midweek gems #18

chef Charles Phan | Lunar New Year Eats | food writing symposium in Nashville | crab season

Dear friends,

Earlier this week, on Monday, an influential Vietnamese chef passed away. Charles Phan of the Slanted Door impacted many chefs and restauranteurs in the United States. I knew him as a colleague and respected his efforts to represent and nudge Viet and Chinese food from the marginalized “cheap eats” category into the realm of casual-elegant dining.

As an indication of how important a person Charles was to the Vietnamese food landscape, I’ve chatted with reporters from the New York Times, Food and Wine, Washington Post, and SFGate.com about his legacy. I’ve also shared my thoughts at this PTFS community thread.

Charles died of cardiac arrest. It was very sudden and he was only 62 years old. His passing is a reminder for us to live each day with gratitude.

💎 Year of the Snake Arrives January 29

Lunar New Year is arriving too fast this year! Next Wednesday we’ll say farewell to the Year of the Dragon. If you live near a Little Saigon, it’ll be crowded this weekend. Go soon to check out the festivities or wait till things die down a bit. Here’s what I recently saw, in case you don’t get to Little Saigon yourself!

💎 What to eat for Lunar New Year?

🎋 Noodles and dumplings galore!

It’s a carb-laden holiday. Go ahead and let loose with one or a few of these:

• Panfried Noodles (master recipe) — top it with your favorite stir-fry with lots of sauce, or make this Cantonese Beef Tomato Chow Mein

• Ginger scallion noodles

• Viet garlic noodles with shiitake

• Garlic noodles with crab and asparagus

• Wontons in chile oil

• Wontons in broth (omit the noodles!)

• Chile Crisp Yuba Noodles (to be noodley but not carby!)

🧧 Want a Viet Tet celebration?

You need to include banh chung on your menu. Don’t know what it is? Here’s a primer on how to source and enjoy banh chung!

🐷 If you’re a meat eater . . .

Then do include a porcine dish on your menu. Easy options:

• Pork riblets in caramel sauce (a Viet braise from my family to yours)

• Air-fried sweet and sour ribs (there’s a theme here. This is more Chinese, obviously!)

• Easy Chinese ribs (a Joyce Chen recipe)

🍃 Vegetables to balance the menu

Make a vegetable-centric starter, mains, or sides dishes to keep things healthy and vibrant tasting. Pickles are terrific because you just pull them from the fridge and they’re ready to go. Plus they cut the richness. Ideas include:

• Vietnamese imperial rolls (cha gio) with lettuce, herbs and nuoc cham (my current favorite recipe is the oven-fried/air-fried versions in Ever-Green Vietnamese; it’s the recipe I taught folks in the 2024 online class).

• Green beans with homemade black bean sauce by

  Hetty Lui McKinnon

• Vietnamese pickled shallots

• Vegan fish fragrance eggplant by the Leung family of the Woks of Life

• Tofu and egg in coconut and caramel sauce (dau hu kho trung), also in my latest book, is the vegetarian version of the pork belly and egg kho (thit heo kho trung) that southern Viets enjoy for Tet.

🥹 You need sweet things

Candy, cookies, cakes and sweetmeats. You want little treats to share with others.

• Candied orange peels — This is not traditional but basically, Viet people candy what’s in season and local. Buy ones with thick, pithy skins to make meaty sweetmeats. Get the recipe.

• Candied kumquats — Here’s the recipe from my mom. Kumquat trees are harbingers of good luck so eat your luck! Get the recipe.

• Almond cookies — I adore almond cookies. Aside from my favorite in Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, you can make this almond cookie by San Francisco Chef Belinda Wong. For stress-free, flourless baking, bake this macaroon-like almond cookie.

• Peanut cookies — I return to this delicate cookie annually. Swap cashew or sunflower seed butter, if you like. Get the recipe

• Black sesame peanut mochi — Get a box of Mochiko rice flour by Koda Farms for this not-too-sweet mochi cake by Cynthia Chen McTernan. Get the recipe

💎 April Food Writing Symposium, Nashville

If you are interested in developing a career or side hustle in food writing, sign up for the inaugural M.F.K. Fisher Symposium for Women in Food & Storytelling this April 4 and 5!

Co-organized by PTFS subscriber Erin Byers Murray of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, a prestigious organization of women in food, the symposium is packed with insightful programing and networking opportunities.

Yours truly will be there. I'll be speaking about (1) strategies for developing a digital platform (which to choose?) and representation in food writing (who gets to write about what?).

I hope to see you in Nashville! Space is limited. Get more info and register here!

💎 Season: Dungeness Crab and Pho

On the West Coast, we’re now in Dungeness crab season. Get your paws on some for my garlic-black pepper crab! Get the recipe.

Brewing for Sunday behind the paywall is a recipe for beef short rib and vegetable pho. I recently squeezed it into my schedule on a weeknight! There’s no long simmer involved. I kid you not. Join us, if you have not, for a pho-tastic time.