Noodles Archives - DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS

San Francisco-Model Vietnamese American Garlic Noodles Are the Most Common Recipe of the Yr

Daily SF News — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 05:58:35 +0000

These San Francisco-style noodles are an American blend of Vietnamese and Italian cuisine

The other night I made the most popular recipe of the year, at least according to the New York Times. The recipe, which has been viewed more than 1.2 million times, is a San Francisco-style pasta dish by food writer J. Kenji López-Alt.

Its simple ingredient list includes eye-opening 20 cloves of garlic, plus fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and Parmesan cheese. Since garlic is pretty much a food group in my house, and I always have parmesan, fish sauce, and oyster sauce in my fridge, I thought I’d give it a try.

What is San Francisco-style Vietnamese-American Garlic Noodles?

This garlic noodle recipe is a twist on a classic San Francisco dish that Helene An created in the early 1970s at her restaurant, Thanh Long, where it has been famously served with baked Dungeness crabs for the past five decades. An fled Vietnam during the war, settled in the Bay Area and eventually started a restaurant empire.

In the early days, as López-Alt writes, An “felt that the restaurant would thrive by sacrificing authenticity in favor of dishes specifically designed to appeal to the local clientele.” She was inspired to create her own take on a disappointing garlic pasta dish at an Italian restaurant.

Although popular, the real recipe remains a mystery. In López-Alt’s interpretation, he calls for spaghetti rather than Asian noodles, and foreshadows the use of Southeast Asian sauces such as fish sauce and oyster sauce as ingredients. Paired with soy sauce, parmesan cheese, and all that garlic, it’s an intense, unique dish.

Why do you need 20 cloves of garlic?

Since this dish has become so popular this year, there has been an online debate about how to prepare it. One of the biggest points of debate is how to handle the 20 cloves of garlic, which are said to be “crushed or pounded in a mortar and pestle.”

Minced garlic can be obtained in a number of ways. Chopping with a knife can be tricky if you don’t have good knife skills, and you run the risk of not having consistent pieces that cook evenly. Crushing the garlic before chopping makes things quicker and a little easier. I decide to use a microplane grater instead of a knife for convenience. The risk with a grater is that the garlic can be a bit spicier or more bitter, but since I would cook the garlic for a few minutes I wasn’t concerned about that. If you have a mini food processor, that will work too. However, avoid a larger food processor, which will chop the garlic too large and unevenly.

How to make San Francisco-style Vietnamese-American Garlic Noodles

The great thing about cooking this dish is that once you learn the basics, you don’t need a recipe. Two quirks of the recipe involve cooking the spaghetti. First, the Times suggests cooking the pasta in a skillet or skillet covered with 2 inches of boiling water, rather than in a large pot of boiling water. The reason here is to get starchier pasta water that you want to reserve to toss with the pasta. The other quirk is removing the pasta from the boiling water before it’s completely al dente (about 2 minutes less than the package says). The pasta will continue to cook as you add it to the sauce to toss over high heat.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
20 garlic cloves, chopped
4 teaspoons oyster sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce
1 pound dry spaghetti
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
A bunch of spring onions, thinly sliced

directions

Step 1: Combine the ingredients

Melt butter in a saucepan or wok over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté for 2 minutes, being careful not to brown. Add oyster sauce, fish sauce and soy sauce, stir and remove from heat.

Step 2: Cook pasta

Bring a few inches of salted water to a boil in a pan or saucepan over high heat. Add the spaghetti. Stir the pasta a few times as it cooks until almost al dente (about 2 minutes less than the recommended cooking time on the package).

Step 3: Bring everything together

Using tongs, transfer the cooked pasta to the garlic umami sauce, along with the water that is sticking to it (make sure to save the pasta water!). Bring the heat to high and add cheese. Stir and toss vigorously until the sauce is creamy and emulsified. Add reserved pasta water if it looks too greasy or dry. Stir in the spring onions and serve immediately.

