Notes about Recipes in this book

• Bibb lettuce salad with grapefruit, carrots and fish sauce vinaigrette

  • patioweather on December 30, 2020

    This was just alright for me. I am not sure the egg adds enough to take the risk of eating a raw egg.

• Grilled chả lụa with green mango salad, nước chấm, and pork floss

  • mirage on June 24, 2024

    Excellent hot weather meal!

• Fried egg bánh mì

  • SheilaS on July 30, 2020

    Surely the messiest bánh mì I've eaten! I used Andrea Nguyen's recipe for the rolls (I put a link to it in the comments) and to pickle carrots and daikon. The fish sauce-mayo makes a great alternative to the usual Maggi seasoning.

  • southerncooker on August 03, 2020

    This sure was a messy sandwich but so delicious. Easy to just make one and I'll definitely be making again. I'm also going to try his suggestion of adding some fish sauce mayonnaise to tuna salad soon.

• Vietnamese steak and eggs

  • Mtetpon on July 22, 2020

    I did make mine as a sandwich and added in some cilantro. The marinade on the meat is fantastic.

• Crispy Brussels sprouts with caramelized fish sauce

  • patioweather on March 29, 2020

    Next time I would add more sugar.

• Cantaloupe-habanero gazpacho

  • stacymarkow on June 21, 2020

    Spicy and refreshing.

  • molly17659 on January 04, 2026

    I liked this a lot. I'm not a big gazpacho fan but this was so simple and tasty!

• Indian "puffy tacos"

  • raybun on March 30, 2020

    Another fantastic recipe from this book, labour intensive but worth every minute. The tomato chutney and masala are excellent. I used corn tortillas as I couldn’t get puri shells.

• Charred shishito peppers, corn and soy

  • southerncooker on August 05, 2020

    I made a recipe and a half for three of us. Delicious. I got my shishito peppers from a local farm.

• Chile Tater Tot casserole

  • jenmacgregor18 on November 07, 2019

    I made 1/2 batch. This is very rich - but great comfort food. It wasn't as hot as I was worried it may be. I added additional crystal sauce to mine both for the vinegar and a bit more heat. My cheese was a bit grainy looking when reheated. That, however, didn't slow me down.

  • Nkrieda78 on July 08, 2020

    I cooked the tots separately to keep crispy and treated it all like nachos!

  • southerncooker on July 27, 2020

    We really enjoyed this. I made a half recipe for hubby, son and I. My Poblano and or my pickled jalapenos must have been spicy because this had a bite to it but still delicious.

  • SheilaS on July 30, 2020

    I've made the cheese sauce with heavy cream and also with evaporated milk. The evap milk was just as good and reheated more easily without breaking. It's a great sauce!

  • Lsblackburn1 on November 29, 2020

    This was an excellent way to use up the last of the turkey! Really delicious - and since my bag of tater tots was only 28 oz., the addition of the meat worked great with the amount of cheese sauce.

  • MollyB on July 01, 2021

    Great dish! I used a scant amount of the spicier ingredients to make it more child-friendly, but it would have been fine with the full amount. My 10-yr-old loved it and didn't even mention spiciness. I think the cheese and cream temper the heat. We'll definitely be making it again!

  • Misa925 on March 03, 2025

    We thought it had too much cheese (never thought we'd say that about any recipe!) I used a good sharp cheddar & after shredding weighed it (using the formula 1 cup = 4 oz of shredded cheese, which measured out about right). Mine looked nothing like the book's photo or either of the 2 photos currently here on EYB, those all look like you could eat them with your fingers. My tots were floating in cheese & had pools of oil on top (& so much more oil on the plate & in leftovers) so we had to use forks & with all that grease they lost the tot shape so it was like eating blobs of cheese with tiny bits of potato. We usually enjoy greasy & rich foods... but this was over the top too much cheese for (what I thought was) a tater tot side dish. Also, roasting (mild) poblanos plus using (hot) jalapenos... may as well have just used canned green chilis & would end up with the same (medium heat) flavor. The sauce recipe was tasty so may make that again, half amount poured over tots cooked separately

• Korean-style sloppy Joes

  • Lsblackburn1 on July 29, 2020

    These were very well-received at an outdoor socially-distanced dinner! They had a subtle heat from the gochujang, but it wasn’t too much. The recipe says to make this in an 8 quart Dutch oven, which I do not have... fortunately everything just fit in my smaller cocotte and it came out just right.

  • kkmatti on October 28, 2023

    These were good but a little on the sweet side. I think the sweetness of the gochujang is a little overpowering here.

• Orange peel beef

  • bwhip on December 03, 2019

    Very delicious dish. We really enjoyed this one. Quite easy to prep, just needs 24 hours to marinate. Excellent flavor, nicely spicy even though we removed the dried peppers before cooking. We served with brown rice.

