on Mom’s pho assembly line. At the table, our bowls of homemade pho were accompanied by fresh chile slices and a few mint sprigs. The simplicity reflected my parents’ upbringing in northern Vietnam, where purity prevailed. They’d lived in liberal Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) for decades, but they didn’t allow embellishments like bean sprouts, Thai basil, or lime wedges. And definitely no sriracha, which Mom deemed un-Vietnamese. As a college student in Los Angeles, I went to pho restaurants that served up giant bowls with plates piled high with produce for personalizing flavors. Flummoxed at first, I learned to loosen up, even at the sight of someone squirting hoisin and sriracha into a bowl. Over the years, I practiced making my own pho, developed recipes for my first cookbook, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen (2006), researched pho in Vietnam and wrote articles on it, answered reporter and blogger queries, and taught pho classes to countless cooks. Interest in pho has risen exponentially as it has moved from the margins to the mainstream. It’s a favorite food for many but it’s also been the focus of novels, art exhibits, rap songs, and Kickstarter campaigns. People are smitten by Vietnam’s signature dish for many reasons: Pho is comforting (noodles in clear broth satisfy), healthy (there’s little fat and gluten), restorative (try it for colds and hangovers), and friendly (you can have it your way). It’s also delicious. I figured that I knew what pho was all about until friends, Facebook fans, and then my publisher suggested that I write a pho cookbook. Seriously? What was there to present beyond the familiar brothy bowl? As it turned out, a lot. It didn’t take me long to realize that the world of pho was unusually rich with culinary and cultural gems. CASHEW, COCONUT, AND CABBAGE SALAD Serves 4 to 6 as a side dish Takes 20 minutes Pretty and bright, this vegan salad incorporates coconut’s lushness by way of toasting unsweetened coconut chips (large flakes of dried coconut) with flavorful virgin coconut oil. It’s a handsome side that refreshes the palate—a perfect pairing for any of the main dishes in this book as well as the pot stickers on pages 129 and 131. Feel free to prep the ingredients hours in advance and toss at the last moment. DRESSING 2 medium limes Unseasoned Japanese rice vinegar, as needed 1 1⁄2 tablespoons sugar 1 1⁄2 tablespoons regular soy sauce 1 1⁄2 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil 1⁄4 teaspoon fine sea salt 1⁄8 teaspoon pepper 1 small or 1⁄2 large jalapeño or Fresno chile, seeded and finely chopped SALAD 1 teaspoon virgin coconut oil (optional) 2⁄3 cup (1.5 oz | 45 g) toasted unsweetened coconut chips 1⁄2 cup (2.5 oz | 75 g) salted, roasted cashews, halves and pieces 2 1⁄2 cups (7 oz | 210 g) packed shredded red cabbage 1 1⁄2 cups (5 oz | 150 g) matchstick-cut jicama (1⁄2 small jicama) 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro, mint, Vietnamese coriander (rau răm), Thai basil, or a mixtureMake the dressing Use a Microplane or other fine-rasp grater to zest the limes, letting the fragrant peel drop into a large mixing bowl. Juice the limes to yield 1⁄4 cup (60 ml); add a little vinegar if you’re short. Add the juice to the zest along with the sugar, soy sauce, and oil. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Season with salt and pepper to create a balanced, savory-tangy note. When satisfied, add the chile. Set aside. Make the salad Put the coconut oil (if using for extra flavor) and coconut chips in a skillet. Stir over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, until the coconut has slightly darkened and glistens (if the oil was used). Cool in a shallow bowl. Replace the skillet on the burner and add the cashews. To refresh their flavor, toast over medium-low heat for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until faintly fragrant; a few dark brown spots are okay. Slide off heat to cool completely before adding to the coconut. To serve, toss the cabbage, jicama, and herbs with the dressing. The vegetables should slightly soften and look compacted in about 60 seconds. Add the coconut and cashews. Toss well and transfer to a plate or shallow bowl, leaving any excess dressing behind. Serve. Notes Coconut chips are often sold at health food stores in the bulk bins. If starting from untoasted coconut chips, cook them for about 7 minutes in the skillet with the coconut oil. Use medium heat, stirring frequently. After a few chips show a bit of golden brown, around the 5-minute mark, lower the heat to coax even cooking without burning. When done, the coconut chips should be golden brown and fragrant. Read more

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Love Pho, but never can find recipes that match what I eat out. I live too far from the city and get hungry for pho. My entire family including my grandchildren love it. Great recipes and great tofu tricks. I might have to stir fry more vegetables on the side.

