Viet World Kitchen

Sad Song of Yellow Skin: Important Film on 1970s Saigon

I got two interesting emails this morning. One from journalist and author John T. Edge who notified me that his story on Vietnamese crayfish restaurants in the United States was published today in the New York Times. After reading John T's terrific piece (yours truly was quoted!), I opened up an email from Tan, an editor at The Guide travel publication in Saigon. Tan sent a link to Sad Song of Yellow Skin, a documentary shot in 1970 in Saigon. Directed by Michael Rubbo, the film is now available from the Canadian National Film Board.

I was riveted to my computer screen. I called my husband over, even as he was rushing to go to work. Sad Song of Yellow Skin is one of the most compelling movies I've seen on pre-1975 Vietnam. The movie captures the experience of three young American journalists to tell the stories behind the lives of Vietnamese people. I caution you that the piece is disturbing at many points.

You'll see plenty of cooking going on -- catch the woman who blows air into a duck with her mouth! Not quite like my approach to blowing up a duck. It was a tough time, and Rubbo conveyed plenty of edgy tension and ambivalence. The Vietnamese were caught in an odd limbo, trying to stay afloat, trying to make sense of the chaos around them, trying to find peace.

After watching Sad Song of Yellow Skin, let know your thoughts to this question: Many things have changed in Vietnam since 1970 but what has not? Did the filmmakers have a political agenda?

Don't hold back on the good, bad and not-so-pretty.

35 Years Later: Vietnamese Cajun Crayfish Craze

We are two days away from the 35th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, a major marker in modern history. Not only was it the date when South Vietnam succumbed to North Vietnam, but it also signaled American defeat in the Vietnam War. Vietnam was a tiny tropical country whose communist insurgency could not be contained and reigned in. The whole situation was a mess and resulted in tens of thousands of people fleeing on April 30, 1975.

I was six years old at that time and remember being extremely scared. That’s just from the perspective of a child. My parents, both in their 40s, were under far more stress. We were fortunate to have been able to leave by plane a week before Saigon totally collapsed. Many others had to escape by boat or were forced into reeducation camps and then found other routes to leave the country.

The Vietnamese refugees and immigrants who rebuilt their lives abroad have moved on. They’ve given birth to second (and maybe third) generations of hyphenated Vietnamese people. They’ve taken to eating banh mi filled with meatballs, slurping pho seasoned by Sriracha. 

From: Wikipedia.com

Then there’s the Vietnamese-cajun crayfish craze. What’s up with that? John T. Edge, one of my favorite food writers investigated the phenomenon. We chatted a few weeks ago and today, John T’s article appeared in the New York Times. He surveys the Vietnamese crayfish scene across the United States and yes – it’s a hyphenated American thing. Read:

• Vietnamese Immigrants Carry on a Cajun Food Tradition (John T. Edge, NYT, 4/28/10)
• Vietnamese crayfish restaurant slideshow

Also, check out “A Bit Crazy for Crustaceans” (LAT, 9/23/2008) by journalist My-Thuan Tran, a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. It’s about the Vietnamese crayfish craze and copycat restaurants in Orange County’s Little Saigon. 

Do you like Vietnamese crayfish boils? Why? What are your favorite spots?

Anyone know if the Vietnamese-cajun crayfish craze has hit Vietnam itself? How about in Australia where the lobster-size giant red claw crayfish?

Goodness, what a difference 35 years makes.

My Rice Noodles with Chinese Chives, Shrimp and Pork recipe in LA Times top 10 for 2009

Last July I wrote a piece for the Los Angeles Times Food section on Vietnamese herbs. I'd been wanting to write that story for years to offer information on the wide range of herbs, as well as their culinary uses to a broad audience of cooks. Russ Parsons, the Food section editor, allowed me to let my geek out, and the resulting article was just what I envisioned. Today I learned that one of the recipes I'd submitted for the piece was selected for the LA Times's top 10 recipes of 2009.

