Viet World Kitchen

Tackling Sriracha Myths, Truths and Confusion

A couple of incidents last week led me to realize that there may be much misunderstanding about Sriracha chile sauce. The first occurred on the October 2011 Food Finds post. Upon checking out Jess Dang’s pitch for a Sriracha documentary film project, @Chrisjone commented that Jess had incorrectly described Sri Racha as an island. It’s a town with seaport. There’s an island nearby. I notified Jess of the error and she promptly corrected it.

The second incident was related to the 2011 CHOW 13 Award listing of influential food people. Coming in at lucky number 8 was David Tran of Huy Fong Foods, the maker of the Rooster brand of Sriracha. I’m quoted as saying that many people don’t know whether or not the Rooster brand’s version of Sriracha is Thai or Vietnamese. It’s kinda messed up and mixed up, I told writer John Birdsall.

Case in point, I’m often asked about Sriracha even though it’s not a traditional Viet staple. In The Sriracha Cookbook, Randy Clemens's introduction describes the hot sauce as an beloved condiment at Asian markets, upscale restaurants, and even Wal-Mart. Clemens follows up with the Thai backstory in a separate chapter but he opens up the book by framing the "Rooster sauce" as a “mainstay in many home kitchens and innumerable college dorm rooms.” This coming Sunday, Sriracha will be part of a Simpson's foodie episode!

After reading the CHOW entry on Tran, Pim Techamuanvivit texted me, “Sriracha sauce is definitely Thai.” Of course, Pim and I know that because we’ve talked a lot about the hot sauce. I’ve had her over for a Sriracha taste-off between Vietnamese, Viet-American, and Thai brands.  But not everyone is as lucky as I am to have a Bangkok-born friend who’s also a persnickety food expert.

That said, I’m throwing out some points here about Sriracha for your consideration and comments:

October 2011 Food Finds: Young ginger, pho novel, Sriracha film project

This is something new that I’m launching on VWK—a monthly recap of food-related bits that I recently stumbled upon. Well, they’re not just odd ends, but rather interesting information, ideas, and edibles. They are things that I physically and mentally chew on. They provoke me to think about our resources, savor the season, and celebrate Asian foodways.

It’s difficult to dedicate a post on each item. I may tweet or flag it on the VWK fan page but who knows if you received them? That said, this is the first of the “Food Finds” posts. Hope you enjoy it!

Edibles

• Young ginger - See the pinkish tipped ginger at the top? It’s mild “young” ginger that you don’t have to peel to cook or pickle. I bought that hand last week at New May Wah market in San Francisco. Young ginger’s season won’t last for much longer so enjoy if you can.
• Excellent chow fun noodles - At last. Thickish, restaurant-style chow fun noodles for home cooks. Poke at it to make sure it’s still soft, then cook it up the day you buy it. These are a scant 1/8 inch thick and 5/8 inch wide – thicker than what you want for noodle soup but perfect for stir-frying. The one I got is a Bay Area product. Maybe your Asian market carries something similar?
• Fresh chiles - Get what you can NOW and freeze them. I grew the long (Holland) chiles above from seeds I saved from purchased chiles. 
• Fennel extract – Terrific for digestion and easier than chewing on fennel seeds. Mix it with club soda for a refreshing beverage too. Got this from my local health food store but you can source it online too. 
• Dry-farmed tomatoes ­- The season is coming to a close on this Northern California specialty crop. Pioneered by Molino Creek Farm, the tomatoes are minimally watered, resulting in smaller fruit with intense flavor.

Reads

• The Beauty of Humanity Movement – If you’re into the intricacies of pho and modern Vietnamese history, this historic novel by anthropologist Camilla Gibb is for you. Set in Hanoi, it trails the disillusionments and triumphs of a pho street vendor. Vials of MSG as prized keepsakes? That’s among the rich details in the engaging work.
• Asian dumpling pro: This New York Daily News profile of chef Peter Lee gives a glimpse into what it’s like to make 1,000 dumplings daily for a dim sum house.
• Hong Kong-Style wonton noodle soup in LA - On the Eat Drink & Be Merry blog, Dylan goes dissects one of his favorite dishes, revealing the cultural nuances that only an insider would know. His journey includes a list of noteworthy noodle joints.
• Diversity in agriculture – The New York Times published a great story on the rise of “refugee agriculture.” Farmers from Asia, the Middle East, and Africa are growing produce that they traditionally eat, not the usual suspects. I'm looking forward to that!
• Immigrant owners of food trucks – The Vilcek Foundation’s fall newsletter, Keep on Truckin’ profiles immigrant owners of food trucks, including Roy Choi of Kogi BBQ, Jerome Chang of Dessert Truck, Theo and Elena Butuya of Elena’s Restaurant.  Iliana de la Vega's Oaxacan El Naranjo inspired my spicy sardine corn empanadas.

