An essential ingredient to Vietnamese cooking is lemongrass, and in his book Vietnamese Home Cooking, Charles Phan–the chef/owner of San Francisco’s Slanted Door–gives us tips on chopping and buying lemongrass, in addition to recipes and suggestions for assembling the perfect Banh Mi sandwich.

We went to The Slanted Door for the video shoot for Chef-Owner Charles Phan’s upcoming book, Vietnamese Home Cooking. And it gets better–the White on Rice Couple are creating the video!