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

by Pham Mai and Mai Pham

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060192585
• ISBN13: 9780060192587
• Release Date: July 2001
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.6" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Definitive, authentic, the real deal

I was skeptical when I saw this book but after reading the recipes and trying many of them, I can say that, as a Vietnamese person, the recipes are truly authentic. They're what you would expect to eat if you spent time in Vietnam. Also, the sections that give historical and culinary background information are great! If you only had one Vietnamese cookbook, this would be the one.

Excellent Vietnamese street foods!

What more can you ask for? The author went back to Vietnam and collected recipes from the best street-food vendors and home cooks, and she compiled them into this gem of a book. The recipes are authentic and delicious! No fancy restaurant dishes are included here. The techniques and recipes are easy to follow. This is hands down the best Vietnamese cookbook. Regular Vietnamese folks such as myself could actually cook from this book on a daily basis. I bought 4 copies and gave them as gifts.

The most authentic Vietnamese cookbook available today.

I'm Vietnamese, and I've been looking for an authentic Vietnamese cookbook for a long time. "Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table" contains deliciously authentic recipes that could be duplicated at home. This book also has lots of great background information regarding each recipe. Other people complain that this book has no pictures of the food, but I really don't need the pictures because I've grown up eating the same food, so I know what they should look like. If you need pictures of the food, then I suggest Nicole Routhier's "The Foods of Vietnam", which has beautiful pictures of the foods. I find that Nicole Routhier's recipes are just a little bit more elaborate than Mai Pham's recipes, so I prefer to cook using Mai Pham's book. If you know Vietnamese food well enough, you could leave some ingredients out of Nicole Routhier's recipes, and they will still taste delicious. For example, Nicole Routhier uses milk to make fresh coconut milk, but Mai Pham uses water instead. I think using water to make coconut milk is simpler and also more authentic. I recommend Mai Pham's "Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table" for anyone interested in cooking authentic Vietnamese food. I also recommend Nicole Routhier's "The Foods of Vietnam" for its beautiful photographs of the food and also for many of its recipes. You can't go wrong buying these two books, and I do think you need both books in order to have a complete understanding of Vietnamese cuisine.

I finally found the recipes I have been looking for!

This book is great! The author describes the lifestyle in Vietnam when she was a little girl, and the lifestyle of Vietnam now. Although this has nothing to do with the recipes itself, it does allow the reader have a better understanding and appreciate the background and history of what they are making. My mother-in-law is Vietnamese from Hue and cooks extremely well. There is a language barrier between the two of us, and because of the lack of communication, she judges me by how well I cook. There are quite a few dishes that she makes that I have not been able to find anywhere in my five other cookbooks that were surprisingly in this one, such has the Hue Chicken Salad. This book has a great variety of recipes that are familiar to her, and even has some recipes that she has eaten as a teenager in Vietnam but does not know how to make herself, like Bun Rieu (which are in many other cookbooks).Even though there are lots of pictures of the country side and of the market stands, there are extremely limited pictures of what the food should look like. If the reader follows the recipe carefully, it does allow the reader to have a good idea of what it should look like.I do appreciate the few pages in the front of the book with pictures of some of the herbs and spices that are used in Vietnamese cooking. It was extremely helpful and saved a lot of time when looking in the grocery story. Also the description of these herbs also gave quick details of what they taste like, so the cook can omit these garnishes if it is not to the liking of their palates.I will not say that this cookbook is for just anyone. The reader should be willing to try something new and fresh. The author of this book does not just use the recipes just from her own family like all of the other books I have. She works with the different cooks around the country, both restaurantiers and street vendors, to create a vast variety of tastes. I do recommend this book for people not only enjoys cooking, but also wants to appreciate something different and familiar at the same time.

Great if you like really authentic Vietnamese

This book is really great if you like truly authentic Vietnamese. I am Vietnamese and I really liked the cookbook. I found the recipes to be more authentic than her first book. Keep in mind that you have to have access to a Asian market in order to make some of the dishes, but what else would you expect? Her recipes call for common Vietnamese ingredients that may not be common in American kitchens. To make authentic Vietnamese food, you need Vietnamese ingredients. Most major cities will have some kind of Asian market.Some of the recipes are time consuming but this is how it is done in Vietnam, women spent their entire day cooking. If you are trying to cook authentic Vietnamese, this is one of the best books to own. If you want an Americanize book, this may not be the one for you.