How much does Grace love the popular Vietnamese sandwich, banh mi? She declares, "If I could marry a sandwich, I would marry a banh mi." After staring at her photo of her sandwich's innards, I might have to agree with her.... More
Bánh cóng comprises mung beans, shredded taro root, and shrimp with heads, tails, and skin intact. Each ingredient is layered in the deep, metal ladle and dipped in a saffron and scallion batter before meeting the scalding-hot oil. More
Graham Holliday, the man behind food blog Noodlepie, put together a nice roundup of videos that highlight different dishes found in Vietnam, where he lived until recently. There are 52 clips listed to date, from bun dau mam tom to turtle.... More
Barbara Fisher of Tigers and Strawberries on Nuoc Mau, the essential Vietnamese sauce: "It is what gives depth of flavor and color to kno dishes, which are earthy, homey braises of meats, tofu or seafood. Salty with fish sauce, these dishes are meant to be eaten with plenty of rice, but the salt flavor is balanced by the smoke-tinged sweetness of this home made, darkly browned caramel sauce." She provides both a recipe for Nuoc Mao and a step-by-step walkthrough with photos, to make preparation of this "simple, but not easy staple of the Vietnamese kitchen" as painless as possible.... More
The An family runs three restaurants in California: Thanh Long and Crustacean in San Francisco and another Crustacean in Beverly Hills. Each restaurant has a a Secret Kitchen, "a completely enclosed kitchen within the main kitchen, off limits to all employees except An Family members. Here, Chef Helene and the Ans prepare their secret family recipes: An's Famous Roasted Crab and Garlic Noodles. These dishes are the key to the restaurants' success." I'm sure the dishes are delicious, but is it just me or is the whole secret kitchen thing a little nutty?... More
In today's installment, our hero takes a culinary trip to the other side of the globe. More
