Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is one of the most beautifully crafted books I have seen with a fabric cover designed to resemble silk. The thick pages are very pale gray with a silhouette pattern of leaves and branches in a slightly darker gray with a thin border near the top of the cherry blossom pattern from the front cover. But still the text has good contrast and is very easy to read. There is also a ribbon page marker.
The book is part family memoir and part cookbook. The ten chapters are titled from the family stories with recipes contained within. The recipes are only loosely organized by type, though there is a recipe index in the back. Beautiful photographs throughout, family pictures and many but not all of the finished dishes.
There is a large variety of recipes, basic building blocks like stock, master sauce and scallion oil to an assortment of salads, soups, seafood, poultry, beef, pork, some goat and five desserts.
The recipes can contain unusual ingredients that are only available at a good Asian market. I enjoyed learning in particular about some of the fresh herbs I had seen in the markets but never knew how to use them because so many Asian cookbooks adapt the recipes to use more familiar ingredients. There is a limited glossary and suggested substitutions for some of the harder to find ingredients but no pictures of them so I did an internet search to learn what they look like and also other substitution ideas like using lemon basil for rice paddy herb.
There are also many recipes that require only basic ingredients available at any market like the sublime and comforting Caramelized Ginger Chicken that uses only fish sauce, ginger, garlic, red chile, sugar, onion, chicken stock, scallion and cilantro. Or the Soy and Honey Grilled Shrimp flavored with soy sauce, oyster sauce, honey, fish sauce, dried chile, salt and pepper. And there is a fabulous Vermicelli Salad with bean sprouts, cucumber, mint, lettuce, fish sauce dressing, scallion oil, fried shallots and roasted peanuts that is great with the grilled shrimp or the grilled, seasoned ground pork skewers.
There is a notice in the beginning of the book that states the recipes were created using Australian tablespoons that are four teaspoons rather than our three. For most recipes the difference will not be noticeable but you would need to adjust recipes using baking powder, gelatin, baking soda, small amounts of flour and cornstarch.
This cookbook may not be appropriate for those with a casual interest in Vietnamese cooking or someone who does not have access to even the most basic Asian ingredients.
But for collectors and cooking enthusiasts, those who want to expand their knowledge of Vietnamese culture, food and ingredients I highly recommend.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Secrets of the Red Lantern: Stories and Vietnamese Recipes from the Heart
0 comments:
Post a Comment