⭐I am a lover of soup. I am also drawn by all the flavors of Vietnamese cooking. So, there was no way I was passing up a single-themed recipe book on pho. So glad that this book delighted me! So glad it exceeded my expectations!Just turning the introductory pages of this book, my senses were teased by the beautiful pictures, both action and still shots. (And there is a full page picture for every main recipe.) Pictures are colorful and vibrant—mouthwatering, too!Even an insert to help the reader correctly pronounce pho and a page on how to eat it.History of pho comes at the beginning of the book.One chapter covers thorough explanations and pictures of pho ingredients: Noodles, spices, aromatics, bottled seasonings, sweeteners, herbs and garnishes. You will learn to select the best bones and the proper cuts of meat.Plenty of helpful hints and tips. Do you ever read instructions and wonder why certain techniques or extra steps are included—and been left wondering? That will not happen with these recipes. You will learn how and why to char ginger and onions/shallots and parboil bones.There are simple and quick pho recipes, meatless pho, pressure cooker pho and classic recipes.Ingredients are not hard to find in well-stocked larger grocery stores. Of course, being near to an Asian market is helpful. But chicken, beef and pork meat and bones can be found almost everywhere. (But certain lamb cuts and bones, for instance, are harder for me to find at a regular grocery store in central and southern Texas, and an Asian market helps with that.)Be aware that ingredient lists can be somewhat long. Do not let that daunt you! Prep work is easy and not time consuming. I have learned that gathering up ingredients gets to be less and less of a chore the more often I do it. If you make pho often enough, the shelf ingredients will migrate together and you won’t be wasting time gathering them from here and there. Just get past that initial long list and it will soon become second nature.Each recipe provides the name of the pho in both Vietnamese and English. There is a short and interesting introduction and the reader will see approximate times for preparation. Recipes serve from 2 to 6, with most recipes serving 4 diners. Ingredient lists are concise and include both Imperial and Metric measurements. Instructions are broken into spaced paragraphs which help re-direct the eyes to where one left off. Instructions make sense and won’t leave an inexperienced cook wondering how to proceed.I do use both a large and a small pressure cooker on occasion, so I found an entire page discussion of the virtues of a pressure cooker vs. a stockpot to be quite interesting. (My point here, again, is that valuable and worthwhile tips and hints are included in this book.)I especially liked the chapter “Adventurous Pho”. It is designed to remind the reader that making pho is a creative process, and a recipe in a book is just a foundation, or a jumping off place, for experimentation. In this chapter there is a seafood pho and a lamb pho. One for rotisserie chicken, too! There are a few fried rice and fat rice recipes and a banh mi.There are also recipes for appropriate dipping sauces, bowl add-ins, fried bread sticks and a helpful pho spice blend. I was happy to see a recipe for homemade hoisin, a chile sauce and a sate sauce.Pho is more that noodles in broth. There is a chapter that contains a few stir-fried recipes, some pan fried recipes and deep fried dishes.A final chapter is all about pho sides: Pot stickers, salads, slaw, rice paper rolls, more sauces, drinks. Even a Pho Michelada!*I received a temporary download of this book from the publisher months before publication, so I have been working with it for quite a while. As you can see from the “Verified Purchase” tag up top of my review, I liked this book so much that I bought a hard copy to always have at hand.

