"Clay Irving" > wrote in message
> limey wrote:
>
>> "Peter Huebner" wrote in message
>> >
>>> In an earlier life I was working as adult ed consultant at a school that
>>> was teaching German to Vietnamese boat people - and as a direct result I
>>> got invited to quite a lot of Vietnamese banquets. Which I really
>>> enjoyed, and I got quite a few hints and tips on how to prepare some of
>>> the dishes.
>>>
>>> There are a couple of issues, however, where my memory fails. One thing
>>> is the [pastry] for lack of a better word. A lot of dishes were similar
>>> to spring rolls, but they were things bundled in a white
>>> pastry/pasta/whatever and then boiled or steamed rather than deep fried.
>>> Grab with chopsticks, dunk in fish sauce and eat. Delicious. But I
>>> cannot for the life of me remember how to make that coating. Rice flour
>>> and hot water is what has stuck but I am at a loss as to method ?!?
>>>
>>> The other thing I am wondering about is the fish sauce. I remember it as
>>> quite different from Thai fish sauce which is the only I have been able
>>> to obtain here in NZ so far. Are they really different, or is my memory
>>> playing tricks on me?
>>>
>>> If anyone has a good link on how-tos I'd appreciate it. I think I can
>>> remember well enough what it should taste like to be able to experiment
>>> successfully with a few memory refreshers.
>>>
>>> cheers, -Peter
>>
>> Would this help, do you think? -
>>
>> http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/...cgi?vietnamese
>
> And, for information about fish sauce:
>
> http://www.panix.com/~clay/cookbook/...cgi?fish-sauce
>
> I also found this useful information about the difference between Thai
> and Vietnamese fish sauce:
>
> Also keep in mind that fish sauce is also used in Thai and Filipino
> cooking, where it tends to be saltier and heavier in flavor. So, even
> though Thailand produces most of the fish sauce sold in the U.S., you
> need to make sure that the condiment you're buying is made in the
> 'Vietnamese' style. How to do this? Look for Vietnamese
> lettering alongside the Thai script. Sometimes, the terms Phu Quoc
> and Phan Thiet are included on the label to signal a connection with
> these two famous fish sauce-producing areas in Vietnam. Fish sauce
> from Vietnam now sometimes use "Hon Phu Quoc" or "Hon Phan Thiet" (see
> image on left) to indicate that their product came from islands in
> those regions; hon means islands, and communicates a more authentic
> Viet condiment (versus a Thai product, which may not be clued in on
> such linguistic subtleties).
>
> http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/essentials.htm
>
> --
> Clay Irving >

My goodness, you are Clay, of Clay's Kitchen? I have your web site in my
Favorites and on my Desktop, since a friend is from Peru and also I am
trying to learn Thai cooking! The link I just gave Peter Huebner was taken
from your web page.

It's a good site. Thank you.

Dora