As someone who loves Asian food, it was wonderful to experience these authentic recipes and learn the family history behind the business. Anyone who cooks Asian food can tell you that fish sauce is indeed a staple. My favorite recipes were the bacon and egg breakfast banh mi, pork belly with citrus and herbs, cilantro mayo, and all of the stocks.

Red Boat is one of my favorite products in my pantry so when I got the chance to preview this book I jumped at it! So many great recipes and stories in this book! I loved reading about the company history and the making of the fish sauce to start and then all the beautiful photos make me want to hop a plane to Vietnam right away! And I've now been turned on to the Red Boat salt which I didn't even know existed before this book! The Red Boat quick bacon is a great twist on breakfast bacon which I enjoyed and can't wait to try out many of the other recipes as well. I loved this so much that I purchased a copy as soon as I could!

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy provided for my free honest review.

Red Boat Fish Sauce is a well known Vietnamese condiment sauce brand. I was excited to see this book available on Netgalley. I love Vietnamese food but I never made it at home before. The photographs are beautiful and vibrant.
ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook written by Cuong Pham with Tien Nguyen and Diep Tran with photos by Oriana Koren is a vibrant, informative, and fascinating collection of delicious recipes. I loved learning about Vietnam’s culture and cuisine, the author’s life, as well as general cooking practices. The book features interesting and often unique recipes for dishes including stews, soups, sandwiches, and drinks. Who knew that Red Boat Fish Sauce is so versatile!

This book is divided into chapters which include phamily pantry; breakfast; appetizers and snacks; salads and vegetables; kho (braises); seafood; pork; chicken and beef; feasts; sweets and drinks; pickles, sauces, condiments and master stocks; and menu planning. There is also a fascinating introduction which includes the author’s family history, the origins of the company. and the fish sauce production process. The addition of family pictures as well as those of the fish sauce making process and even the factory workers are a great personal touch.

I love this cookbook! It is a fascinating and unique blend of food, culture, and history. I particularly love the stories: from Pham’s history to the personal family anecdotes, the fish sauce making process, and even the anchovy catching process! Pham teaches us so much about Vietnamese culture, cuisine, and general cookery.

The book features clear and approachable language. The recipes are meticulously detailed and many include useful tips. Each recipe begins with a write-up. Some are brief while many are lengthy but all are interesting and useful. Through the write-ups, you learn about the tasting notes of the recipe, helpful tips, Vietnamese culture, and even family stories. I particularly like the guides on important things like deboning a fish, using bones to make stocks, as well as assembling your own bánh mì with various fillings and pickles. I even love that there is a section where Pham guides us through a bountiful day of eating in Sài Gòn!

The book features typical recipes like chicken wings, pasta marinara (livened up with fish sauce, of course!) and seafood chowder. There are also favorites like Brisket Phở, Bún Chả Hanoi (noodle salad with pork patties), Bò Kho (beef stew), Cà Ri Gà (Chicken Curry), and Honeycomb Cake (no actual honey involved!). I loved seeing lesser known recipes like Salted Meyer Lemon Soda (spiced up with Thai chiles!), and Canh Chua (Pineapple Catfish Soup).

Most of the ingredients are fairly accessible and moderately inexpensive. Essential pantry staples include pork, shrimp, lemongrass, coconut cream, and coconut milk. However, many of the recipes are time and labour intensive and also require lots of ingredients. Therefore, this book is more suited for readers with some kitchen experience.

The book’s overall design is fun and fitting! I love the beautiful eye-catching colours and the wonderful fonts. I do wish more of the recipes had accompanying pictures. However, the included pictures are clean and bright with wonderfully simple staging that effectively highlights the gorgeous food.

But, I wish the book was organized a little more comprehensively. I also would have liked to see more variation in the dessert and drink offerings.

