2023 PTFS Top 11 Recipes + 7 Ingredient Tips

Your, my and our favorites

Hello friends!

I hope you had a joyous and restful holiday season. Things can seem almost overwhelming what with all the social obligations we have this time of year. On my end, we had a positive visit with my mom and siblings. Everyone behaved. We stuffed ourselves with homemade food but not too much.

We also visited my father’s grave and ended up chatting with a woman whose mother was recently buried near Dad. “I’ll be buried by my husband so I will be your mother’s future neighbor,” Mom said. When I was younger, that would have embarrassed me. As a middle-age woman, I was proud of my mom for facing the inevitable.

The woman inspected Dad’s headstone (she was shopping for ideas) then said, “I’m Chinese and my sister is Vietnamese. Maybe we can all have a picnic together here someday.”

Cemeteries are strangely convivial places for sharing grief and experiencing solace. There was something both poignant and beautiful about this shared moment and all of us felt it. The holidays can be hard on many levels. I hope you have community to share winter’s darkness as the days gain more light.

Pass the Fish Sauce launched thirteen months ago. During 2023, this newsletter blossomed into a community of curious cooks interested in Vietnamese culinary culture in all its complexities and cross-cultural connections. This year alone, there were 79 dispatches involving about 100 recipes, some with video tips. We’ve also had 3 virtual meet-ups.

So much happened! How was that? It’s simply because you inspire me.

Yes, I was also busy with book touring. Thank you for supporting for Ever-Green Vietnamese with gusto! I love seeing what you cook from my books so ping me. It’s icing on my authoring cake. Below, look at what Erin (@cookbooking_now) posted on Instagram 😊.

On top of the New York Times and others, late last week Food & Wine magazine included EGV among its best cookbooks. If the book brought joy or helped you out, leave a review at Amazon. Thank you.

Please know that as I go about fulfilling other obligations, I’m thinking of this newsletter — identifying information that may be interesting and useful to PTFSers. Looking through the 2023 archives, certain posts stimulated your cooking juices. I’ve gathered them below so you can find them easily.

Some of favorites are free and some are behind a paywall. If you’d like to hop the fence, now is a good time. 👇 This offer ends on December 31, 2023.

Recipes

We liked salads, dumplings, noodles, garlic, chiles, ice cream, and fruit.

• Nuoc Cham Vinaigrette and 4 Salad Recipes (the surprising MVP of 2023!)

• Easy Wonton Noodle Soup (quick noodle soups for the win!)

• Gingery Wontons in Chile Oil (slithery, rich and slightly spicy)

• Viet-Cajun Seafood Boils (a cross-cultural marvel and year-round gem)

• Garlic Black Pepper Crab (it’s Dungeness 🦀 season!)

• Mapo Tofu Meat Sauce plus 5 recipes (make 1 recipe, use it many ways!)

• Lemongrass Ice Cream and Roasted Pineapple (a fab use for your lemongrass stash!)

• Easy Lime Food Processor Poundcake (freezes like a dream)

Vietnamese Garlic Noodles Deep Dive

• Basic Garlic Noodles (start here for the history of this cult fave)

• Umami Shiitake Garlic Noodles (add noodles to amp things up)

• Garlic Noodles with Crab and Asparagus  (make it extra special with thrills)

INGREDIENTS

We wanted to demystify certain ingredients, be better at figuring out how to use others, and to grow stuff to cook with.

• My Asian Ingredient Superheroes + Ingredient Cheat Sheet (we all need this)

• How to Plant Lemongrass + Beef and Lemongrass Stir-Fry (grow + cook it)

• Will the real lemongrass please stand up? (how to source edible lemongrass)
  

  

MSG Deep Dive

• Part 1: MSG Basics – Why Befriend the Notorious MSG and its Kin? 

• Part 2: How to Buy MSG? What are Good MSG Substitutes?

• Part 3: How to Use MSG? Fragrant Dressed Tofu with Basil and Garlic

• Part 4: Make MSG Salt to craft umami on your own terms and lower sodium

Thank you for an incredible 2023 and cheers for the New Year! 🎊 🍾 🥂🍾

I’m traveling in the islands and will be back the second week of January. Any Honolulu tips? Share them below please!