Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors

5 Responses to “Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors”

1. happiegirl says:

   October 20, 2010 at 9:23 pm

   I bought the book for my bf really (yes! aren’t I the lucky one) so I haven’t really read it, but at a quick glance it seems like a excellent book, the dishes look tasty and not too hard to do. Also, Amazon has superb customer service and shipping time!
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
2. Anh Luong says:

   October 20, 2010 at 10:45 pm

   I’m Vietnamese, I only went abroad 5 years ago to study but I went back home at least once a year so you can bet that I know how Vietnamese food should taste like!

   Before leaving Vietnam, as many additional students, I knew many legendary food street vendors and I ate there reasonably regularly. When dinning out with parents, I went to upscale restaurants like Daewoo, Sofitel so I’m confident that I know how GOOD Vietnamese food should taste like!

   But, I’m disappointed about this “Into the Vietnamese Kitchen” book. It’s probably the worst investment I’ve ever made in cook books. The techniques are long and inefficient, the taste is really not excellent. I’ve never bought any additional Vietnamese cook books so I can’t say whether there’s any better ones than this. But recently I learned many excellent Vietnamese food blogs where people share their recipes with others. I’ve learned a lot more from persons blogs than this book

   The only reason I gave it 2 stars, not 1 is because the pictures are excellent. I can use it to find inspiration about which Vietnamese food I should cook.

   Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
3. Susan W. Shepard says:

   October 21, 2010 at 12:23 am

   Could not wait to get this highly praised book as I like to cook Vietnamese food and have an wide cookbook collection. I loved every bit of the book-until I tried three recipes one night. One came out just fine-the additional two -the beef stew and the egg, shrimp, scallion pancakes were duds. The marinated meat tasted wonderful when browned, but once tomatoes were added to the dish it became just another beef stew. The pancakes had no taste. On the additional hand, the water spinach with garlic was first rate. I will try some additional recipes and keep my culinary fingers crossed.

   Have become a total convert and now like this cookbook. The beef pho was outstanding and so were the additional recipes I have tried since first writing the first review
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
4. Daniel Nguyen says:

   October 21, 2010 at 3:12 am

   So this is my sister’s book so I can’t comment on it personally since it would be biased, but I have give several dozen copies to friends and they have give positive feedback to me (maybe they just want to be nice). For many, the recipes were simple to duplicate and “tasty” in their representation. A number of my vietnamese friends use it daily in their kitchen as a resource guide to plot their daily meals.
   
   I hope that everyone at least go to their public library or find a friend that has a copy and try one to two recipes out, then you can make up your own mind if :
   
   1. Vietnamese cooking is for you
   
   and
   
   2. This cookbook is for you.

   Pleased cooking
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
5. Karin J. Ryan says:

   October 21, 2010 at 3:34 am

   This is an brilliant cookbook presenting tasty recipes and the best of Vietnamese culture. I highly recommend it to any serious cook!! The best I have even read! Buy it and visit the leader’s web site!
   Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5