White Sauce in Vietnamese cooking

[BadRabbitAU]

I recently was given several Viet recipes and on a couple "white sauce" is listed as an ingredient.

Is this calling for bechamel or do the Vietnamese refer to something different as white sauce? I'm guessing the former given the French influence.

[paulj]

I glanced through a couple small Vietnamese cookbooks, and didn't see anything that looked like 'white sauce', either in the recipes or pictures. No miso either. Some dishes use coconut milk. There was a rice porridge (congee like), and couple with a yogurt based dipping sauce.

[FoodPopulist]

Can't tell without seeing what the recipes are for, but one possibility is a cornstarch-based Chinese white sauce.

[jaykayen]

Milk is not often used in Vietnamese food, many Asians are lactose intolerant, it's not bechamel.

[chefj]

There are recipes in the Vietnamese repertoire that use dairy products, no doubt a legacy left from the colonial days.

[jaykayen]

I'm interested. Can you give me an example?

[chefj]

Sure,
There are the obvious ones like condensed milk in sweet drinks and flan. Many Upscale restaurant finish savory sauces with butter like Shaking Beef(Thịt Bò Lúc Lắc).
Lesser know dishes in the west,
Deed fried butter corn(Ngô Chiên Bơ), cooked corn mixed with eggs and milk (or
custard powder) and starch fried and drizzled with butter.
Coconut Snails with butter(ốc dừa xào bơ)
Squid cooked in milk (Mực om sữa)
Milk Braised Snakefish (Cá om sữa)
The consumption of milk products and milk has been steadily rising in Vietnam especially in the north. Combine that with exposure to western recipes and the French colonial heritage(and culinary training in private homes and hotels) has resulted in dairy being part of the cuisine.

[jaykayen]

I see. The idea of muc cooked in sua does not sound appetizing.

[chefj]

Never had it but there is a whole repertoire of dishes "cooked in milk"

[chefj]

Oh and in baked and bakery goods, breads and pastry

[chefj]

What are the recipes for?

[todao]

You could use a bechamel sauce, but I believe Vietnamese white sauce is made with white miso.