J.R. said:
DioNoZeus said:
If I'm cooking for the inlaws (who are Vietnamese) my go to meal is Hu Tieu, a pork and seafood noodle soup. For my family we usually do seasonal American or European. Will be making spinach and ricotta gnocchi for them next weekend.
Loves me some good Vietnamese chow. I used to own an electronic manufacturing company and my partner an most all of my employees were Vietnamese. I still eat Pho (the good stuff) a couple times a week. Love the crepes with shrimp, sugar cane shrimp, good Bahn Mi, everything wrapped in rice paper. And of course drip coffee with condensed milk to finish.
Pho is pretty readily available now. If you ever have an opportunity to try a bowl of the homemade stuff, do not pass it up. The broth is so much richer and has so much morenflavor that you'll never want restaurant pho again.
If you're feeling a little more adventurous, there are other Vietnamese noodle soups that are even better than pho, many of which you can easily find in restaurants in Houston or Dallas. My favorites are:
Bun mang vit: duck and bamboo noodle soup served with a ginger fish sauce dip for the bamboo and duck
Bun bo hue: Spicy beef and pork noodle soup with a healthy dose of lemongrass in the broth. Be warned, it is frequently served with pig trotters, cubes of congealed blood, and fermented shrimp paste (which is a little stinky on its own but adds great depth to the broth).
Bun oc: perrywinkle noodle soup served in a pork broth. This one is a little harder to find.
Mi quang: One of my absolute favorites. Wide rice noodles are died yellow with turmeric to give the appearance of being mi (egg noodles). They are then covered sparingly with pork broth, braised pork belly or pork ribs, hard boiled quail eggs, shrimp, squid, fried shallot, and ground roasted peanuts.
Bun mam: This one is for the really adventurous eater. Noodle soup whose salty, pungent broth is made from fermented fish. Frequently served with catfish, roasted pork, squid, eggplant, and okra. Definitely an acquired taste, but when it is done well it is really good.