1. Shell the shrimp, rinse the shells and pat them dray. Cut the
shrimp in half horizontally and rinse out the sand veins. 2. Place a
large pot over high heat until hot. Add the oil, swirling to coat the
surface. Add the shrimp shells; cook until they turn pink, abt 30
seconds. Add the brooth, lemon grass, lime peel, and chile. Bring to
aboil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medioum-low, cover, and
simmer for 20 minutes. Strain the broth, discarding the seasonings.
Return the broth to the pot and heat tto simmering. Add the shrimp
and straw mushrooms and cook until the shrimp turn pink, about 2
minutes. Stir in the lime juice and fish sauce. To serve, lade into
individual soup bowls. Garnish with green onio, cilantro, mint leaves
and chile.

Thought your reference to cooking sugar syrup to “caramelize” it was
interesting. It reminded me of a sauce that’s used in Vietnamese
cuisine. It’s used in a variety of recipes and turns out to be the
“secret” ingredient that gives barbecued Vietnamese stuff that unique
taste when used as a marinade for strips of beef, chicken or pork. I
use it in Satay recipes. The result is a subtle, delicious taste.
It also gives a nice glazed finish to stuff. Its use shouldn’t be
limited to Asian cuisine. In fact, I suspect that this is originally
a French influence…

“…the only rule to remember is to turn off the smoke alarm and open
all the windows, as the sauce will smoke heavily, with a pungent
smell.” [I didn’t find this to be much of a problem. S.C..] Cook the
sugar in a small heavy saucepan over low heat, swirling the pan
constantly, until brown. It will smoke slightly. Immediately remove
the pan from the heat and stir the fish sauce into the caramel, being
careful to guard against splattering (the mixture will bubble
vigorously).

Return the mixture to low heat and gently boil, swirling the pan
occasionally, until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 3
minutes. Add the shallots and ground pepper to taste; stir to
combine. Use in recipes where required. [Or, as I noted, as a
marinade for BBQ stuff. S.C..]

NOTE: Cool this sauce thoroughly before using. If cold food is
added to a caramel sauce that is hot, the sugar will harden instantly
and you’ll end up with a dish full of candy chips.

Yield: 1/3 cup.

* peeled in lengthwise strips and with green strips in between, then
cut in half lengthwise and into thin horizontal slices, forming
semi-circles.

A salad or vegetable platter is a very important part of a Vietnamese
meal; indeed, it is served at practically every one. The vegetables,
which are eaten along with many dishe, are arranged on a platter, and
diner helps himself to whatever he desires. In Vietnam we used many
more vegetables and herbs than we can find in the West. But, in
spite of that, the following platter makes a satisfactory
accompaniment to the dishes we have prepared for this book. All
vegetables and herbs are those served in Vietnam, except that the
variety is smaller.

Arrange a mound of lettuce in the center of a platter. Around the
lettuce, and touching it, arrange separate mounds of mint and
coriander.

Arrange the cucumbers in overlapping slices around the complete outer
rim of the platter.

This is the basic arrangement of the vegetable platter. On those
occasions when a recipe calls for another vegetable, it can be added
to this platter.

Makes 8 servings.

The French introduced asparagus to the Vietnamese, who promptly
incorporated this classic vegetable into their cuisine. The
Vietnamese word for asparagus is “Western bamboo,” due to its
resemblance to bamboo shoots. asparagus is universally popular
throughout Vietnam, this light, tasty dish will delight your family
as well.

Bring water to a boil and put the pork bones in. Remove the scum,
then cover and continue to boil the bones for 1 hour. Remove the
bones from the stock and discard. Add the salt and the fish sauce to
the stock.

Heat the oil and add the chopped garlic and shallots; add the crab
meat and fry for 5 minutes over high heat. Sprinkle with 1/8
teaspoon of black pepper, stirring constantly, then add the crab meat
mixture to the soup and bring to a boil. Add the
cornstarch-and-water mixture and stir for a few minutes.

Break the egg open and drop it into the actively boiling soup while
stirring. Cook, still stirring, for about 2 minutes, then drop in the
asparagus, along with the liquid from the can and the rest of the
black pepper. Continue to cook until the asparagus is heated through.

Sprinkle the coriander and scallion green over the soup before
serving.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

In a little bit of oil (since pork has its own fat) fry the garlic
slices until fragrant, then add the pork and stir until well cooked,
and dark, making sure to separate a finely as possible. Add sugar, and fry until browner in color.(always fry on med). Add msg and fish sauce and taste. Add crushed pepper, or black pepper if
desired. Put in the garlic slices, add 1/2 cup of water, and let
simmer until water is almost disappears. Remove garlic and ginger, and serve with rice.

Optional garnishes arranged on a plate and placed at the table:
Sprigs of spearmint (hung lui) and Asian/Thai basil (hung que)
Leaves of thorny cilantro (ngo gai)
Bean sprouts (about 1/2 pound)
Red hot chiles (such as Thai bird or dragon), thinly sliced
Lime wedges

Prepare the broth:

Char onion and ginger. Use an open flame on grill or gas stove. Place onions and ginger on cooking grate and let skin burn. (If using stove, turn on exhaust fan and open a window.) After about 15 minutes, they will soften and become sweetly fragrant. Use tongs to occasionally rotate them and to grab and discard any flyaway onion skin. You do not have to blacken entire surface, just enough to slightly cook onion and ginger.

