Vietnamese
cooks tend to be curious and inventive. One visitor asked about the use
of brownish colored banh trang (rice paper) to make fresh spring
rolls (summer rolls, goi cuon). Her answer developed into a rather
interesting conversation involving some guessing work on both of our parts.
Here's a transcript of our email exchange:
Question
1:
Thanks
for your helpful comments and explanations re. summer rolls.
I am curious
about another type of summer roll wrapper that I have had at Vietnamese
restaurants in the Chicago area. These wrappers are light brown in color,
and are used to make fresh spring (or summer rolls) similar to the ones
I have eaten and made with the “white” (or, once rehydrated,
“clear”) banh trang you described.
What is
this brown wrapper? Is it simply banh trang made with brown rice?
I have seen the rose brand banh trang at a number of stores, but I have
never been able to find the brown wrapper I am describing.
Any information
you may have on this would be much appreciated.
My
first response:
My guess
is that the roll you enjoy in Chicago are made from banh trang
that contain a little caramel coloring. The banh trang probably
contains both rice flour and tapioca starch; the use of tapioca is a
recent trend coming from Vietnam. It makes for a super thin banh trang
but it's often hard to work with because texturally, it is like cheap
plastic wrap when you soak it.
Anyway,
the reason for this type of coloring is that banh trang, when used to
make fried imperial rolls (cha gio), takes forever to brown!
You fry and fry and the wrapper doesn't seem to do much. You know that
the filling is cooked but the wrapper is neither crunchy or colorful.
Over the
years, many solutions have been developed to solve this problem, but
the addition of caramel coloring is one of the commercial answers. The
caramel coloring doesn't do much to alter the flavor of the rice paper,
but rather expedites the browning process. The majority of rice paper
sold in the states come from China. This type that contains the caramel
coloring is from Vietnam -- a place full of entrepreneurs who are always
trying to out do one another! Makes it tough for consumers to keep up.
My question,
however, is why would a fresh spring/summer roll require the brown wrapper?
Does the restaurant think it looks better? Do they have access to tons
of the stuff? In your opinion, does it taste any different than the
regular white ones? Let me know...
Thanks
for the great information and question,
Andrea
Question
2:
Wow, thanks
for that informative answer! And so quick!
I have
no idea why they use these wrappers. It’s really weird, because
I have had them at multiple Vietnamese restaurants in Chicago (in fact,
only the now-defunct Hue of the Argyle street area seemed to use the
white/clear wrappers back in the late eighties when I lived there).
I still have the brown wrappers to this day when I go home to visit.
I think
your guess is correct, because there is almost a very slight “caramel”
kind of flavor to the rolls…or something like that which could
be imparted by the coloring?
It’s
weird though, because in New York (where I now live), I have only ever
encountered the white/clear wrappers.
I think
I’ll ask them about it next time I’m back there.
Thanks
so much for writing back! I’ll be sure to check in again if I have
more questions…
My
final response:
I think
you have a very good palate. You're tasting the caramel. I was wrong.
Now that I think more about it, rice paper has a somewhat sour taste
on their own. I think it's from the fact that when the batter is made
for them, a bit of "starter" batter from a previous batch
is added. The batter is steamed in circles and then laid out to dry
on bamboo mats. That's how they're traditionally made. I'm sure the
factories have nifty conveyor belts or something of the like.
Anyway,
I assumed that so little of the caramel would be added to the batter
to give it color that there wouldn't be much of a noticeable flavor
in the end. But maybe the caramel sort of plays off the natural sourness
of the rice and tapioca batter. I don't know. I just went into my cupboard
and tasted a light tan rice paper that I brought back from Vietnam a
year ago. It didn't taste very different than the white one. But then
it's old stuff too.
Now the
other thing that the restaurant may be doing is brushing the rice papers
with something that has a bit of sugar in it. Here's the reason: Traditionally
you dip rice paper in hot water to soften them. The tapioca kind requires
cold water to soften; it actually kind of crinkles like plastic wrap
held over a flame. In some Vietnamese-language cookbooks I've seen recipes
for fried imperial rolls in which you're instructed to make a slighty-sugary
solution to dip the rice paper in; this solution is supposed to crisp
up the rice paper faster, and apparently keep them crispy for a longer
period of time. Your Chicago restaurant may be using a bit of caramel
sugar syrup (nuoc mau - means color water) in mixing up its softening
solution to make things brown up even quicker and nicer.
So, if
you're a restaurant and you're making both of these Vietnamese classics,
what's the harm in brushing the same slightly-sugary solution to soften
rice paper for either fresh or fried rolls? People love sweet -- it's
the first flavor we encounter out of the womb in the form of mother's
milk. Vietnamese food in the States tends to be overly sweet. This is
one of my pet peeves.
