Cookbooks 2021

[liuzhou]

24 minutes ago, KennethT said:

I'm curious as to what you will think of the book and recipes, being that you're so close to Vietnam.  Do you know if anyone in Asia uses Red Boat?  I've never tried it myself - I have a hard time spending so much $ on something that I can get a very good example of cheaply.

 

I have no knowledge of the book other than that it exists.

I've never seen Red Boat either in Vietnam or anywhere else, but I do know it is a superior product. I base this on the opinions of Vietnamese cooks in the USA and England, especially Christine Hà who told me about the book and her opinion of the product. It is incredibly pure.

[Katie Meadow]

Red Boat is the fish sauce I buy. Yes, it is pricier than most others, but for me it is worth it for the more delicate flavor. I am not a heavy user, so I feel like I get my money's worth.

[blue_dolphin]

My Red Boat book arrived today.  I wasn't sure what to expect - a fancy promotional brochure or an actual cookbook?  There's certainly a good bit of company/family pride going on but it's a real book.  

I'm not thrilled about the combo of colored pages that have a bit of a sheen and a rather fine font used for some of the text.  Shouldn't be a problem in kitchen light but it wasn't so easy to read over on the sofa. 

There's a sample of the introduction available via Amazon's Look Inside feature here:  The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook: Beloved Recipes from the Family Behind the Purest Fish Sauce (eG-friendly Amazon.com link).  You can choose to preview the hardcover version and see the page colors or the Kindle version which is blessedly free of colored backgrounds and multiple fonts.  No recipes in either preview though. 

[Anna N]

12 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

No recipes in either preview though. 

That is very peculiar. I am certain when I downloaded a sample of the Kindle edition that there was a single recipe for Red Boat Bacon. Perhaps it was only on the Canadian site and perhaps it was just my imagination. I cannot go backwards because I did in fact buy a kindle copy of the book. 

 

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

33 minutes ago, Anna N said:

That is very peculiar. I am certain when I downloaded a sample of the Kindle edition that there was a single recipe for Red Boat Bacon. Perhaps it was only on the Canadian site and perhaps it was just my imagination. I cannot go backwards because I did in fact buy a kindle copy of the book. 

 

I'm sure you are correct. The Kindle preview was loading quite slowly so it’s likely I only thought it was complete.  I’ll try again. 
 

Edited to add that as @Anna N pointed out, the Kindle preview does indeed include the bacon recipe. I was just not patient enough to wait for it to finish loading. The hardcover preview does not have the recipe. 

Edited December 30, 2021 by blue_dolphin (log)

[Anna N]

10 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

I'm sure you are correct. The Kindle preview was loading quite slowly so it’s likely I only thought it was complete.  I’ll try again. 
 

Edited to add that as @Anna N pointed out, the Kindle preview does indeed include the bacon recipe. I was just not patient enough to wait for it to finish loading. The hardcover preview does not have the recipe. 

The reason that I noticed it had much to do with the thought that if you want to grab someone’s attention begin with bacon! 
 

Out of curiosity I did use the “look inside” feature of the hardcopy version and wonder if the use of background colour and multipletypefaces is the latest fashion in publishing. I hope not as it is very annoying. It is the same issue I had with the latest David Chang book. 

[KennethT]

15 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

I'm sure you are correct. The Kindle preview was loading quite slowly so it’s likely I only thought it was complete.  I’ll try again. 
 

Edited to add that as @Anna N pointed out, the Kindle preview does indeed include the bacon recipe. I was just not patient enough to wait for it to finish loading. The hardcover preview does not have the recipe. 

Are the recipes in teh book for classic Viet dishes, or western dishes made using fish sauce?  Personally, I have no interest in the latter, but a lot of interest in the former!

[blue_dolphin]

51 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Are the recipes in teh book for classic Viet dishes, or western dishes made using fish sauce?  Personally, I have no interest in the latter, but a lot of interest in the former!