• Grilled shrimp soba noodle salad

  • dea080020 on August 15, 2021

    Uninspiring - I did definitely prefer homeemade yuzu over store bought though.

• Eggplant with spicy bean paste

  • Samallyn6 on August 22, 2020

    This tastes exactly like the eggplant we used to get at a popular asian-fusion restaurant - back when we actually ate at restaurants. Really nice asian-style eggplant dish. Lots of caramelized flavor, eggplant is silky and delicious.

• Korean pasta salad

  • Lsblackburn1 on February 28, 2021

    This was a hit with the family! Made it as written - might consider upping the pineapple if I made it again. Used the extra Mayo for the fish cakes and that was a great combination.

• Sichuan BLT

  • pattyatbryce on January 09, 2021

    Love this - super easy and great flavor! I rare recipe that I made twice in the same month. Note: I did add some extra gochujang for some more spice the second time.

• Sweet soy-glazed BBQ chicken

  • patioweather on July 12, 2020

    To quote my friend, "that chicken is f**king bangin'!" Gotta remember to start cooking early though. We are used to grilling things that grill up fast like hot dogs, and this takes a little longer.

• Yakamein

  • sbackman on July 30, 2024

    I’ve never had Yakamein before so I don’t have any reference to what it should taste like but this recipe was awful. The sauce was so strong that after two hours of cooking I started straining it out and replacing with water until I had replaced 3/4 of the sauce. That still didn’t help the recipe. Looking at other recipes, most use the same ingredients more or less, but this recipe used 5 times the ingredients of other recipes. The pickled eggs were good however. This is the first time cooking from this book and wanted so much to like it. Hopefully I’ll find a better recipe next time.

• UB Preserv pickles

  • MollyB on July 01, 2021

    Good, basic quick pickle. We did the red onion variation, and liked it a lot.

• Noi's Thai fried rice balls with cucumber salad

  • Samallyn6 on August 22, 2020

    The flavor was great, but unfortunately, mine fell apart in the frying pan.

  • Kduncan on August 02, 2021

    These take a while to make, the amount of grating/chopping of ginger/garlic was intense, and as first poster said do fall apart a bit when frying (about half of ours did). Though, again as the first poster said the flavor is really good, don't know with all the work I'd do again though.

• Vietnamese fajitas

  • patioweather on July 17, 2020

    These are basically spring rolls with meat, but they are great. Preparation was easy, although searing the meat created a lot of smoke. The one thing this recipe lacks is avocado. You really need to add avocado.

• Louisiana seafood rice casserole

  • patioweather on July 02, 2020

    Decadent. Definitely not a weeknight meal.

• Masala chicken wings

  • raybun on March 30, 2020

    The marinade with Aunties Masala is incredible, I’ll be using it for kebabs this summer. Had to use legs instead of wings and forego the raita (no yogurt!). Excellent flavours.

• Lamburger helper

  • southerncooker on July 29, 2020

    Made a half recipe. Son and I love lamb and this was delicious. I did use Chipotle chili powder since I was out of Ancho. I forgot to half the eztra cheese that's stirred into the meat and cheese sauce mixtures, along with the pasta. But in this family there's no such thing as too much cheese.

• Chocolate chile champurrado

  • montecristo99 on September 15, 2019

    Very good. Warm and comforting, especially on a cold day. Quick to make and easily adjustable for more or less sweetness and spice.

• Chicken posole

  • molly17659 on January 04, 2026

    We love this. Very easy recipe and makes a lot. I did feel that the hominy was bland though. I would season it next time - especially the can that goes into the food processor. Other than that, this is one of those dishes that gets better after a couple of days. I would definitely make it again for a comforting light dinner. It also smells amazing while simmering!

• Stacked cheese enchiladas with butternut chile sauce

  • patioweather on July 20, 2020

    This was phenomenal. It was a bit of work because I was starting from a huge, unpeeled butternut, but with the pre-diced butternut, it would be a snap.

  • Lsblackburn1 on November 22, 2020

    Excellent flavors! I did dip the tortillas in oil because that’s what I usually do for enchiladas, but everything else was made as written.

• Houston pulled pork and grits

  • montecristo99 on November 05, 2020

    This was fantastic. Relatively little prep work or hands-on time for a huge payout at the end. And as noted in the recipe, it made the whole house smell good. Next time I'll keep a closer eye on the sauce reduction--20 minutes was a little too long, so we ended up with a lot of concentrated salt from the fish sauce. That said, this is a winner we'll be making again soon.

• Kitchn by Chandra Ram

  His enthusiasm for the flavors and culture immigrants have brought to America is unmatched, and I can’t wait to see how it’s inspired him as a chef.

  Full review