On Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:39:23 -0800 (PST), phaeton wrote:

> Today I was browsing Vietnamese cookbooks at the Half Price
> Bookstore. I've recently decided that I need to return to my "I'm
> going to adopt a more Asian diet" initiative. The one I abandoned
> last spring when I discovered that the Japanese pretty much don't cook
> anything. There were exactly four* books. In one of the books
> (actually three, see below) mentioned marinating strips of beef, then
> storing them uncovered on a wire rack in the refrigerator for 2 days
> to dry them out. In hotter seasons, you can do the same in the sun.
> The result is like beef jerky, except you still have to cook it first.
>
> I didn't know you could do that!
>
> *Books: There were four books. One book didn't refer to any of the
> recipes or dishes by its native name, or even mention it; i.e. "Spring
> Rolls" instead of "gỏi cuốn", and had a lot of recipes that the author
> admitted to fabricating for her restaurant in SoCal. It also had no
> recipe for Phở of any sort.
>
> The other three books were three different sizes, had three different
> titles, and had three different cover types, but were all identical on
> the inside, to the page. Recipes, pictures, text. Odd.
>
> I bought neither, for now. The nearby Barnes and Noble had "ethnic
> cooking, alphabetical by nation" but their section only went to
> "Spain".
>
> -J

vietnamese cookbooks used to be pretty hard to come by. i have this one,
'the classic cuisine of vietnam"

<http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Cuisine-Vietnam-Plume/dp/0452258332/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260635430&sr=8-1>

....but i'll confess i haven't cooked much from it. it seems pretty
comprehensive.

your pal,
blake