San Francisco-Style Vietnamese American Garlic Noodles Recipe (2024)

I’ve been using my meat tenderizing mallet for smashing garlic lately. Turns it into a creamy paste. Does a great job and I’ll use it with this recipe.

I keep a large bulb of garlic, roots intact, in a small vase (one that held a hyacinth bulb purchased at Aldi works well). Use the tall green shoots from the garlic instead of scallions to add flavor and greenery to any number of dishes. The roots that grow swirl in a lovely pattern in the bottom of the vase, and the bulb will continue to produce shoots for weeks.

As a Vietnamese immigrant whose parents owned a restaurant for decades in Denver, I would like to add another essential condiment/sauce in the canon of Vietnamese cooking called Maggi. My family makes this dish using Maggi and not fish sauce. Just thought I'd offer this up as another way to make these yummy noodles. Maggi, in its iconic curvaceous dark brown bottle, is not made of soy but wheat protein. You will often that tangy saltiness in Vietnamese sandwiches.

YiaYia, a mortar and pestle crushes the garlic, releasing its flavors and oils, but a food processor just cuts it up finely, and the hard sides of the garlic are still intact, albeit smaller. But, little of the garlic’s flavor is released when it is simply cut into small pieces, so if you don’t have a mortar and pestle, it’s better to crush the garlic with the flat side of a heavy knife, and then mince it.

Have been cooking pasta in a skillet for years. Use approximately 3 cups of water per 12 oz of pasta in 12-inch skillet. Turn heat to high. Cook approximately 10 minutes, stirring frequently, adding more water towards end if needed as noodles absorb the water and soften. Add favorite sauce - or transfer as recommended in this recipe and toss till you are happy with the finish.

Hamish, Folks have tested this plenty of times - there's basic science to it. Here's one article from a colleague of Kenji's:https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-mince-chop-garlic-microplane-vs-garlic-pressThat said, we cook for our homes, not a lab. Process the garlic any which way you want. The important thing is someone wanting to cook.

DO not buy crushed garlic in a jar. You can get away with whole peeled garlic in a crunch. Garlic is easy to use peel a few bulbs and leave it whole in your fridge and then you will have the pleasure of using garlic in your cereal in the morning.(just to see if anyone is reading)

Unusual for me, completely followed the recipe, no changes. I'll never cook pasta in a pot again.Added a fair amount of the pasta water, to the end product and tasted like we had a cream sauce. This is amazing, no leftovers ...and chop the garlic however you want!

1. On a well supported cutting board, smash garlic cloves with the flat side of a chef's knife - making sure to: hold the handle of the knife over the edge of the board; center the blade over the garlic (lest you send the clove flying across the kitchen); and give the side of the blade a nice hard whack.2. Gather smashed cloves into what will look almost like a pile of pulp, and mince away.Easy; fast; efficient - and a great way to channel aggression.

I have made this dish dozens of times over the last few years and it's always delicious. I do have a suggestion, however. The amount of sauce needs to be at least doubled from what is suggested above. Keep the butter and garlic on a very low flame so the garlic doesn't burn. Turn the heat off before adding the cheese.

I found a garlic "rocker" on Amazon while browsing kitchen utensils. I's a bent bar shape with small holes in the center. You press down and rock back and forth on a garlic clove and it pushes the garlic through the holes, releasing the most intense garlic flavor. It's much like a press, but without the messy clean up and frustration of getting all the garlic out of the press. It cleans up in about 15 seconds.I'll never mince garlic again!

I think there is also a little tangerine juice to counter the garlic, as in their sumptuous roast crabs...

Fresh is surely better, but those little jars of minced garlic really do make life easier.

There are lots of vegan fish sauces and oyster sauces available, and they taste great. I live in Northern Virginia, so I get them from H Mart, but you can also find online. The vegan oyster sauce I prefer is Kikkoman. ps I just checked the bottle and it says vegetarian, not vegan - but I don't see anything in the ingredient list that's non-vegan.

1- Trust and follow the pasta cooking method - but stir to unstick from pan 2- Use all the garlic even if it seems like too much 3- Add a bit more of each of the sauces, and more like 1/2 c. cheese I ended up not even needing to drain the pasta, end result was perfectly creamy/emulsified, not greasy in the slightest. I told my Roman-born husband it was like Vietnamese carbonara. We added lots of black pepper (like the crab dish has). Anyone tried it w/ bottarga instead of cheese?

PERFECT. 8-53 at our table and all loved it. Shhh! Just don’t tell them it has fish sauce!

This is AWESOME. By chance I had a caprese salad on the side and highly recommend adding cherry tomatoes. Added perfect sweetness and acidity.

Added some firm tofu and spinach to a smaller bag of pasta and helped the nutritional value.

This actually has a "Vietalian" vibe, with the spaghetti & cheese(s). I do love shallow-cooking pasta rather than boiling it in a tank of water. Nice, rich broth.Only item I'd add is maybe a squeeze of lime or some shredded basil or cilantrol.

I've made this once but didn't use all the garlic recommended. We made it with a full pound of spaghetti noodles and it needed more garlic so don't skimp! Also, save lots of pasta water for the right consistency. Be careful adding the parmesan, I'm not great at getting the temp correct so I ended up with clumps, but still tasty. I'll be adding a splash of Worcestershire and extra red pepper flakes at the end this time for a little more kick as well. Definitely worth making!

Pretty good, but could be saucier.

Absolutely delicious! Brings a tremendous depth of flavor to a favorite dish! Perfect!

I've used Worcester sauce in place of the recommendations and it's quite lively.

Definitely save pastaWater and no need to dripThe waterOffThe pasta too thoroughly

Dang this was good

The garlic was a bit of a pain to prep (I used a garlic press), but otherwise, this was a quick and easy meal that everyone liked. It probably goes without saying, but if you don't like garlic, you won't like this dish.

Made this with about 8 cloves of garlic grated on a microplane. The garlic flavor was very present but not overpowering in the final dish. I wasn’t brave enough to try it with 20 cloves. Added a little more soy sauce after tasting. Didn’t have scallions, chiffonaded some basil and mint. Delish.

Superb video accompanying the recipe.

How would this taste without the cheese? Would it work?

I’ve been eyeing this recipe for quite a while and finally took the plunge. Married to someone of Italian descent, I had to make it clear that this wasn’t his mama’s spaghetti. He lapped it up and wished there was more. Added wild shrimp. Clean plates; happy people.