cooking.nytimes.com

Vietnam has only two seasons. The monsoon season is hot and wet. The other eight months are hot and dry, the time when outdoor charcoal grills are fired up, raw and lightly pickled vegetables are the stars of most meals and the fresh herb and chili content of the fare soars. Throughout Vietnam, and in this dish, the abiding nuance comes from nuoc mam, the Vietnamese fish sauce. In Europe, it is salt; in China, soy sauce; in Vietnam, it is the briny sauce of barrel-fermented anchovies that marshals the flavors and gives the cooking its nearly indiscernible and completely unmistakable flavor. But as much as the distinct flavor, it is the style of cooking - the exotic, backyard cooking that often profits from being made ahead, almost needs a crowd and certainly demands cold beer by its side - that can give American hot-weather cooking a Vietnamese flair.