I'm not sure if I've ever said this before, but please don't ever buy the e-version of a cookbook. They are never formatted correctly, no matter which app you use and the page references are all messed up. Unfortunately, The Pho Cookbook was not the e-exception.

Parts of the text were suddenly a light gray color, which made it very difficult to read against the white background while other parts of the text were black. I really shouldn't have to change the background color in the app just so that I can read the text all the way through. The page references (the author refers to other recipes in her book) are all off because the page numbers never match up on the electronic version. Sometimes pictures are cut off in the middle of a page and sometimes you get text saying that a recipe is continued in the middle of the page because it was in the hard copy version of the book. I would absolutely love it if editors/publishers could edit the books so that they were formatted correctly ... even if they say something like we recommend using such and such app for correct formatting.

I found the book itself to be okay. I liked the basic beef and chicken recipes and the "quick" versions were a neat idea, but they fell flat in taste. Plus, the "quick" versions only serve 2. Pho takes a lot of time and a lot of ingredients. Even if you're only making the "quick" version that takes about 40 minutes to cook, it's going to take longer to prep the condiments, toast the spices, etc. Do you really want to go through the expense and time of doing something like that for only 2 servings? Personally, when I make pho, I make it in a huge pot so that I can get at least 2 meals out of it for the family. Here's my recommendation: don't bother with the quick version. Make a huge batch of the real pho (yeah, you'll have to set aside a weekend day to do it), eat some yummy pho, freeze the remaining broth and then just reheat that when you want some more pho. Your pho broth will taste so much richer and be so much more yummy than the fake stuff made with store bought broth.

The other problem I had with this book is the pressure cooker recipes. I hate it when recipes call for special equipment that aren't found in most homes. The other issue is that unless you have a large pressure cooker, you're not going to be able to make enough broth for a family of 4 to have 1 meal. Again, if you're going through the expense and time to make the pho, just make a huge batch.

I did find the section on other things to do with pho interesting. There were many items that I had never heard of, like the chicken pho noodle salad. I wanted to try the homemade hoisin sauce, but it required ingredients that I don't usually have on hand (miso paste, Japanese rice vinegar, tahini, rice flour), so I haven't tried it yet.

All in all, this was an okay book, but nowhere as good as the Banh Mi Handbook.

Disclaimer: I received a free e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review from NetGalley. This book will be released February 7, 2017.

Andrea Nguyen shows us how pho came to be in Vietnam and how to successfully make it at home in your own kitchen. Each recipe is well laid out and presented. From the simple broth to salads and vegetarian and gluten free recipes. Great cookbook with beautiful photographs.

I love the ideas and easy yo follow recipes. That's for teaching people about the Vietnamese culture.