Both types of recipes are included but it’s not a book I’d recommend to someone who's focusing on classic Viet cooking. 
This link should take you to a list of the recipes with ingredients on Eat Your Books. 

[AAQuesada]

Just wanted to add some context to the Red Boat Cookbook. The Author and Chef Diep Tran was the owner of Good Girl Dinette a Vietnamese restaurant that closed in 2018 (ran for 9 years) She still does update the website with classes stuff to purchase

banh chung collective (goodgirldinette.com)

 She was also featured in the migrant kitchen series on PBS

THE MIGRANT KITCHEN: Beyond Pho | KPBS Public Media

She was also interviewed on Dave Changs podcast as well

The Dave Chang Show: Good Girl Dinette Chef Diep Tran on Her Life and What Makes Vietnamese Food So Special | The Dave Chang Show (Ep. 14) on Apple Podcasts

[Okanagancook]

On 12/18/2021 at 11:01 AM, blue_dolphin said:

While I've had the book for a while and have read it cover to cover, I haven't cooked from it yet, so you can take this with a grain 🙃 of salt.  Bottom line: if your giftees were happy with Six Seasons, I'd say they're likely to enjoy this as well.  I plan to give it to a number of friends that I gave Six Seasons to previously.  My caveat would be towards people who are already all-in on whole grains.  With Six Seasons, even cooks very experienced with vegetables could find a lot of fresh ideas in the book.  I'm not sure this one would be quite as much of a revelation for people who already cook with a lot of whole grains.  That said there are still fun new ideas like adding the crunch of quinoa to a tempura batter and a millet streusel that he uses on a butternut squash quick bread but sounds like it would be fun to sprinkle on other things.

 

It's not an encyclopedic grains reference book but the background on most of the featured grains is adequate.  The whole wheat flour chapter is mostly baking recipes.  I think it could benefit from a discussion on different types of wheat but he tends to include some AP or white bread flour in most recipes so parsing out the types may not be that important.  Most of the featured grains are represented with a nice assortment of different recipe types, others, not so much.  For example, the oat recipes sound appealing but they are all sweet.  I would have liked to see a savory oatmeal or something to mix up that chapter.  

There's a "Go-To" chapter with dressings, sauces and the like.  They sound good but they are not as fully integrated into the rest of this book as in Six Seasons where I felt that prepping some of them ahead really streamlined the other recipes.  Some people would disagree and hated that recipe-in-a-recipe trick so they'll be happy.  There are just a few go-to's that are repeated like the brined, roasted almonds and torn croutons.  The well known kale sauce also reappears here but with lots of variations added so it's worthy of the repeat.

Speaking of variations, they pop up regularly in the book.  There are several fold-out sections (pilafs, grain bowls, stir-fries and pizza) that offer a basic how-to template and six seasonal variations.  Others, like the kale sauce and the 6 variations on focaccia could have fit into that same framework.   I like the concept but have yet to put it into practice. 

 

This book is the year-long book for the Facebook cookbook group I belong to so I expect to start cooking from it shortly. Maybe today....the Super-Crisp Flatbread That Tastes Like Cheez-Its has caught my eye!

I decided to pull the plug and ordered three for my friends.  The price on Amazon.ca dropped this week.  I ordered one for me too.  So thank you again for your expert help.

[AAQuesada]

@paul o' vendange is a bad influence. Stop being an enabler 😂

 

On sale at Amazon new over 50% off btw 

[paul o' vendange]

3 hours ago, AAQuesada said:

@paul o' vendange is a bad influence. Stop being an enabler 😂

 

On sale at Amazon new over 50% off btw 

 

Thanks!  I had it and sold it years ago, to my regret.  I don't know why the book doesn't more love here in the States, anyway.  I love my Ferrandi (and so many others), but this is such an amazing technical, teaching book.  I had the French version but great to know of the deal.  Thanks again!