Multimedia

• Good Girl Dinette in LA – Thanks to Michelle Esperanza for pointing me to this KCET (public TV) video review of Diep Tran’s Los Angeles restaurant, Good Girl Dinette. Blogger Kathy Chaplin and writer Lien Ta critique the banh mi and pot pie. Tran discusses her road to restaurateurship.
• Sriracha hot sauce film project – Viet-American filmmaker Jess Dang is looking for funding for a documentary on Sriracha. You can back it for as little as $10.
• Tofu family legacy - Cookbook author Grace Young and novelist Monique Truong pointed me to this  WNYC public radio segment about the challenges of keeping the Fong Inn Too tofu factory open from generation to generation. 

 Feel free to add your reactions and comments. Pose questions too.

Pork Blood Pho: Is it True or New?

This is my typical bowl of homemade beef pho noodle soup. I can’t imagine eating it with cubes of congealed pork blood. But maybe that is something going on these says.

Have you heard of or eaten pho with pork blood? During the past several weeks I’ve read about it twice, most recently in The Globe and Mail, a newspaper from Toronto, Canada. In “You eat meat, so why not blood? Chefs strive to warm up diners to the red stuff,” journalist Chris Nuttall-Smith reports on uses of blood in hip, modern food. The article was focused on Western chefs, such as Rene Redzepi of Copenhagen's famed Noma, who marinates vegetables in blood according to photos he posted.

I was looking for mention of blood-laden Asian foods, expecting to see classics like Filipino dinuguan blood stew and Korean sundae (not a dessert). Instead, my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when I read the last three words of this paragraph:

To be sure, this is nothing new to most Europeans – from black pudding to morcilla to Poland’s duck blood soup, the continent has almost too many blood recipes to count. Blood dishes are also common across South and Central America, Africa and most of Asia; you can find blood tofu in many Chinese grocery stores in Canada; some Vietnamese restaurants also offer pork blood pho.

Whoa! I have not seen pork blood in pho before and wondered if it was a new Canadian thing.

How to Make Vietnamese Coffee (video)

One of my favorite food videographers is Eric Slatkin, founder of Hit the High Beam productions. Before he went out on his own, he worked at CHOW to produce terrific and informative videos. We worked on a couple of CHOW projects, including the Perfect Shanghai Soup Dumpling, and I was hooked on his talents.

I’ve learned lots about food videography from working with Eric. He directed, filmed, and edited the Asian Dumplings enhanced e-book videos. We also collaborated on the how-to videos for the Asian Market Shopper app.

Eric has a terrific sense of humor, timing, and storytelling. We discussed Vietnamese coffee a while ago and this past week, he sent me the awesome video. He gets some crazy Viet Thai music in there, along with little insider bits of info like licking the spoon of condensed milk, which I always do!

Watching Eric's "How to Make Vietnamese Coffee" video gives me a ca-fe buzz. It's superb. Enjoy.

Related posts:

• High Tech Vietnamese Coffee
• History of Vietnamese Coffee

1990s Viet Food Film: Anatomy of a Springroll

 

“Food is everyone’s first language,” Paul Kwan says in the opening of Anatomy of a Springroll [SIC] (1994). Kwan made the documentary with partner Paul Iger to explore issues of personal identity, food memories, and cultural adaptation. It’s a dreamlike movie with historic footage, staged segments, animation, and even puppets!

There is Vietnamese food from beginning to end. Kwan’s spring roll is the fried cha gio wrapped in rice paper. He uses it as a metaphor for rediscovering his past as he ventures from San Francisco (where his family had settled after coming from Vietnam) to Saigon. He is Vietnamese of Chinese descent.

If you’re into Asian American identity, Kwan and Iger give you lots to think about. If you’re into food, you’ll see some scenes that remain the same today in Vietnam. There was lots of information about Vietnamese folklore and foodways too. Film buffs will appreciate the artiness of the piece, which somewhat echoes the reactions of visiting or returning Vietnam for the first time. My first time back was strange. Am I Vietnamese? American? Both or neither? Kwan posed those question and more.

Anatomy of a Springroll has aired on PBS several times and in 2008, it was part of the national public television series called Global Voices. Simon Bao alerted me that the movie was now on Hulu. (As BFMartin pointed out, Hulu is only available in the US so I just reposted it from YouTube.) I watched the movie years ago and viewing it again was like visiting an old friend. I could practically taste the flavors of all the glorious dishes in the film.

“Food is not just a thing, but a way. In its preparation, it’s the essence of language, and a connection to a culture,” Kwan says.

Check out Anatomy of a Springroll, and share your thoughts on the good and bad. It’s an hour long so you can certainly skim through it, as needed.

More Viet food in the media:

• Luke Nguyen's Vietnam (SBS Australia; read about my friend Luke)
• Rick Stein's BBC Vietnam Travel Show