⭐What does this cookbook do right? A lot! The author starts out with a discussion of pho, its history, and what makes it such an important element of Vietnamese cuisine. I like that she includes the Vietnamese name of the dish alongside the English–you’d be surprised, but I own another Vietnamese cookbook that only lists the English equivalents and not the Vietnamese, so it’s nice to see it included here. Then follows a listing of the key ingredients that comprise pho: bones, meat, noodles, spices, and garnishes. The recipes themselves are divided into “standard” pho (chicken, beef, and vegetarian versions are offered), “adventurous” pho including seafood and lamb, and other recipes that take the pho theme and flavor profile and expand it to other popular dishes, like banh mi and fried rice. There’s also recipes for homemade hoisin and sate sauce, and Vietnamese coffee–not to be missed! I could live on that stuff.The recipes are quite good, and have convinced me that yes–it IS possible to make delicious pho right at home. The author offers two traditional long-simmered versions from Hanoi and Saigon, each with a slightly different focus and flavor profile, and quicker versions you can make in the pressure cooker or with a quick simmer on the stove. The Fuji apple that the author calls for really does provide just the right note of sweetness that was missing from my earlier efforts. It is interesting that the author starts her pho chapters with the chicken versions, rather than the beef–which dominates the menus at my favorite Vietnamese place down the street, and the chicken is secondary. I like that the author offers versions that you can make with store-bought broth and that there’s considerable space devoted to optimizing pho for the pressure cooker, something that’s become a staple in my household to get dinner on the table quickly for 2 little ones.I deducted a star for the layout and styling of this cookbook, which detracts from an otherwise 5-star read. IMO, the text is too small, and the visuals are uneven. There’s many lovely photos of streetside cafes and kitchens in Vietnam, but not enough of the dishes themselves. When I’m cooking an unfamiliar cuisine, I like to have a visual cue to what the finished dish should look like. Some dishes are photographed, but others are not. IMO a cookbook that is calling for techniques that may be unfamiliar to the novice (or even experienced) home cook, like charring aromatics and skimming broth, should be replete with pictures to show you what to do. There are other curious design choices that end up detracting from the finished product. All of the pho spices are varying shades of brown, but they’re photographed on a dark brown wood background, making them difficult to see. Likewise, the page that lists the rice noodles has them nicely arrayed…on a neutral background. The chart comparing stockpot vs. pressure cooker simmering has white text on a grainy peeling background, which makes it difficult to read. I suspect the stylist was going for a rustic look with the photos, which I guess makes sense because pho is a homey and comforting dish, but it doesn’t really work.

⭐I have all of Andrea’s recipe books, and love them all. My husband loves pho, and I have tried cooking it at home to avoid the MSG when you eat at the Pho restaurants many times. Before this pho book, my attempt was okay but I could never get it just right. After getting this pho book, my husband thinks my pho is better and healthier than the restaurants and prefers to eat pho at home only. I tried the quick, pressure cooker, and traditional way from her book and they all turned out great. I love the fact that I can whip up pho on a weekday and not have to spend hours simmering the stock. This book has other recipes than pho and they turned out great as well. Andrea Mrs. Nguyen has a knack to make Vietnamese cooking more approachable. I can tell that a lot of research was done in her recipe books, and I really appreciate learning about the history of pho as well as the tips and “Pho Manual” in the recipe book. I recommend this book to anyone who loves to eat pho but thinks it’s too difficult to make. It’s not!!

⭐The first time I had pho was with a friend in San Francisco. Cork had spent years in Vietnam, both growing up there with his CIA father and as a prisoner. Minh, the owner and chef was from Hanoi and the two men were close friends. Since then I have had bowl after bowl of pho but none have been as good as Minh’s. In my own attempts at making pho, most have been horrible, the Pho Cookbook has been the closest in helping me achieve what I had at Minh’s. While it’s not 100% there yet, it’s getting closer.

⭐Beautiful addition to my cookbook collection.

⭐A very good cookbook and arrived promptly

⭐Very comprehensive

⭐This book aims to teach you the building blocks that make a great pho rather than throw a ton of recipes at you and it succeeds nicely. Working through the recipes, there is a nice progression and I ended feeling like I had a real grasp on the art of pho and could make my own versions with confidence. The book is also quite beautiful and well made!

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