Notes about Recipes in this book

• Caramelized chicken claypot

  • TrishaCP on October 03, 2020

    So flavorful and easy to pull together. I used the Food 52 instructions for making the caramel sauce since I didn’t have any that was ready-made. It was therefore a bit thinner than I would have liked - but that is a minor quibble because this was great.

• Ginger beef vermicelli

  • crandall57 on March 04, 2015

    We used skirt steak. Loved it. Will make it again.

  • Barb_N on October 11, 2014

    I read this recipe this a.m. and had all the ingredients on hand, although after a trip to the store I decided to sub Chinese mustard greens for the lettuce. I'm glad I did. This was quick and tasty but not a lot of punch- until I bit into a slice of ginger. I decreased the fish sauce and upped the garlic. A bit unconventional but I served it with a sauce made from Smoke and Pickle's Pickled garlic. I can see lots of variations of this recipe making their way into my routine.

  • Stephenn31 on March 12, 2023

    Excellent! Very easy and lots of delicious ginger. The crunchy lettuce was a nice contrast of textures with the tender beef

• Braised ginger chicken

  • crandall57 on June 29, 2015

    Excellent flavors. Will make again. Not as time consuming as other Asian dishes.

• Shaking beef

  • wcassity on December 21, 2020

    Delicious. 1lb of meat was plenty for the 4 of us. Would be even better if my wok/stove got hotter. Don't skip the watercress.

  • metacritic on October 22, 2021

    This is an absolutely fabulous recipe. Watercress lifts and draws together the flavors. The salt elements create additional layers that make the recipes work. A huge success with children and adults alike.

• Stuffed bitter melon with marinara sauce

  • chawkins on October 17, 2019

    Made this with the last two bitter melons from the garden. This was okay but I much prefer them in the usual garlic black bean sauce. Unlike most Asian meat stuffing that are bind with cornstarch, Charles Phan chose to bind the ground pork western style, with an egg and bread crumbs.

  • sosayi on April 14, 2017

    So easy to make, and so, so delicious. I get excited every summer when bitter melon is fresh at the market. I normally just hollow out bitter melons and then stuff them with the sausage before roasting, rather than making rounds and pan-frying. Try it!

• Barbecued pork ribs

  • jenniesb on February 16, 2015

    This was a delicious recipe. I made it for Superbowl 2015 and it got great reviews. Next time I think I would chop the lemongrass and let it infuse the oil overnight to try to get the maximum amount of flavor. I also used only about 1/3 c. sugar (it was more than enough). Fantastic marinade - I will use it on other meats as well!

• Seared scallops in Vietnamese beurre blanc

  • stockholm28 on September 29, 2018

    The Vietnamese flavors in the beurre blanc were extremely subtle. The sauce mostly just tasted of butter. Needs to be served with rice to sop up the extra sauce.

  • sosayi on May 17, 2020

    A good butter sauce, but I would agree with stockholm28 that the Vietnamese flavors were muted. I'd been hoping for a bit more. Enjoyed all around, but not sure if we'd go out of our way to repeat it.

• Agricole rhum punch

  • peaceoutdesign on May 19, 2021

    Very Good, Rhum Agricole might be key just because of the funkier grassy taste

• Filibuster

  • peaceoutdesign on February 17, 2021

    Very good. The heart-shaped drops of angostura make it beautiful.

• Hotel Nacional special

  • peaceoutdesign on February 16, 2021

    I didn't have the pineapple syrup so i used 1/2 simple syrup and 1-ounce pineapple juice. It was good but maybe the Small hand's syrup would bump it ( ...or perfect puree caramelized pineapple) up a notch.

• Shrimp on sugarcane

  • Dagmara on March 11, 2015

    There is a step 7. Grill, turning frequently, until cooked through, about 8-10 minutes. Serve immediately.

• Stir-fried green beans

  • sosayi on May 29, 2018

    Easy, quick vegetable side dish with lots of flavor, but still preschooler approved. Used half green beans and half asparagus, to use what I had on hand, and it worked quite well. Would definitely make again.

• Food52

  2015 Piglet Community Pick. In my mind, the mark of a good cookbook is that you keep coming back to it -- and I'm incredibly eager to continue cooking my way though this one.

  Full review