It's for a simple rice noodle stir fry that employs lots of Chinese chives (he in Vietnamese), which are flat like a long blade of grass and have a mild garlicky flavor. I love that recipe as I grew up on it. In fact, one summer my family made it over and over as a Vietnamese neighbor had a bumper crop and kept bring by plastic bags of the chives. One time I ate so much of the garlicky, tangy noodles that I got a stomach ache.

The rice noodles with Chinese chives, shrimp and pork recipe originally was published in my book, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen as part of the giant noodles chapter. If you've got the book, check out the recipe on page 235. If you don't have the book, use the recipe posted at the Los Angeles Times Food section, Enjoy!

Relate information:

"Fresh Herbs at the Center of Vietnamese Cuisine" (Los Angeles Times, July 15, 2009)

Vietnamese Restaurant-Style Grilled Lemongrass Pork a CHOW Favorite

I sometimes worry that I publish too many pork recipes but hey, pork equals meat in the Vietnamese kitchen! Despite all the shaking beef (thit bo luc lac) and beef pho noodle soup that you've eaten, it's pork that rules. It's cheap and tasty meat, affordable to most Vietnamese cooks. And, you can do a zillion things with pork. The photo above is from my trip to Australia, where I went to Cabramatta -- their Little Saigon. The man is doing a morning delivery to a local Vietnamese butcher shop. (Where'd the head go???)

One of my go-to Vietnamese preparations of pork is to marinate pork steaks (photo below) with lemongrass and grill them. Sliced up, the steaks are great bun rice noodles, tucked into a banh mi sandwich, and punches up a bowl of fluffy rice.

This morning, I discovered that CHOW.com enjoys the thit heo nuong xa as much as I do. There was a call for people to name their top 5 best recipes for 2009. My little Vietnamese restaurant-style grilled lemongrass pork recipe was among the writer's top 5 picks. When it's too cold now to cook outdoors, use a stovetop cast-iron grill. The timing will be a little longer.

What a nice way to wrap up 2009! Enjoy.

A Tipsy Baker and Hungry Engineer Cook My Books

I had an embarrassing realization yesterday – that I had completely missed out on two wonderful food bloggers test driving recipes in my cookbooks, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen and Asian Dumplings. They published their humorous, heartfelt experiences in November and I was oblivious. Hit me on the head and say, “Duh, Andrea!” I felt like such a turkey, not just because November is all about Thanksgiving!

One of the food bloggers was Jennifer Reese of The Tipsy Baker, who wrote of the challenges and rewards of shopping for and making an entire meal from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. Jennifer’s piece appeared in the Northern California edition of Sunset magazine, which up until yesterday I thought I received. Lo and behold I’ve been getting the Southern California edition, which explains all the LA and San Diego stories! A Sunset editor kindly sent me the November 2009 issue in which Jennifer’s piece was printed. Below are the covers that got me mixed up and the generous 3-page spread.

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 If you received that Northern California issue of Sunset, check out Jennifer’s rollicking account of taking her copy of Into the Vietnamese Kitchen with her to New May Wah market on Clement in San Francisco. She’s even photographed holding the book. What’s more touching to my culinary soul is that she fell in love with mam tom – the funky purply shrimp sauce. Jennifer made a simple central Viet preparation of Minced Pork and Lemongrass and Shrimp Sauce (thit heo xao mam ruoc, page 132) and described the dish as “ambrosial.” She tackled the banana blossom salad, water spinach and coconut cassava cake too. Reading Jennifer’s story of how my cookbook helped her get over her anxiety of shopping for and cooking with unfamiliar ingredients put a huge grin on my face. Check out more of Jennifer’s writing at her site: Tipsybaker.blogspot.com

Similarly, April of The Hungry Engineer dove into Asian Dumplings with gusto. She’s a smart cookie who writes with an earnestness that charms and draws you into her words. April recounts how she questioned my suggestion of using the wooden dowel rolling pin for making Asian dumpling wrappers and then becomes a convert, “busting out wrappers like nobody's business.” She thoughtfully read the book to prepare herself to make pork and napa cabbage dumplings, as well as the chile oil. There are people who’ve said to me, “Asian food is so time consuming. Why do you want to make dumpling wrappers from scratch?” Read April’s post on cooking from the Asian Dumplings cookbook and find out!  

