Anthony Bourdain famously said, "Vietnam. It grabs you and doesn't let you go. Once you love it, you love it forever."
Whether you’ve been lucky enough to travel to Vietnam, or you just so happened to find a local family-run spot known for cooking up a storm - you’ll be well aware of the fact that your gastronomic experience is never quite the same after trying delicious, authentic Vietnamese food.
Deceptively simple thanks to masterful, generational expertise, classic dishes like Bánh xèo – supposedly named as such for the sizzling sound it makes in the skillet - aren’t going to be perfect the first time around. Yet when you boil down Vietnamese cooking to its core, it consists of wholesome blends of sweet and sour, rich and light, crunchy and soft – culminating in an overall yin and yang meal.
Indeed, Vietnamese cooking philosophy is governed by balance. It’s why, when dining in authentic Vietnamese environments, you’ll often be served with large baskets filled to the brim with lettuce, morning glory, spring onion and Vietnamese bitter herb (Rau dắng) alongside some sweet and sour sauce to blanch, wrap and dip into or enjoy alongside your meal.
Yet an entirely alternative facet of Vietnamese cuisine exists, which was born out of successive French and American occupation in the 19th and 20th centuries. These famous dishes include the iconic South Vietnamese Bánh mì – a classic sandwich made with a short baguette and filled with various meats and savoury ingredients.
Though its timeline isn’t known, another popular dish called Bún chả which originated in Hanoi has been enjoyed by Vietnamese natives, culinary enthusiasts and visiting tourists for decades – perhaps even centuries. Anthony Bourdain and President Obama sat down to eat in a popular Hanoian local haunt called Bún Chả HÆ°Æ¡ng Liên back in 2016.
Together they enjoyed a low-key meal consisting of Bún chả, an extra-large seafood spring roll, and a bottle of Hanoi beer – once again illustrating the delicious simplicity of Viet cooking.
While the task of cooking real Vietnamese food at home may seem daunting, there is a vast range of didactic, inventive, unique and wonderful Vietnamese cookbooks on the market to help you along your journey.
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Vietnamese by Uyen Luu
Centred around the importance of good, fresh food as a way of showing love in Vietnam, this wonderful recipe book is filled to the brim with easy-to-recreate everyday meals – from simple broths and classic one-pot dishes to sharing plates. Governed by simplicity, Uyen Luu’s philosophy isn’t to perfectly mimic the aromas and tasting notes of traditional dishes – but to adapt them to your personal needs and preferences. After all, Vietnamese cooking is all about making you feel good from the inside out.
Buy now £20.59, Amazon
Vietnamese Food Any Day
Celebrity chef, teacher and food writer Andrea Nguyen’s recipes can often be found over at the NYT Cooking – but if you’re already well acquainted with her online recipes, you might be looking to take it up a notch. Vietnamese Food Any Day works through a variety of classic, speedy Vietnamese dishes including Bánh mì, Phá», honey-glazed pork riblets, turmeric coconut rice and more. Dedicated to helping you work with the ingredients you’ve got, you won’t have to take a trip to a speciality grocery store in order to cook with Nguyen. Named one of the best cookbooks of the year by NPR, you’d be remiss not to add this bible to your collection.
Buy now £17.99, Amazon
The Little Viet Kitchen by Thuy Diem Pham
Thuy Diem Pham hails from a small village in southern Vietnam and was raised in an environment filled with fresh produce, livestock and made-from-scratch home cooking. In this brilliant cookbook, she compiles 100 authentic recipes which exemplify the comfort of a warming at-home meal made with love. Having moved to the UK when she was just 7 years old, Thuy is an expert in making Vietnamese-style cooking feel wonderfully accessible to Western sensibilities.
Buy now £22.64, Amazon
The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook by Cuong Pham, Tien Nguyen and Diep Tran
The founder of The Red Boat Fish Sauce, Cuong Pham, moved to America following the war. While living in San Francisco, Pham deeply missed the tastes and comforts of his home country – in particular, the vibrant and intense flavour of first-press fish sauce, nÆ°á»c mắm nhÄ©. Fast-forward to 2011, and he created his own authentic, pure and expertly fermented fish sauce to add perfect umami flavour to every dish.
The official Red Boat Fish Sauce cookbook highlights Pham’s do-it-yourself philosophy and is filled with 100 wonderfully flavourful recipes. From Bún chà and Sugarcane shrimp to classic chicken wings and a family-style pork roast – Pham tells a heart-warming story of home with every recipe.
Buy now £18.94, Amazon
The Food of Vietnam by Luke Nguyen
Luke Nguyen is the owner of eight successful restaurants across Australia, Vietnam and Hong Kong, and is the author of five bestselling and award-winning cookbooks – but The Food of Vietnam is perhaps his most expansive. Join Nguyen on a cultural, philosophical and gastronomical journey from the North of Vietnam all the way down to the South with this brilliant all-encompassing guide to traditional Vietnamese cuisine.
Buy now £28.21, Amazon
Pho Cookbook by Andrea Nguyen
They say that chicken soup is a near-magical cure when you’re feeling rotten – and we’d argue that Pho also does just that. Delicious, versatile and oh-so-warming – a big bowl of Pho makes you feel good from the inside out. Comprehensive yet easy to follow, Andrea Nguyen dives into the history of Phá» before working through a series of over 50 brilliant recipes, including an array of vegetarian and gluten-free options.
Buy now £14.99, Amazon
