It’s been kind of an amazing year full of fantastic developments in my food writing career. Along with the Asian Tofu book release, both of my earlier works were selected by Cooking Light for their Top 100 Cookbooks of the Last 25 Years awards. (The awards are in celebration of the magazine’s 25th anniversary.) Each month, the editors thematically reveal their picks.
The March issue has the fourth installment of the series, and the editors chose seven works for the Asian cookbook category. I was blown away to see the above photo with Asian Dumplings and Into the Vietnamese Kitchen in the stack along with Grace Young’s Breath of a Wok, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid’s Hot Sour Salty Sweet, Madhur Jaffrey’s At Home with Madhur Jaffrey, Hiroko Shimbo’s The Japanese Kitchen, and Eileen Yin Fei Lo’s Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking. Not only do I respect these authors (I have used their works for years) but I am also lucky to count most of them as friends. Wow.
Cooking Light did not invite entries to compete for these awards. The editors and test kitchen quietly and rigorously reviewed the merits of all books under consideration; the process is detailed on their site.
The magazine isn’t all about low-fat cooking, but rather about developing balanced lifestyles and consuming moderate amounts of good food. There’s wine, liquor, and desserts involved, as well as health and wellness. The editors and writers offer solid tips for home cooks. They don’t dumb down the cooking process as they encourage readers to make informed choices for their health.
My books were part of this two-page spread:
It’s really hard to read the actual copy but I wanted to show you the cool layout. Grace and Madhur’s books flank mine, which reflects how their works have influenced my writing.
Like Martha Stewart Living magazine, Cooking Light has a huge reach in the United States. One of my main goals as a food writer is to help people better understand Asian cooking and culture. These awards were totally unexpected and a definite career high point.
On top of all that, last Sunday, I met and shook hands with Colman Andrews, one of the founders of Saveur magazine. He gave me my first major break in food writing in the mid 1990s.
Not bad for a refugee who arrived not speaking a word of English, huh? As always, thanks for your continued support!
sc says
Just got my asian tofu copy. 🙂 can't wait to browse it tonight.
xuanie says
Congratulations! As a fan of your books and blog, I am so happy for you 🙂
Ben Lyons says
You really did deserve this. Congratulations.
Laura says
Andrea, really, are we surprised that your two books are included? You totally deserve this, so congrats to you!
Mai says
Congrats Andrea! Have always loved your work (but keep missing you whenever you make appearances around the Bay Area). Go out and celebrate, you deserve it! 🙂
Linh says
Congrats, as a Vietnamese-American I'm proud of what you have accomplished.
Kristie V. says
Congratulations! Your blog is wonderful and I will be adding Into the Vietnamese Kitchen to my cookbook collection today!
I saw the article in Cooking Light, but did not connect your book to your blog until today. This is very exciting and I can't wait to receive my book!
Tuyet N. says
Congratulations, Andrea! You totally deserve it! Your work continues to inspire me to become a better cook!
Andrea Nguyen says
Awesome! Thanks for getting on the tofu train with me!
Andrea Nguyen says
Thank you Xuanie!
Andrea Nguyen says
Heck yeah! Thanks for the support, Ben.
Andrea Nguyen says
Laura, you made my day. Thanks for everything!
Andrea Nguyen says
Mai, hope to meet you soon. Maybe at one of the events or classes coming up?
Andrea Nguyen says
Cam on, sistah!
Andrea Nguyen says
'Tis me all this time! Thanks for the ongoing interest and support!
Andrea Nguyen says
Greatly appreciate the sentiments and support, Tuyet. I just want people to cook good food!
Eve says
That's a great achievement - well done! Can't wait to get the tofu book.
Andrea Nguyen says
Thanks, Eve! I hope you'll be pleased with the tofu book.
charsiew says
well done girl! you do us asian girls proud 🙂 appreciate your generosity in sharing your delicious recipes with us!!
Andrea Nguyen says
It's my pleasure, Charsiew! I'm very fortunate to have this career.