Let cool. Under warm water, remove charred onion skin; trim and discard blackened parts of root or stem ends. If ginger skin is puckered and blistered, smash ginger with flat side of knife to loosen flesh from skin. Otherwise, use sharp paring knife to remove skin, running ginger under warm water to wash off blackened bits. Set aside.

Parboil bones. Place bones in stockpot (minimum 12-quart capacity) and cover with cold water. Over high heat, bring to boil. Boil vigorously 2 to 3 minutes to allow impurities to be released. Dump bones and water into sink and rinse bones with warm water. Quickly scrub stockpot to remove any residue. Return bones to pot.

Simmer broth. Add 6 quarts water to pot, bring to boil over high heat, then lower flame to gently simmer. Use ladle to skim any scum that rises to surface. Add remaining broth ingredients and cook 1 1/2 hours. Boneless meat should be slightly chewy but not tough. When it is cooked to your liking, remove it and place in bowl of cold water for 10 minutes; this prevents the meat from drying up and turning dark as it cools. Drain the meat; cool, then refrigerate. Allow broth to continue cooking; in total, the broth should simmer 3 hours.

Strain broth through fine strainer. If desired, remove any bits of gelatinous tendon from bones to add to your pho bowl. Store tendon with cooked beef. Discard solids.

Use ladle to skim as much fat from top of broth as you like. (Cool it and refrigerate it overnight to make this task easier; reheat befofe continuing.) Taste and adjust flavor with additional salt, fish sauce and yellow rock sugar. The broth should taste slightly too strong because the noodles and other ingredients are not salted. (If you’ve gone too far, add water to dilute.) Makes about 4 quarts.

Assemble bowls: The key is to be organized and have everything ready to go. Thinly slice cooked meat. For best results, make sure it’s cold.

Heat broth and ready noodles. To ensure good timing, reheat broth over medium flame as you’re assembling bowls. If you’re using dried noodles, cover with hot tap water and soak 15-20 minutes, until softened and opaque white. Drain in colander. For fresh rice noodles, just untangle and briefly rinse in a colander with cold water.

Blanch noodles. Fill 3- or 4-quart saucepan with water and bring to boil. For each bowl, use long-handle strainer to blanch a portion of noodles. As soon as noodles have collapsed and lost their stiffness (10-20 seconds), pull strainer from water, letting water drain back into saucepan. Empty noodles into bowls. Noodles should occupy 1/4 to 1/3 of bowl; the latter is for noodle lovers, while the former is for those who prize broth.
If desired, after blanching noodles, blanch bean sprouts for 30 seconds in same saucepan. They should slightly wilt but retain some crunch. Drain and add to the garnish plate.

Add other ingredients. Place slices of cooked meat, raw meat and tendon (if using) atop noodles. (If your cooked meat is not at room temperature, blanch slices for few seconds in hot water from above.) Garnish with onion, scallion and chopped cilantro. Finish with black pepper.

Ladle in broth and serve. Bring broth to rolling boil. Check seasoning. Ladle broth into each bowl, distributing hot liquid evenly so as to cook raw beef and warm other ingredients. Serve with garnish plate.

Note: Yellow rock sugar (a.k.a. lump sugar) is sold in one-pound boxes at Chinese and Southeast Asian markets. Break up large chunks with hammer.

Variations: If you want to replicate the splendorous options available at pho shops, head to the butcher counter at a Vietnamese or Chinese market. There you’ll find white cords of gan (beef tendon) and thin pieces of nam (outside flank, not flank steak). While tendon requires no preparation prior to cooking, nam should be rolled and tied with string for easy handling. Simmer it and the beef tendon in the cooking broth for two hours, or until chewy-tender.

Airy book tripe (sach) is already cooked when you buy it. Before using, wash and gently squeeze it dry. Slice it thinly to make fringe-like pieces to be added to the bowl during assembly. For beef meatballs (bo vien), purchase them in Asian markets in the refrigerator case; they are already precooked. Slice each one in half and drop into broth to heat through. When you’re ready to serve, ladle them out with the broth to top each bowl.

Marinate with:
½ thumb ginger julienned
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons water
½ teaspoon sugar ¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce

½ lb. Dry roasted peanuts smashed in mortar and pestle
bean sprouts - 1 lb.- blanched in hot water
½ head lettuce chopped
herbs - basil, cilantro, mint - ½ cut each

2 tablespoons oil in frying pan - add 2 cloves of chopped garlic. Add beef and fry.

Serve beef and rice noodles, on top put -

herbs
lettuce
bean sprouts
meat
peanuts
fried onions
add Nuoc Mam Cham sauce

Instructions: Mix and leave 30 minutes. Put 2 tablespoons of oil in frying pan and 1 clove garlic and fry. Shanghai bok choy- 1 head - cut in chunks. Add 2 tablespoons oil in frying pan and add garlic and stir fry. Add ¼ teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon oyster sauce (panda brand). Add ½ the beef or add all of the beef and 2 tablespoons oyster sauce. Use chive flowers- cut in pieces and stir fry with oil and garlic and then add tablespoon of oyster sauce.

Instructions:

Fry garlic in oil until golden brown.  Add spinach and stir fry for a few minutes. Season with fish sauce and salt.

Boil water with vinegar and sugar; allow it to cool.  Combine garlic, peppers, and add mixture. Stir in the fish sauce.