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Vietnamese food is constantly evolving at a rapid pace much like the current economic situation in the country. After 1975, there were periods of near famine for the country. Now, it seems like a distant past. Half the country's population is under 30 years old. With economic growth and global communication, Vietnam and its culinary repertoire are moving at lightning speed. Food trends catch on and spread like crazy.

Given that Vietnam is hosting the 2006 Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation, there have been lots of media coverage of the businesss and diplomatic meetings and events. In mid-November, President Bush and his entourage paid a visit, and there was much hoopla in the press. One visitor sent in a clip of a story on the food that was served to various dignitaries. A particularly new item -- pho cuon -- caught his attention and he asked me to decipher what it is. Read more below and send your comments!

Question:

Dear Andrea:

Would you be able to take time to describe for me what these "Pho Cuon" really are?

I've seen references to them, written by Westerners, offering contradictory and confusing accounts. Meats that are grilled, sauteed, stir-fried, no mention of how the beef is seasoned prior to cooking...

They sound like a Goi Cuon Thit Bo and nothing more special than that.

Have you encountered "Pho Cuon," and can you tell me what's in them and how they're prepared?

Thanks. -- Simon

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Just FYI, article pertaining to this week's APEC summit, being held in Hanoi. I have recently seen references to "Pho Cuon," like the one below, but have been unable to learn exactly what it is. It has beef and herbs, when "Pho Cuon" are discussed, I never see mention of any of the collection of spices that give Pho it's distinctive and umistakable flavor. -- Simon

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French Chef Stirs Up APEC Cuisine With Vietnamese Touches

04:36 PM, November 14th 2006

When Vietnam was looking for a chef to prepare world-class cuisine for 21 leaders gathering for this week's Asia-Pacific summit, it turned to a Frenchman.

Not just any French chef, though. Didier Corlou, executive chef of the Sofitel Metropole hotel in Hanoi, is a passionate expert on Vietnamese fare whose work mixing haute cuisine with local staples has been awarded a medal from the Association of Vietnamese Folklorists.

"This is our chance to show off our Vietnamese cuisine," said Corlou, 50, a native of Brittany who has lived in Hanoi for 15 years, is married to a Vietnamese woman, also a chef, and has written five books on Vietnamese cooking.

This week found Corlou in the kitchen of Sofitel Plaza, the Metropole's sister hotel, poring over the menus for five state dinners and a gala banquet for all 21 leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

"My idea is to mix the traditional and the contemporary, the tastes of the leaders with Vietnamese touches like fish sauce and tamarind," he said.

Thus, Chinese President Hu Jintao is to be served shark-fin soup with a dash of Vietnamese "nuoc mam," a pungent fermented fish sauce.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is to dine on salmon made into an upscale "pho" noodle soup.

US President George W Bush is to get veal tenderloin - "a little bit American; it's normal," said Corlou - but with pumpkin-flower flan and a green tea-and-citrus sauce.

"I have to have a separate menu for each because the Vietnamese president [Nguyen Minh Triet] has to be at each meal and can't eat the same thing twice," Corlou explained.

The chef is marshalling an army of more than 450 waiters for the gala dinners that mark the yearly APEC gathering and is preparing separate buffets for more than 600 people.

On Tuesday, Corlou was busy showing his Vietnamese staff how to prepare one of the buffet dishes, flash-fried prawns in a sauce of tamarind and fish sauce.

He tossed a handful of fresh coriander into a deep fryer for a count of five, then fished the crispy greens out with a slotted spoon and sprinkled them as garnish onto the prawns - "coriander, not parsley," he stressed. "We're in Vietnam."

For Corlou, showcasing Vietnamese food at the APEC summit marks a long comeback for a national cuisine that survived long years of war and a decade of poverty.

When he first arrived in Hanoi in the early 1990s, Vietnamese themselves were just rediscovering their own cuisine. The years of rice rationing meant that even spare rice to make noodles was rare.

But as the communist government's "doi moi," or "renewal," economic reforms loosened up bans on private business and people became wealthier, food stalls and restaurants began returning to the traditional cuisine.

"For me, Vietnamese food is "pho," fish sauce and rolling fresh spring rolls," Corlou said. "It's the ultimate Zen food and spa food with delicate spices, not too spicy, and fresh herbs and not so much fried.

A new generation of young Vietnamese chefs is even starting to innovate. For example, a new rage in Hanoi is "pho cuon," a dish that takes all the ingredients of pho - beef, spices, herbs and wide flat noodles - leaves out the broth, and lets customers roll up their own mini-spring rolls

"Vietnamese food is becoming more mature, and yet we still have all the good street food that's very creative too," Corlou said. "I tell every chef here I meet: Create, create, create."

by Kay Johnson
© 2006 DPA

My response:

Dear Simon,

Yes, I think the pho cuon (literally translated as pho roll) is simply a Hanoi riff on a central Vietnamese specialty called banh uot thit nuong. Banh uot are steamed rice crepes (sheets). Thin banh uot can be filled with a savory pork and shimp filling and then rolled up stubby cigar-like banh cuon, a specialty of Hanoi. Thick banh uot can be treated like a pasta sheet -- that is you can cut it up into different widths for banh pho noodles (think of Cantonese chow fun noodles) or you can treat like rice paper and roll food up in it and then cut it into bite-size pieces.

To make banh uot thit nuong you lay out a sheet of banh uot and then arrange some grilled beef (thit nuong), lettuce and fresh herbs (e.g., mint, cilantro, etc.). Roll things up into a cylinder and then cut it into short, manageable pieces that can be picked up with fingers. A bean sauce (tuong) dipping sauce normally accompanies the rolls.

For the pho cuon, you'd probably roll up the thinly sliced cooked beef, herbs, and maybe some bean sprouts (though Northerners would traditionally frown upon the sprouts). I don't know what kind of sauce would go with it. Perhaps a bit of the broth? Or perhaps fish sauce and/or hoisin and Sriracha chile sauce? What are your thoughts?

Viet cooks and diners love trends so this is obviously the latest. But with lots of trends, they tend to be fleeting.

Hope I'm of help,

Andrea

From my mama:

After reading this exchange, my mom immediately picked up the phone and called her dear childhood friend Mrs. Kim. Growing up in Haiduong, a town outside of Hanoi, the two girls often times enjoyed an afternoon snack of pho cuon that they purchased from an intinerant pho vendor who plied her wares outside of Mrs. Kim's family home.

"A bowl of pho at 3pm was too filling so we would order pho cuon," mom recounts. "Back then, pho vendors didn't have precut noodles. They had noodle sheets and whenever a customer placed an order for a bowl of soup, the vendor would cut up the noodle sheets, reheat them in hot water, and then assemble the bowls. When we called out for pho cuon, the vendor simple opened up the noodle sheet, placed some thinly sliced cooked beef inside along with scallion and mint and then roll the whole thing up. Mrs. Kim and I took the rolls inside and ate them with nuoc cham [the ubiquitous Viet fish sauce dipping sauce]. The beef was nicely flavored from simering in the pho broth."

My mother, who's now in her 70s, lived in Haiduong until 1954 so pho cuon aren't such a 'new' trendy food afterall. The phenomenon is a revival of food enjoyed in the past.