Stein says
Giant congrats on the Grand Slam! Well done, Andrea. I have and love your first two books and Asian Tofu just arrived a few days ago. I've already made the tofu/vegetable fritters and the stuffed tofu. Tonight it's the tofu/chicken meatballs in lemongrass broth. Wa-hoo!
I mourned when SF's Quong Hop Co stopped producing their stellar fermented "bean cake." I've since switched to other brands but they're just not quite the same. I'm getting my nerve up to try your recipe in hopes of reproducing it.
sasha says
hi andrea! congratulations on the great achievement!
I know youre probably very busy but I wrote in a few days ago to ask for eating suggestions in vietnam. i am visiting ho chi minh city, hanoi, hoi an and hue. any restaurants, food markets or eating experiences you could recommend in these places for authentic vietnamese food? I would be very grateful for any advice you might have.Thank you and good luck 🙂
maggie says
Congratulations, Andrea! It is, disappointing, however, that one of the books on the list (Eileen Yin Fei Lo's 'Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking'), a recent publication, includes shark's fin in the recipes.
Pinos says
Andrea, that's definetly not a suprise for me - I could read "Asian dumplings" over and over... and the goutie recipe ...
I hope your Asian Tofu (just ordered) will show me the possibilities of the curd 🙂
Andrea Nguyen says
That means a lot coming from you. Thanks for cooking my books, too.
Quong Hop gave up on making its fermented tofu, which is so sad but understandable, given all the health issues involved. The Taiwanese brand that's pictured in the book is decent for the white variety. But grow some mold on your own and let the tofu do its thing in the fridge.
For the red fermented tofu, it's easiest to just buy the high-end stuff from China. Happy tofuing!
Andrea Nguyen says
Hi Sasha, do a search on this site for Vietnam travel and you'll get results for posts related to where to go and what to see! Thanks for reaching out. Enjoy your trip. Also, check out this recent post:
http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2012/02/good-vietnam-guidebooks.html
Andrea Nguyen says
I know, Maggie. But Eileen's book was published before the ban. I kind of doubt that many people cook that recipe. Well, hopefully not. 🙂
Andrea Nguyen says
You're too kind, Pinos. Thanks for the acknowledgement and getting a copy of the tofu book. I look forward to your reactions.
Tu Doan says
Congratulation Andrea. Two of your cookbooks are on the Asian cookbook list. I checked them out at my local library. I liked the notebook cover you printed on the Into Vietnamese Kitchen. I remember when I was a kid, I had seen some of those covers at my house.
Do you have the recipe for Bánh Mì Thịt Nai (or beef) Nướng? The one that looks similar to the picture from the link. I ate this before but I can't find them here. The meat was marinated with lemongrass and you have to eat with hoisin and chiraka sauce. The hotter it is, the tastier it is. After having a several bites, I had a sip of sugarcane drink and the memory lasts forever.
http://diadiemanuong.com/home/f11/%5Bbanh%5D-xe-banh-mi-thit-nuong-ngon-re-o-trung-tam-sai-gon-151/
Andrea Nguyen says
That looks really good! I'll have to do some reverse engineering to get at the recipe. My thought is that you could use the beef jerky recipe and grill the meat? http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2009/08/vietnamese-beef-jerky-recipe-thit-kho-bo.html
stella@raplica handbags says
thanks for the books, i have been searching for them longtime well finally you give the the right link...thanks again
Tu Doan says
Thanks for the beef jerky recipe. This will work well with my dehydrator machine. Regarding to my original post, one of the ingredient I can remember is lemongrass.
Thank again Andrea. I will continue my search until I get it. Sometimes I don't understand how he street vendors who are just regular people (not food expert) can make the foods tasted very good.
Ai Nhi says
As much as I enjoy your blog posts, why am I getting them twice (for example, this post from March 2nd reappeared in my inbox on March 17th)? Could you please fix this problem? Thanks in advance.
thao says
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