Vietnamese food in this country has never quite captured the imagination of the wider dining out public as cuisines such as Thai, Japanese, Indian and Chinese despite it having many of the characteristics that people on this island love and Vietnam having long been a stop on the student gap year travelling itinerary. Then there’s the bánh mì - indisputably one of the world’s great sandwiches but which, for some reason, often gets overlooked here in favour of blander, less imaginative alternatives.
Anaïs Ca Dao van Manen’s new book Vietnam: The Cookbook is here to demonstrate the depth of Vietnamese cuisine and the wealth of the country’s food culture, with recipes from the streets of Hanoi to the food of Ho Chi Minh City and much in between. Featuring 450 recipes, it is a comprehensive and fascinating delve into one of Asia’s great cuisines.
If her name doesn’t instantly scream Vietnamese, its because Anaïs Ca Dao van Manen was born in Paris to a Vietnamese/Dutch family and grew up speaking French as her first language. She moved to Vietnam in the early 1990s when the country reopened and while food was very much a part of her upbringing she initially tried her hand at becoming a graphic designer in Paris before settling on becoming a chef.
For her book she spent a year travelling across Vietnam, journeying from the country’s northern to southern tips, cooking and sharing meals with families she met along the way. The result is a book that is respectful of the country’s regional culinary differences and techniques, which identifies many of the lesser-known dishes that are yet to make their way over here as well as those with deep cultural significance.
Take the Vietnamese dish phở, known to comprise rice noodles, herbs, and meat – typically beef but sometimes chicken - popularised in the UK by the casual dining chain of the same name. Yet in Vietnam: The Cookbook the different preparations of the dish are identified, including souther-style phở, which features a sweeter broth than that which is made in the north of the country and which is always served with an accompanying plate of herbs. Then there’s the recipe for deep-fried phở nest with egg, a crispy version of the dish served by Hanoi’s street vendors that is either stir-fried or puff fried and served with stir-fried beef and mustard greens.
There are plenty more revelations within the hefty book’s almost 500 pages and users will take a lot of enjoyment from uncovering them - think buffalo offal stew, pork cartilage sausages, Mekong Delta sticky rice dumplings, snails with young banana and tofu stew - as they will trying their hands at some of the more classic and recognisable dishes. Like its country’s food that it so carefully and lovingly details, Vietnam: The Cookbook is something to savour.
Vietnam: The Cookbook
Anaïs Ca Dao van Manen
495 pages
Must try recipe: Northern-style braised pig’s trotter
Phaidon, £39.95