The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook is a wonderful and delicious recipe collection which celebrates the iconic fish sauce as well as Vietnamese cuisine and culture. This book was truly informative and unique. I cannot wait to whip up some of these unique creations! This fascinating book will be a perfect gift for the experienced chef in your life!




🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟 out of 5 fishes!

This is a fantastic cookbook and a fascinating look at the family who started Red Boat. If you want to know more about fish sauce, and want to cook authentic Thai dishes, then this is the book for you!
The recipes are all fairly traditional Thai favorites that sound delicious. The pictures are good and the recipes are well written and easy to understand.

I love this cookbook and already bought a physical book! 5 stars.

TITLE: When in doubt, reach for the Red Boat!

For anything from making bacon to making a Michelada. From pickles to mayonnaise. For eggs, veggies, beef, pork, fish, sauces, drinks and sweets.

This cook book—written for Red Boat Fish Sauce lovers--contains a mélange and eclectic group of treasured family recipes from the family which grew this fish sauce into a world-renowned product. Calling them “treasured” recipes does not necessarily mean heirloom or traditional or holiday dishes, but those are in the book as well as novel, new, ingenious and innovative recipes. You may find this book a treasure trove of ideas, or maybe you will come away empty-handed. It’s one of those kinds of books. You will come away with a better understanding of fish sauce. And, admit it: A better and more complete understanding of, well, anything, is valuable, and worth something.

Recipes in this book explain the Red Boat business and family, how fish sauce is made, and recipes that use Red Boat fish sauce, Red Boat palm sugar and Red Boat salt.

Here are some highlights:
--A Caesar salad with fish sauce in place of anchovies.
--Bacon flavored with fish sauce: Either from pork-belly-scratch or from store-bought.
--A caramelized palm sugar fish sauce ginger chicken braise.
--There's a great pork roast made with rolled center-cut pork belly
--Nine fish-sauce-based sauces (nuoc cham).
--A Mexican chicken tinga with fish sauce.
--Plenty of veggie pickles
--Plenty of fried food recipes.

There are some pretty pictures, but they dwindle as the book progresses. Plenty of bright, colorful pages.

The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook is filled with a bunch of really yummy recipes. Now, I've only made a couple, but I am seriously encouraged for further endeavors.

I am seriously obsessed with Asian-style foods and happen to be a huge fan of fish sauce in all my cooking, whether it's called for in the recipe or not. That being said, picking up this cookbook was a no-brainer.

To me, the ingredients were simple and easily attained through a regular grocer,  an Asian grocer, or online acquirement even in my small area of rural North Carolina. The recipes were divided into chapters on breakfast, appetizer, dinner, sauces, and desserts/drinks sections. Photos accompany many of the recipes along with the author's recollection of the recipes and their significance to him.

As I said above, I quite enjoyed the recipes and added stories. Being that I could eat Asian food 90% of the time, I had quite a few happy moments when using some of these recipes. The Braised Ginger Chicken was a hit with my family especially.

I would absolutely recommend this cookbook for those that are looking to expand their Asian if not Vietnamese cooking game! 

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I was lucky enough to receive an eARC of this title through NetGalley, which I was very thankful for, I'm always happy for a chance to review a book! This book has so many gorgeous photos in it (of food, scenery and family) and I wanted to start making all the recipes as soon as I laid eyes on them! I also loved the stories behind the dishes and what they meant to the family. I had recently come across several recipes online that involved fish sauce, and I didn't have any on hand (I know, for shame!), so I finally decided to remedy that and got myself some Red Boat...and then came across this book shortly after! It was meant to be! Fish sauce in everything!

Another cookbook for those who love food blogs. Almost every chapter has a beautiful story to start it out. I am one who just wants the recipe. The most I can do is a short blurb before the recipe that explains its flavors. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the stories the author provided that explored his family's immigration and growing up.
There are a few simple recipes that I'm wanting to try and hopefully has I build up my comfortability I'll move to more complex recipes.