Vietnamese dishes that everyone should know

xuanhuongho/Getty Images

Bread

Popular around the world, this Vietnamese baguette combines cold, grilled or fried meat with pickled radish and carrots, chili, cucumber, cilantro, pate, mayonnaise and maggi seasoning for a multidimensional bite. You can make this Chicken Banh Mi at home.

asab974/Getty Images

pancakes

With golden, crispy edges, this fried crepe made with rice flour, coconut milk and turmeric encases minced pork, bean sprouts and shrimp. Wrap with lettuce and fresh herbs and dip in sweet, sour and salty Nước Chấm sauce for best effect.

taste of home

Lettuce Wraps

There are many Vietnamese dishes that are best enjoyed wrapped in lettuce and herbs before dipping in a sauce, such as bánh xèo, cuốn giấm bổng (pork and shrimp wraps), and chả giò (fried spring rolls). If you’re inspired by crunchy emerald leaves and savory sauces, prepare our Vietnamese Pork Salad Wraps.

simonlong/Getty Images

spring rolls

Often referred to as “fresh spring rolls,” goi cuốn are soft, translucent rice paper rolls filled with rice noodles, fresh herbs, leafy greens, and shrimp or pork. Dipped in nước chấm, or peanut sauce, they make a great appetizer for lunch or dinner. Learn how to make spring rolls at home.

ISS Photography/Getty Images

Bun Cha

Although there are several amazing Vietnamese dishes made with bún (vermicelli), bún cha is a refreshing noodle bowl soaked in warm grilled pork, fresh herbs and nước chấm sauce. It’s an all-day favorite in Hanoi!

YinYang/Getty Images

noodle soup

We bet Pho is a Vietnamese recipe you’ve heard of before. So what is pho? With its fragrant broth flavored with star anise, cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamom, this rice noodle soup is enjoyed across the country. You’ll find countless toppings, from wafer-thin slices of raw beef to a handful of fresh herbs like cilantro, sliced onions, basil and mint, all smothered with a squeeze of lime juice.

baoquang/Getty Images

Bun Bo Hue

With notes of lemongrass, shrimp paste, chili and rock candy, this flavorful noodle soup features vermicelli with a choice of beef and pork cuts. Garnished with onions, spring onions, Vietnamese coriander and banana blossoms, this dish is characteristic of Huế Imperial cuisine.

baoquang/Getty Images

broken rice

This “broken rice” dish typically combines softer steamed rice grains with various types of grilled meat and either a fried egg or Chả trứng (Vietnamese steamed omelet). It is usually served with any meal with a side of sliced cucumber, tomato, and oil infused with scallions.

Zoe Life Photography/Getty Images

Chinese braised meat

Combining sweet and savory, this warming stew of caramelized pork and eggs braised in coconut water is a popular lunch or dinner staple with a side of steamed jasmine rice and spicy dưa giá (pickled bean sprouts).

Duy Doan/Getty Images

Soup

A true Vietnamese meal is not complete without canh, an everyday Vietnamese soup made with water instead of broth. While some can be simple, more complex canh recipes combine either meat or seafood with an abundance of different vegetables to create sweet, sour, and savory profiles.

NguyenDucQuang/Getty Images

tea

Why choose one type of dessert when you can have them all in one multi-layered rainbow? Chè are traditional Vietnamese sweet drinks, puddings, or dessert soups that mix fruits, beans, and jellies soaked in sugar syrup or coconut cream. They are served hot or cold.

Photo by Rafa Elias/Getty Images

egg coffee

Though only served in cafes in Hanoi, Cà phê trứng is where a quick pick-me-up meets delicious dessert decadence. Made with Robusta coffee, egg yolk and creamy condensed milk, Cà phê trứng is an experience that is simultaneously reminiscent of tiramisu, eggnog and fluffy egg custard.

