September 30, 2014 – It’s not any old sandwich that merits its own cookbook. But there is nothing ordinary about the tangy, crunchy, meaty, yet delicate Vietnamese sandwich called bahn mi. Award-winning Santa Cruz food writer and teacher Andrea Nguyen has a hit on her hands with her recently published Bahn Mi Handbook: Recipes for Crazy-Delicious Vietnamese Sandwiches.
It’s a small, pretty book with colorful photographs and beautiful illustrations. It also offers a short, yet potent, history lesson on the popular sandwich, explaining why it is a perfect example of Vietnamese food culture. “The bread, condiments, and some of the meats are the legacy of Chinese and French colonialism. The pickles, cilantro, and chile reflect Viet tastes for bright flavors and fresh vegetables,” she writes.
With several publications under her belt, three of which were nominated for James Beard awards, it is obvious Nguyen is committed to her craft.
Anyone who knows her work or has used one of her books is aware that this author doesn’t do anything halfway. She is thorough, detailed and extremely well researched, imparting lessons the whole way through as a good teacher should.
But sometimes, when taking on such massive subjects, like her Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, that comprehensiveness can make for a pretty heavy read. “I have a strange knack for writing firsts—landmark books. My first three books were very distinctive first books of their kind, and kind of serious. I wanted the fourth book to be fun,” comments Nguyen, and once again, she has succeeded.
Realizing that no one had written a true, solid bahn mi cookbook, solely focused on the sandwich alone, Andrea decided she was up for the task. “I asked myself, can I use this one particular dish to draw people into Vietnamese food and make it part of their regular cooking routine?” And with that question came the answer of making this a handbook as opposed to just a book full of recipes. This makes it an easy, accessible guide that serves as a stepping stone for your own kitchen experiments.
“It is called a handbook because I set it up as if you were going to start up a little sandwich shop,” Andrea says. And so you begin with some backstory to banh mi, some history, some personal family background, and then you launch into banh mi 101. This includes pantry essentials, a short and sweet description of what lays the groundwork to this sandwich, all readily available and easy to purchase or create.
And don’t worry, you can source baguettes from Kelly’s French Bakery, rolls from Whole Foods or bolillos from Mexican markets if you are not up to tackling Andrea’s bread recipe. If you are, however, you will hear her entertaining tale of tracking down the elusive secret to making authentic Viet-style baguettes, which she divulges for all in this book.
After the bread comes the condiments and toppings, also easy to find, make or grow on your own: chiles, herbs like cilantro, mint or Thai basil, cucumber, pickled vegetables and the all-important Maggi seasoning sauce (basically umami in a bottle, which was invented by the Swiss in the late 1880’s and remains in its original packaging to this day) and mayonnaise. “There is no shame in using store bought mayo,” assures Nguyen, But homemade tastes so much better. You can also use butter or avocado if you prefer.
Same goes for the fillings. If you don’t thrill to the idea of boiling down pig’s ears for head cheese or turning chicken livers into pate, why not try making an edamame version or some coconut curry tofu? Nguyen expertly lays out the basics, the classic construction and elements to this iconic Vietnamese street food. But then she provides tons of room to play, and that is really the point here in The Banh Mi Handbook, to have fun, find your own preference and style and own the sandwich making for yourself. Ultimately, Andrea wanted “to make this totally accessible and affordable for people. If you make them at home you will really be able to understand what goes into that sandwich.”
About the author
Amber Turpin is a freelance food and travel writer based in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
