I can finally let the cat out of the bag!
Ever since I heard about it last year, I’ve been so excited about Andrea Nguyen’s new cookbook The Banh Mi Handbook: Recipes for Crazy-Delicious Vietnamese Sandwiches (affiliate link). My sister informed me that Andrea was looking for recipe testers as she developed them so both of us signed up!
I’ve never been a recipe tester for a cookbook in development before, but Andrea’s instructions were easy to follow and she was open about my feedback. It probably helped that I know Andrea’s style since her cookbook Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors is a mainstay on my shelf.
I might have let loose a few “Squees” when I saw that Andrea mentioned my name on this recipe. SQUEE!
The Banh Mi Handbook is absolutely gorgeous. It’s everything a cookbook should be: easy to follow instructions, tasty recipes and plenty of food porn photos. For her recipes, Andrea offers different variations you can try. In fact, she even included my suggestion of substituting catfish for the oysters in her Viet Oyster Po’boy. Because of my Louisiana upbringing, Andrea assigned me this recipe to test. I’m not a big fan of oysters but this Po’boy was yummy! I made a fish version for the kids and they gobbled it up.
Another recipe I was able to test was the Oven-Fried Chicken Katsu Banh Mi. I tested mine with the spicy hoisin sauce (recipe in book) and it was delish! Andrea provides a chapter full of sauce and pickled veggies recipes that you can mix and match with your banh mi.
If you love banh mi as much as our family does, make sure to grab your copy of The Banh Mi Handbook! Make sure you check out Andrea Nguyen’s website for more banh mi goodness!
While you wait for your copy of the book to arrive, try out my Banh Mi Sliders recipe.
As a recipe tester, I received a copy of the cookbook.