The post San Francisco-Model Vietnamese American Garlic Noodles Are the Most Common Recipe of the Yr appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

San Francisco-Fashion Vietnamese American Garlic Noodles Are the Most Well-liked Recipe of the Yr

Thu, 19 Jan 2023 20:43:35 +0000

These San Francisco style noodles are an American mashup of Vietnamese and Italian cuisine

The other evening, I made the most popular recipe of the year, at least according to the New York Times. The recipe, which was viewed more than 1.2 million times, is a San Francisco-style noodle dish from food writer J. Kenji López-Alt.

Among its simple list of ingredients is an eye-opening 20 cloves of garlic, as well as fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce and Parmesan cheese. Since garlic is pretty much a food group in my house, and I always have parm, fish sauce and oyster sauce in my fridge, I figured I would give it whirl.

What Are San Francisco-Style Vietnamese American Garlic Noodles?

This garlicky noodle recipe is a twist on a classic San Francisco dish, created by Helene An at her Thanh Long restaurant in the early 1970s, where it has been famously served with baked Dungeness crab for the past five decades. An fled Vietnam during the war, settling in the Bay Area and eventually launching a restaurant empire.

In the early days, as López-Alt writes, An “felt that the restaurant would find more success by eschewing authenticity in favor of dishes that were designed specifically to appeal to the local clientele.” She was inspired by a disappointing garlic pasta dish at an Italian restaurant to create her own rendition.

Though popular, the real recipe remains a secret. In López-Alt’s interpretation, he calls for spaghetti rather than Asian noodles and intuitively the use of Southeast Asian sauces such as fish sauce and oyster sauce as ingredients. Coupled with soy sauce, Parmesan cheese and all that garlic, it’s an intense, unique dish.

Why Do You Need 20 Cloves of Minced Garlic?

Since this dish became so popular this year, there has been online debate on how to make it. One of the biggest points of discussion is how to handle the 20 cloves of garlic, which are to be “minced or smashed in a mortar and pestle.”

Minced garlic can be achieved in a number of ways. Mincing with a knife can be tricky if you don’t have good knife skills, and you run the risk of not having uniform pieces that cook evenly. Smashing the garlic before you mince makes things faster and slightly easier. I choose to use a microplane grater instead of a knife for ease. The risk with a grater is that the garlic can be a little more spicy or bitter, but since I’d be cooking the garlic for a few minutes, I wasn’t worried about that. If you have a mini food processor, that works too. But avoid a larger food processor, which will chop the garlic too big and unevenly.

How to Make San Francisco-Style Vietnamese American Garlic Noodles

The great thing about cooking this dish is that once you learn the basics, you don’t really need a recipe anymore. Two quirks of the recipe involve cooking the spaghetti. First, the Times’ suggests cooking the pasta in a skillet or sauté pan, covered by 2 inches of boiling water, rather than a big pot of boiling water. The reason here is to get starchier pasta water, which you’ll want to reserve to toss with the pasta. The other quirk is to remove the pasta from the boiling water before it’s totally al dente (about 2 minutes less than the time on the package). The pasta will continue to cook as you add it to the sauce to toss over high heat.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
20 garlic cloves, minced
4 teaspoons oyster sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 tea spoons fish sauce
1 pound dry spaghetti
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
One bunch of scallions, thinly sliced

directions

Step 1: Combine ingredients

Melt butter in a saucepan or wok over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes, being careful not to brown. Add oyster sauce, fish sauce and soy sauce, stir to combine, then remove from heat.

Step 2: Cook the pasta

Bring a couple of inches of salted water to a boil in a skillet or saucepan, over high heat. Add the spaghetti. Stir the pasta a few times as it cooks until it’s almost al dente (about 2 minutes less than the recommended cook time on the package).

Step 3: Bring it all together

Using tongs, transfer the cooked pasta to the garlic-umami sauce, along with whatever water clings to it (be sure to reserve the pasta water!). Bring heat to high, and add cheese. Stir and toss vigorously until the sauce is creamy and emulsified. Add reserved pasta water if it looks too greasy or dry. Stir in scallions and serve immediately.

