The PHO Cookbook - by Andrea Nguyen (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

JAMES BEARD AWARD WINNER - With this comprehensive cookbook, Vietnam's most beloved, aromatic comfort food--the broth and noodle soup known as pho--is now within your reach.

Author Andrea Nguyen first tasted pho in Vietnam as a child, sitting at a Saigon street stall with her parents. That experience sparked a lifelong love of the iconic noodle soup, long before it became a cult food item in the United States.

Here Andrea dives deep into pho's lively past, visiting its birthplace and then teaching you how to successfully make it at home. Options range from quick weeknight cheats to impressive weekend feasts with broth and condiments from scratch, as well as other pho rice noodle favorites. Over fifty versatile recipes, including snacks, salads, companion dishes, and vegetarian and gluten-free options, welcome everyone to the pho table.

With a thoughtful guide on ingredients and techniques, plus evocative location photography and deep historical knowledge, The Pho Cookbook enables you to make this comforting classic your own.

Review Quotes

"Andrea Nguyen has done the English-speaking world a tremendous favor with this book, the most authoritative guide to pho I've ever seen. It dispels rumors, tells truths, and thoughtfully chronicles Vietnam's rich but underexplored soup culture. Andrea lays out the facts about pho in a way that makes you slurp them down, and then chases the lessons with a stack of recipes that will send you directly to the kitchen. The marriage of purpose and passion that she's brought to this book is a rare thing."
- DAVID CHANG, coauthor of Momofuku and cofounder of Lucky Peach

"Andrea Nguyen is the world's greatest expert in Vietnamese cooking. Her latest book is a stunning and comprehensive guide to pho, that country's most delicious food. Everything you ever wanted to know about pho is here: how to make it, how to eat it, its history, its regional variations--and so much more. All lovers of Asian food need to own this most extraordinary book."
- JAMES OSELAND, author Cradle of Flavor: Home Cooking from the Spice Islands of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore

"Andrea Nguyen is the kind of writer who doesn't just show you how to follow her recipes, she also teaches you how to be a better cook. This book is a fantastic example. You'll learn how to make delicious pho while also gaining a whole new sensibility around an unfamiliar pantry. Buy this book. Cook from it. You'll end up a far better cook than you were before."
- PIM TECHAMUANVIVIT, proprietress of Kin Khao

"Nguyen's recipes are a cook's dream: well tested, easy to follow, and written in a friendly, conversational style. This is not unique to The Pho Cookbook; cooking from any of Nguyen's books is like listening to an incredibly patient friend explain a recipe over the telephone."
- Lucky Peach

"Nguyen is a master teacher when it comes Vietnam's national dish, and in her new book she provides meticulously clear instructions for every imaginable variety--we recommend you cook through every chapter."
- Food & Wine

"With the same clarity and care displayed in her previous books, Nguyen guides even the nervous first-time pho navigator to slurp-worthy success."
- NPR.org, Best Books of 2017

"Great for: Pho addicts or home cooks enamored with fragrant broths and Vietnamese comfort food."
- Bay Area News Group

"For lovers of pho, the hearty and delicious Vietnamese noodle soup, this is a wonderfully approachable guide to making your own at home."
- NPR's Here & Now Best Cookbooks of 2017

About the Author

ANDREA NGUYEN is an author, teacher, and consultant based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Born in Vietman, she came to the United States at the age of six. Her first book, a children's book, chronicles that journey. She has written a number of acclaimed cookbooks, including Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, Asian Dumplings, and The Banh Mi Handbook. Her food writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Cooking Light, Lucky Peach, Saveur, and Rodale's Organic Life, where she is a contributing editor.