Charles Phan vs. Cat Cora on Iron Chef America: Battle Almond

Any of you catch Charles Phan on Iron Chef America last night? He duked it out with Cat Cora in a battle of almonds. It was a tough ingredient to employ for making Vietnamese food.  Chinese-Vietnamese Phan pointed out during the judging that he wanted to highlight the cooking of Vietnam. He and able team of women chefs (Lien Ho and Justine Kelly have worked with Charles at Slanted Door in San Francisco for about 15 years) turned out:

• Snow (white) fungus with almond
• Steamed almond banh beo cakes topped with mung beans shallots and toasted almonds (note the misspelling on TV – bahn bao??!)
• Claypot grouper poached in almond milk
• Stir-fried chicken with almonds, gingko nuts, and jujubes (a Slanted Door classic)
• Almond cake with almond cream

Cat Cora presented a number of things including fish encrusted in crushed almonds, duck confit atop almond polenta. The judges – Jeffrey Steingarten (journalist, author), Sunnee Lee (food editor), and a blond actress whose name escapes me now – sparred quite a bit over when and whether or not they tasted almonds.

Charles Phan vs. Cat Cora on Iron Chef America: Nov. 8

I've been wondering when Charles Phan would do battle on the Food Network's "Iron Chef America."Turns out that he did last year and now the episode will air -- this Sunday, November 8, at 10 p.m (ET/PT).  Phan battles Cat Cora so we'll see who prevails? (I'm getting tired of: "Whose cuisine will reign supreme?")  I recall a battle where Mario Batali shamelessly rolls a fat, humongous rice paper roll that practically bursted because Batali over stuff (no-no number 1). If Charles and his crew employ rice paper (banh trang), I'm sure they'll do it right and with more grace. Cora grew up in Mississipi so I wonder if catfish will be involved? Hmm....

For details visit:

• Carolyn Jung over at Foodgal.com has a great interview with Phan where he kind of dishes on the show.
• Food Networks official page on the Cora vs. Phan (just has air times right now)

So get a bowl of pho or a banh mi sandwich and watch the show this weekend. Then we'll do a post-mortem discussion next week!

Rick Stein’s BBC Vietnam Travel Show

If you’re planning a trip to Vietnam, check out Rick Stein’s Vietnam segment available on YouTube for your viewing pleasure. He does the highlights in Vietnam in the north (Hanoi, Ha Long Bay) and south (Saigon and Mekong Delta) so it’s a nice introduction to or perhaps as review of traveling in the country.

Who is Rick Stein? He’s a British chef and author of works like Rick Stein's Complete Seafood, one of my go-to reference works whenever I need step-by-step guidance on dealing with ingredients from the sea. Stein is not Anthony Bourdain in biting wit and sarcasm and definitely not addicted to the bizarre like Andrew Zimmern. Stein is gentle in his approach to Vietnam and tries to bridge the turbulent Vietnam War years to the modern Vietnam today, which is calmer and more modern times. That’s what his BBC audience is interested in. There may be yawner moments if the Vietnam War doesn’t touch you, but Stein also has snippets of food preparation, processing, and everyday life that is quite interesting. I was about to discount the show at the opening footage of the war and rice paddies but Stein pulled me in quickly.

On YouTube, you’ll find the show in 6 clips (the last one is kind of a throw away). I’ve provided a drill-down below so you can jump in when you want. Many thanks to bloggers Graham Holiday of Noodlepie and Cathy Danh of Gastronomyblog (she debuts in part3) for pointing me to this Vietnam segment of Stein’s Far East Odyssey. 

Part 1: Mekong River, fishing farms (Vietnamese aquaculture) on the river
Overview of Vietnam with a focus on the mighty Mekong. Stein pronounces Mekong as “Meekong” which I block out. “Maykong” please. He visits fisheries on the Mekong river. He cooks a fish dish based in his kitchen. He relates the Vietnam War to Vietnam today with old film footage, and references to Vietnam War movies The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now. The first segment clip is at the beginning of this post.