Vietnamese Dishes Everyone Should Know

xuanhuongho/Getty Images

Banh mi

Loved around the world, these Vietnamese baguette sandwiches together cold, grilled or roasted meats, along with pickled daikon and carrots, chiles, cucumbers, cilantro, smears of pâté, mayonnaise and Maggi seasoning for a multidimensional bite each time. You can make this Chicken Banh Mi at home.

asab974/Getty Images

Banh xèo

With its golden crispy edges, this pan-fried crepe of rice flour, coconut milk and turmeric envelopes minced pork, bean sprouts and shrimp. Wrap with lettuce and fresh herbs and dunk in sweet, sour and salty nước chấm sauce for best effect.

Button of Home

Lettuce wraps

There are many Vietnamese dishes that are best enjoyed wrapped in lettuce and herbs before dipped into a sauce such as Bánh xèo, Cuốn giấm bổng (pork and shrimp wraps) and Chả giò (fried spring rolls). If you’re feeling inspired by crisp emerald leaves and zesty sauces, make our Vietnamese Pork Lettuce Wraps.

simonlong/Getty Images

Gỏi cuốn

Often called “fresh spring rolls,” Gỏi cuốn are soft, translucent rice paper rolls stuffed with rice noodles, fresh herbs, leafy greens and shrimp or pork. Dipped in nước chấm or peanut sauce, they make a great lunch or dinner party appetizer. Learn how to make spring rolls at home.

ISS Photography/Getty Images

Bun Cha

Although there are several amazing Vietnamese dishes that feature Bún (vermicelli noodles), Bún Cha is a refreshing noodle bowl topped with warm grilled pork, fresh herbs and drenched in nước chấm sauce. It’s an all-day favorite in Hanoi!

YinYang/Getty Images

Phở

We bet that pho is one Vietnamese recipe you’ve already heard of. So, what is pho? With its fragrant broth seasoned with star anise, cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamom, this rice noodle soup is widely enjoyed across the country. You’ll find a myriad of toppings, from paper-thin slices of raw beef to handfuls of fresh herbs like coriander, sliced onions, basil and mint all doused in a spritz of lime juice.

baoquang/Getty Images

Bun Bo Hue

With notes of lemongrass, shrimp paste, chili and rock sugar, this spicy noodle soup features vermicelli noodles with an assortment of beef and pork cuts. Garnished with onions, scallions, Vietnamese coriander and banana blossoms, this dish is characteristic of the Imperial cuisine of Huế.

baoquang/Getty Images

Cơm Tấm

This “broken rice” dish typically pairs softer steamed rice grains with different types of grilled meats and either a fried egg or Chả trứng (Vietnamese steamed omelet). It is usually served at any mealtime with a side of sliced cucumbers, tomatoes and scallion-infused oil.

Zoe Life Photography/Getty Images

Thịt Kho Tau

Blending sweet and savory, this warming stew of caramelized pork and eggs braised in coconut water is a beloved lunch or dinnertime staple with an accompaniment of steamed jasmine rice and tangy Dưa giá (pickled bean sprouts).

Duy Doan/Getty Images

Canh

A true Vietnamese meal is not complete without Canh, an everyday Vietnamese soup made from water instead of stock. While some can be simple, more complex Canh recipes marry together either meat or seafood with an abundance of different vegetables to create sweet, sour and savory profiles.

NguyenDucQuang/Getty Images

Che

Why choose one type of dessert when you can have them all in a singular, multi-layered, rainbow? Chè are traditional Vietnamese sweet beverages, puddings or dessert soups that mix fruits, beans and jellies soaked in sugary syrup or coconut cream. They are served hot or cold.

Photo by Rafa Elias/Getty Images

Cà phê trứng

Although only served at cafes in Hanoi, Cà phê trứng is where a quick pick-me-up meets delightful dessert decadence. Made with robusta coffee, egg yolk and creamy condensed milk, Cà phê trứng is an experience simultaneously reminiscent of tiramisu, eggnog and fluffy egg custard.

The post San Francisco-Fashion Vietnamese American Garlic Noodles Are the Most Well-liked Recipe of the Yr appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.