Rating: 
Summary: O.K. cookbook on Vietnamese cooking
Review: I'm Vietnamese, and I don't think Corinne Trang knows much about Vietnamese cooking. She probably likes Vietnamese food & decided to learn how to cook certain dishes from someone and compile the recipes into this book. Her recipe for "Banh Cuon" is flavorless, and I don't think the "banh cuon" needs to be re-steamed once one has put the cooked pork filling on the "banh uot" and rolled it up. She should have noted that "banh cuon" could be served at room temperature. Better Vietnamese cookbooks are "Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table" by Mai Pham or "The Foods of Vietnam" by Nicole Routhier. I also like "The Classic Cuisine of Vietnam" by Bach Ngo, but this book is out of print, unfortunately. I was ecstatic when I found the recipe for "Banh La" in "The Classic Cuisine of Vietnam". "Banh La" is what Vietnamese people make at home and what's sold by Vietnamese food vendors in Vietnam. One recipe I do like in Corinne Trang's book is the one for "Banh Mi" (Saigon Baguette). Beyond that, I don't like anything else in her book.
Rating: 
Summary: Vietnamese cooking revealed
Review: In Authentic Vietnamese Cooking, I share over 100 of my family's favorite recipes. Through step-by-step, easy-to-understand instructions, you too will be able to prepare the regional foods of Vietnam including condiments, fish, seafood, poultry, meat, and vegetable dishes. Learn to make classics such as cha gio (spring rolls), pho (Hanoi's famous rice noodle soup), cari rau cai (vegetable curry), tom nuong xa (grilled lemongrass prawns), ga kho gung (braised chicken with ginger), and banh gan (coconut creme caramel). These foods are delicious, well-balanced, and beautiful when served. Perhaps the healthiest of all Asian cuisines, Vietnamese cooking offers steamed, stir-fried, and braised dishes complimented with medleys of copious fresh herbs. An enormous variety of exciting foods mix sweet, sour, and spicy flavors, creating some of the most refreshing combinations in any cuisine. To help you understand the cuisine and its people, I have also filled the book with historical, cultural, and personal anecdotes. Authentic Vietnamese Cooking is also a shopping guide, including beautiful photographs and thorough descriptions of ingredients. It's easier than ever to identify and find essentials like lemongrass, cilantro, ginger, shiitake mushrooms, and fish sauce, all of which are available from supermarkets, mail-order sources, and the ever-expanding Web. In no time at all, your friends and family will be impressed with your new-found cooking abilities! But enough words, let's start the new millennium by exploring a healthy and exotic lifestyle. It's time to roll up your sleeves and start cooking. And I'll be with you every step of the way.
Rating:
Summary: The mouthwatering regional foods of Vietnam
Review: Refined, subtle, challenging, and accessible all at the same time, the food of Vietnam was the first true fusion cuisine, blending the techniques and ingredients of French and Chinese culinary traditions. In Authentic Vietnamese Cooking, culinary writer and consultant Corinne Trang introduces you to the pleasures of regional Vietnamese cooking. Born in France's Loire Valley to a French mother and Cambodian-born Chinese father, and raised in Phnom Penh, Paris, and New York, Trang shares more than 100 delicious, authentic Vietnamese recipes designed especially for the home cook. In this beautiful volume, the complicated processes of assimilation, adaptation, and evolution have been distilled into magnificent dishes that represent the three distinct culinary regions of Vietnam: the Simple North, the Sophisticated Center, and the Spicy South. There are recipes for family meals and special occasions, sauces, marinades, flavored oil, soups, noodle dishes, and more. Trang translates the complex flavors of Vietnamese cuisine into easy-to-follow, step-by-step recipes, so even inexperienced cooks can create such classic dishes as Cha Gio (Spring Rolls), Sup Cua Mang Tay (Crab and Asparagus Soup), Pho Bo (Hanoi Beef and Rice Noodle Soup), Tom Nuong Xa (Grilled Lemongrass Prawns), Ga Nuong Toi (Garlic-Roasted Baby Chicken), and Banh Gan (Coconut Creme Caramel). Enhanced by stunning photographs, Authentic Vietnamese Cooking also includes sections on essential ingredients, equipment, and techniques; sample seasonal menus; and a list of mail-order sources and Web sites for securing hard-to-find items. Rich with historical, cultural, and personal anecdotes, Authentic Vietnamese Cooking brings the experience and pleasures of Corinne Trang's family table to yours.
Rating: 
Summary: one of the best
Review: the best cooking book i ever reade and read again as a chef it is for me a pleasure to discover that real cook book can be done again
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Summary: AWARD-WINNING - BEST ASIAN COOKBOOK 2000
Review: The Best in the World winners of The World Cookbook Fair Awards 2000 were announced in Perigueux, France on November 11, 2000. From thousands of entries, "Authentic Vietnamese Cooking: Food from a Family Table," by Corinne Trang won Best Asian Cookbook in the World and was a Finalist for Best Cookbook in the World. This serious and detailed introduction to the seductive pleasures of regional Vietnamese cooking is also a very personal culinary biography, written from the heart. A truly excellent book for one of the great cuisines of the world.
Rating:
Summary: AWARD-WINNING - BEST ASIAN COOKBOOK 2000
Review: The Best in the World winners of The World Cookbook Fair Awards 2000 were announced in Perigueux, France on November 11, 2000. From thousands of entries, "Authentic Vietnamese Cooking: Food from a Family Table," by Corinne Trang won Best Asian Cookbook in the World and was a Finalist for Best Cookbook in the World. This serious and detailed introduction to the seductive pleasures of regional Vietnamese cooking is also a very personal culinary biography, written from the heart. A truly excellent book for one of the great cuisines of the world.
Rating:
Summary: It's a cookbook, not a photo album.
Review: The book is well written, clear, and easy to follow. Some have complained that it lacks pictures but I say that if you want to look at pictures you need a photo album, not a cookbook. If you want to prepare great authentic Vietnamese dishes, this is an excellent book.
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Summary: Vietnamese Cooking As A Culinary Crossroads
Review: The story of Corinne Trang's family personifies the story of Vietnam. And so her book, "Authentic Vietnamese Cooking," not only serves as a good introduction to the cuisine, but also gives a sense of how the country's history has shaped its food. Ms. Trang points out that Vietnam has long been a culinary crossroads, a cuisine influenced by French, Chinese, Indian...tastes. And yet, Vietnamese cooking is usually quite simple. What makes the cuisine lively and appealing are the frequently appearing flavors of garlic, ginger, scallion, lemongrass, soy, fish, and a plethora of fresh herbs, especially mint, Thai basil, and cilantro. Thanks at least in part to the French influence, Vietnamese cooking can also be quite subtle, and Ms Trang's recipes largely capture those subtleties. They call for small amounts of assertive flavors and combine them to create synergies that are not only complex but even mysterious. The hundred or so recipes in Ms. Trang's book feel unified." ~ Mark Bittman, The New York Times
Rating:
Summary: Easy to follow , pleasurable to prepare, rewarding to eat .
Review: This adventurous Vietnamese cookbook introduces you to the basics and then tastefully carries the reader-cook to the fine points of this marvelous and healthy cusine. Bravo! It is easy to follow, pleasurable to prepare and rewarding to serve and eat.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to follow , pleasurable to prepare, rewarding to eat .
Review: This adventurous Vietnamese cookbook introduces you to the basics and then tastefully carries the reader-cook to the fine points of this marvelous and healthy cusine. Bravo! It is easy to follow, pleasurable to prepare and rewarding to serve and eat.
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