The Banh Mi Handbook: Recipes for Crazy-Delicious Vietnamese Sandwiches [A Cookbook] Hardcover – July 8, 2014

I've been a fan of the author, following her lovely and delicious blog for some time. This book follows through on what I love about her work -- it's accessible for a home cook, the photography is delightful, the writing is clear, and I'm eager to get in the kitchen and try things out for me and my family.This book features recipes for omnivores, meat-eaters, and vegetarians. Also, because of the way the book is structured, one could easily turn many of these sandwich fillings into main dishes for a non-sandwich meal. In my family, we eat a lot of rice, and I'll definitely be serving things like Crispy Drunken Chicken, Shrimp in Caramel Sauce, and Maggi Steaks with or without bread.But the bread! She includes a recipe for banh mi rolls, but I haven't got to try it yet. When the weather cools down, I'll give it a try. It's written for a heavy-duty stand mixer, which I do not have, but Notes include instructions on how to work it by hand. Probably it would be a bit imposing for someone without a mixer or some bread-making experience; it is not, however, more complicated-looking than recipes I've done before, and it requires no special equipment beyond a spray bottle.There is also a recipe for bao-like buns, or steamed bread, in the "alternative banh mi" chapter. That chapter also features a recipe for lettuce wraps and a salad, perfect for warmer weather meals.Also included is a section on condiments, such as homemade mayo in several variations and some other sauces, and quick pickle recipes. They are refrigerator pickles and as such do not require any special canning techniques.The section which may see the least use in my house is the one on cold cuts; this is not because the recipes look bad, however. To me they look amazing, and I'll be trying some of the sausages...but I'm probably the only one in the house who would love the pâté with chicken or pork, let alone the headcheese terrine. I'll probably make them anyway, at least once, since I'm the cook; if I'm lucky, my housemates will enjoy them too. People with more adventurous families or housemates may get more mileage out of them. (I slightly envy them.)All in all, this is a cookbook I'm happy to have added to my collection, and I'm looking forward to adding its contents to my regular cooking rotation.

Wonderful cookbook! The writing, photos, and organization are top-notch. Overall, working with the "Handbook" is like having a friend teaching and helping out in the kitchen. As noted in the first review, the book is about way more than just sandwiches - some history, family stories, the hunt for perfect bahn mi bread, and best of all, new ways of thinking about food. Ms Nguyen breaks down the delicious bahn mi sandwich into simple elements - crunch of the crust, softness of the crumb, a bit of fat, a umami blast, unctuous fillings, cool and crisp veggie toppings - in a way that I was able to carry over into my other cooking. I was thinking of her meatball bahn mi as I tweaked my usual spaghetti with meatballs recipe for dinner last night - adding finely chopped cilantro stems to the meat, coating the meatballs with panko, and a dash of anchovy paste to the sauce. I bring this up to show how this is a little book that makes one's culinary imagination take flight, as a great cookbook should.More down-to-earth, Ms Nguyen also gives myriad little kitchen hints that I found immediately useful - how to keep cilantro and how to cut it to stay fresh, squeeze quick pickles after salting to get them crisp, how to refresh bread. Not to mention how many of her recipes can be simply transposed onto a bed of rice noodles or lettuce for a delicious meal. If you love to cook, then don't pass up this book!

I am a big fan of Andrea Nguyen's dumpling and pho cookbooks. I'm also an avid bread baker, from freshly ground flour. Flour needs to age. In "Advanced Bread and Pastry" (141801169X), Michel Suas describes freshly ground flour as "green", details the hazards, and advises adding 20 to 40 parts per million ascorbic acid to dough from "green" flour. I've cautiously raised this to 60 ppm. He recommends mixing with white flour to aid measuring and distribution. I make a 1:20 cut, then a 1:20 cut from that for a 1:440 blend I can weigh and thoroughly mix into my dough. For example, my standard recipe now calls for 900 grams of flour and 24 grams of 1:440 AA.King Arthur also recommends ascorbic acid as a dough conditioner. They know their stuff but are sensitive to the needs of less involved bakers. They recommend a "pinch" of ascorbic acid.Andrea Nguyen's dough recipe is over 1000 parts per million ascorbic acid. This is insane. I'm not a doctor; I can't attribute actual harm to this, but I consider it irresponsible for her to not know this is contrary to professional advice, or to not say so.The ascorbic acid mechanism is independent from pH. I've begun to also add a teaspoon of vinegar per kilo of flour, which has a dramatic effect. I wouldn't use enough ascorbic acid to have this effect on the pH. It's probably safer than using LSD to affect the pH, but equally misguided.

I've been a Banh Mi fan for years and this book is incredible! I've made a few of the selections and improvised a few. Worth a read for sure.