Authentic traditional style Vietnamese Pho- this family recipe is so comforting. My dad always loved using short ribs but I love these huge cuts of short ribs from my butcher at The Meat Wagon in Kingston.

This Pho uses oxtails, beef bones and short ribs to create a rich and luxurious stock. My dad loved using oxtails in his pho if it he could find it. Adding oxtails in addition to beef leg bones makes the broth really deep in color (a vibrant hazelnut color instead of a more transparent or clear broth) and it intensifies that beef-y broth factor!

Vietnamese pickled eggplants super easy to make and take about 3-4 days to ferment. You can find these round eggplants called “kermit” or white “cà pháo” at the asian markets. They can also be referred as south macrocarpon, gboma or African eggplant.

“Thai” eggplants during the summer months and they are the size of small golf balls. Traditionally the white or Kermit Eggplants are the ones that we used growing up but all I could find were the Thai variety which still turned out pretty darn nice!

Growing up my dad usually grilled Vietnamese pork ribs but every once in a while we’d get beef ribs. They were much more expensive than pork ribs so we didn’t have them often. They’re prepared the same way too and when you throw it in a vermicelli noodle bowl it was so so good!

Whenever you go to an authentic Vietnamese restaurant they always have a plethora of side dipping sauces like a fish dipping sauce (nuoc mam cham), scallion oil (mo hanh), fermented mustard greens (du chua) or even vegetarian dipping sauces if you’re lucky! They compliment, and are a staple in creating many Vietnamese dishes. Below are a few of my favorite staples which you’ll see served with many of my concoctions to follow!

Mmm simple Vietnamese garlic fried rice (Com Chien Toi Trung) with fried shrimp!

Super simple, I even bought pre-cooked/peeled shrimp for this and fried it in Annatto sesame oil for that dark sunset orange shrimp 🍤 color!

The secret to get that extra yellow, eggy color and taste is to mix in one raw egg with your cold day old rice prior to frying up the rice. I also like partially scrambling eggs separately as well for those bigger egg chunks in your fried rice! Mmmm

This is popular traditional Vietnamese dish, thịt nuong, is one tasty grilled pork! NOM NOM NOM

And, since it’s finally warmer out- throwing these on a grill gets those perfect charred marks and a more smoky flavor. When my parents wanted an easy dinner this was often served with just rice and a side of my parents fish dipping sauce, Nuoc Mam Cham (see recipe for dip below).

*Fun fact- even though I’m Vietnamese American, I can’t speak Vietnamese but I can understand it almost fluently. Part of my food journey is not only to document all my parents recipes, but also learn how to properly pronounce these dishes and learn a little background on the dishes.

Authentic traditional style Vietnamese Pho- this family recipe is so comforting because it uses oxtails to create a rich and luxurious stock. My dad loved using oxtails in his pho if it he could find it. Adding oxtails in addition to beef leg bones makes the broth really deep in color (a vibrant hazelnut color instead of a more transparent or clear broth) and it intensifies that beef-y broth factor!

Salt and pepper crab (cua ran muoi) is one of the most visually appealing and popular dishes in Vietnam. It’s like finger licking good- the crab is first deep fried in a light flour batter then tossed with roasted salt and pepper, jalepenos and green scallions.

Every year in during the first week of August we would take a trip to Carthage, MO for Marian Days which is a big pilgrimage & festival for tens of thousands Vietnamese American Roman Catholics. There would be dozens and dozens of tents from all over the US with food vendors and they would serve the BEST Vietnamese foods. One of the favorites for us kids were banh mi sandwiches.

A warm crispy baguette is filled with meat (usually pork), pate, cilantro, pickled carrots and daikon, jalepenos, and lightly slathered in mayo with a few dashes of Maggi! My favorite was always the BBQ pork (Xa Xiu).

Vietnamese red roasted bbq pork. Known as Xa Xiu in Vietnamese or Char Siu in Cantonese, these are traditionally used in Banh Mi sandwiches and egg noodle dishes. I love them with a sticky and charred outside as if they were smoked on a bbq grill. MMMM nom nom nom

This taro soup is a homestyle comfort food that dad used to cook all the time at home when we were kids. Typically at our dinner table there was almost always a soup to accompany our meat/fish dish. This soup was always one of my favorites because of the soft, sweet, and unique taste and texture of the taro potatoes.

These crispy air fried Vietnamese fish sauce chicken wings are savory and finger licking good! Nom Nom Nom…

If anyone knows me, I hate soggy wings, rather I like my wings crispy and dipped into a sauce. I adapted my parents recipe to be a more of a dry oil rub served with a fish dipping sauce. Typically the dry rub is just dry ingredients, then it’s tossed in a honey/fish sauce glaze but today I’m cutting the sweetness and opting for something a little saltier and savory.