I love this cookbook! I has vibrant colors, delicious recipes, and stunning pictures. If you are looking for fantastic Vietnamese dishes, this is the perfect cookbook for you.

Love the variety of this cookbook, if you're looking into opening your horizon this is the book for you. Would recommend to any public library looking to expand and diversify their cookbook collection.

A very nice and beautiful cookbook ! I enjoyed the pictures and also the history of the family and the sauce itself!

The author’s story about his family’s emigration to the United States is both interesting and touching, as well as his discussions of his mother’s cooking. Thankfully this author has a good sense of taste and wanted to produce high quality, not high margin, fish sauce. I have a bottle of Red Boat in my refrigerator as well as a pouch of the Red Boat Salt. Both are excellent and a little goes a long ways!

The cookbook is divided into 10 chapters including appetizers; soups and salads; seafood; pork; chicken and beef; feasts; sweets and drinks; and pickles, condiments, and master stocks. There are a lot of photos which is helpful to let you know what the finished food should look like and pages are in bright colors so you easily know where the recipe instructions end. The recipes presented are mainly family home cooking from the author’s childhood and not stereotypical Vietnamese restaurant fare. Interspersed between the recipes are short vignettes about Black Anchovies, salt, preparation of fish sauce, and the author’s memories of eating certain recipes in Vietnam.

My husband and I LOVE going to the Vietnamese restaurants in St. Paul, MN and have been fans of the cuisine since the early 1980’s, so a cookbook of beloved recipes was of great interest to me. As with anyone, we have certain likes and dislikes. I must confess that neither of us cares for pork belly as we have had it as presented by various restaurants, but do like many of the other ingredients that I saw in recipes in this cookbook.

I decided on a couple of recipes that I would try making because you really can’t assess a cookbook until you try out what is presented. I have most of the ingredients across the recipes but not all, and that is with years of experimenting and building an Asian ingredient pantry for recipes stretching from Japan across through India. The closest Asian Market to us is approximately 15 miles away so I looked closely at what I could make and get this review posted in a timely fashion. I decided to make Shrimp and Green Beans first. This was an easy recipe once I obtained fresh green beans from the St. Paul Farmer’s Market and butterflied shrimp that looked great. Cooking was easy and straight forward with good instructions.

The second recipe I made was Chicken Curry. Another relatively easy-to-make recipe, the sticking point was obtaining fresh lemongrass. I am in western Wisconsin, just outside the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, and quality fresh lemongrass is hard to come by. I bought some in the Twin Cities that was allegedly fresh but it was tough, and inside the outermost layer it was spoiling. I used what I could; after that experience of hunting for lemongrass I ordered some paste and some powder online. I know fresh is better, but seriously, if the stores carry only spoiled products what can you do?

Other than that, cooking this recipe was clear and not hard at all. I was surprised at the inclusion of sweet potatoes, but they were really good in the dish. (Of course we can’t find Japanese sweet potatoes around here!)

Other recipes in the cookbook looked delicious: Seafood Chowder, Pineapple Catfish Soup, and Walnut Pesto with Shrimp to just mention three.

I will buy this cookbook as it has many good recipes that I think will have great flavor. I was impressed with the two I made and my husband loved them too!

Thank you to Cuong Pham, Tien Nguyen, Diep Tran, Oriana Koren, Mariner Books, and NetGalley for letting me read this book. I did not receive anything for my review.

From the house of the beloved fish sauce brand, The Red Boat, the cookbook contains brilliant new recipe ideas that range from short eats - fish sauce-marinated egg, taro shrimp fritters - to main courses - not-so-vegetarian tofu and vegetable braise, five-spice pork belly, ginger cilantro fried chicken - and everything in between. It additionally serves as a window, allowing the readers a peek into the cuisine culture of the family behind the brand and details on how the sauce is produced. What I particularly enjoy about the book is its delightful attempt to marry fish sauce with global cuisine, the result of which are recipes like pasta marinara with fish sauce, walnut pesto with shrimp and red boat butter - this and more recipe ideas offer endless possibilities with the fish sauce to discover umami-rich flavor bombs.

As a self proclaimed foodie Red Boat is the ultimate fish sauce to have in your kitchen. It has achieved cult status for a reason and this cookbook can help you put your fish sauce to good use! These recipes are rich in history and in flavor. I know some of them will become staples in our home. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced copy of this book.

A lot of people don’t realize that a cookbook written by a company to promote their products is usually excellent because the company wants to make sure its customers continue to use their products in dishes they love. It’s an easy concept, but it works. One of the best examples of this is The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook: Beloved Recipes from the Family Behind the Purest Fish Sauce by Cuong Pham, Tien Nguyen, and Diep Tran. This excellent cookbook contains family recipes, mostly, but not all, Vietnamese, using a premium brand of fish sauce which is essential to both Vietnamese and Thai cooking.

This cookbook is reader friendly. Not only are there dozens of mouthwatering recipes, but fascinating stories and vignettes from the author about his life, family, and the recipes. The book is colorful and includes (certainly not enough) beautiful photographs of some of the dishes. Some dishes are a little involved, but most are fairly quick and easy for home cooks. If readers don’t have an “Asian stash” (ingredients used to make Asian dishes that aren’t always available in regular grocery stores), it is a good idea to go to your best Asian grocery and pick them up. Most have long shelf lives, and once readers start trying the recipes, will find these ingredients invaluable and will be able to avoid a special trip to the Asian market every time they want to make a dish. .

The authors have included a variety of recipes that Asian food lovers will definitely want to make. Plenty of rice and noodle dishes, and plenty of dishes using seafood, poultry, beef, and pork. Included are soups and stir fries, sandwiches and appetizers, as well as basics and sauces.

Anyone who knows the importance of fish sauce in their Vietnamese and Thai dishes, will want a copy of this book. Highly recommended.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

It isn't often that I actually sit down and read a cookbook...but I read this one! I loved the story about how Red Boat Fish Sauce got started, the intro about Vietnamese cooking and ingredients, and the family anecdotes and photos!

My son and his wife have been living in Vietnam (she is a teacher there) for two years now and they always talk about how wonderful the food is. I have already ordered a physical copy of this book (comes out in October -- can't wait!) not only because it will allow me to try Vietnamese foods, but also because the instructions are clearly explained and the ingredients lists are easy to follow. I did not find a single ingredient that I couldn't find at a local store or Asian grocery. Yay!

The recipes are gathered into chapters covering everything from breakfast dishes and party foods to stocks and desserts/drinks. The recipes are printed in an easily read font with lovely color photographs. The cooking instructions are simple, but clear. I have never cooked any Vietnamese dishes before...but I'm confident that this cookbook will help me do that with little problem.

Lovely cookbook with varied recipes! I've already made a couple of dishes -- so good! Can't wait to get my physical copy!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this cookbook from Mariner Books. All opinions expressed are entirely my own**

Another essential for the cookbook collector and chef. Pham, Nguyen, and Tran weave family history and memories among the recipes throughout in this delightful cookbook. The story behind Red Boat Fish Sauce is just as interesting as the recipes that lay out a variety of possibilities for this versatile and delicious condiment. I'll be getting a copy of this one!

A great book looking at the history of the most purest Vietnamese fish sauce. Recipes are very traditional family dinner dishes (for the most part). The pictures of the Pham family and their operations gives readers a glimpse into the the making and the history of the Red Boat Fish sauce which is delicious and a must try. It is like no other fish sauce on the market! I would have appreciated the book more if there were more pictures of the recipes.

I’ve cooked at least 5 recipes from here recently and enjoy the flavors. It’s given me a glimpse into specific Vietnamese Ingredients to buy from the Asian markets, hooray! Look forward to making some more dishes in the coming days.