True Thai: The Modern Art of Thai Cooking Review

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(More customer reviews)This is it - the real thing. If you are choosing among Thai cookbooks, why not buy one written by a man who is both Thai and an excellent chef in his own U.S. restaurant? The author provides details that an outsider to Thai culture might never be privy to - the specific way a Thai cook fluffs his or her rice before serving; intricacies of street vendors' cooking - which in Thailand, far from our hotdogs and pretzels, is an art unto itself; the specific condiments favored for each dish. On the other hand, unlike cookbooks I bought in Thailand, this book has been written with the equipment and availability of Thai ingredients of the Western cook in mind. The author understands both cultures and provides a wonderful education in his heritage in a manner you can easily reproduce at home (provided you have a wok, and access to fairly common ingredients such as fish sauce, coconut milk, cilantro, etc). When the authentic ingredient may be hard to come by, he provides substitutions, i.e. lime peel slices for Kaffir lime leaves. Having travelled and eaten all over Thailand, I was disappointed, after my return, whenever I tried Thai recipes from my other cookbooks. TRUE THAI has enabled me to replicate those amazing dishes with the layers of flavor unique to that beautiful land. Making homemade curry pastes as he describes - red, green, Jungle, Massaman - is labor-intensive, but very worth it. The chapter on vegetarian cuisine is a cookbook in itself. Recipes we have loved so far include: Phat Thai, Tom Kha Kai, shrimp-fried rice, pork-fried rice, beef with broccoflower, Massaman curry with potatoes and pineapple, and banana fritters with coconut and sesame. There also are chapters on garnishes, menu-planning, and "cooking with a Thai accent" - things like Panang Pizza. There is a useful appendix listing mail-order sources, and I plan to hunt down some tamarind concentrate and Thai coffee powder. If you want to cook real Thai, get this book. It's also just fascinating reading.

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True Thai is one of those rare and important cookbooks where cuisine and culture meet. Food lovers will come away with layers of understanding, discovering the soul of a country where cuisine is a sacred art.True Thai takes us from the jostling Bangkok streets and canals to countryside rice paddles and mango groves, from distant mountain villages to Thailand's stately Royal Palace, delivering True Thai taste in every sense of the word.Victor Sodsook, a native Thai, chef/owner of Los Angeles's celebrated Siamese Princess restaurant, has written the authoritative Thai cookbook that American cooks have been waiting for. True Thai satisfies an increasing public interest in the seductive flavors of Thai cuisine, and a decreasing emphasis on high-fat, high-calorie red meats, eggs, and oils. The lively, easy-to-follow recipes are tailor-made for today's adventurous, aware cook.Most of the tools and ingredients used in True Thai are probably already in your kitchen. And its wide-ranging glossary of ingredients will help you select the most flavorful spices and freshest produce, as well as the best brands of key Thai ingredients like coconut milk and fish sauce. Among True Thai's 250 recipes, you'll find the many Thai dishes that have already won over Americans, such as Crispy Sweet Rice Noodles (mee krob) and soothing, aromatic Chicken-Coconut Soup with Siamese Ginger and Lemon Grass (tom kha kai). Everything is here, from the deliciously spiced barbecued chickens found in Thai provinces to the elaborate and time honored cuisines served to Thailand's royal family, such as King Rama V's Fried Rice. Since Thailand teems with both fresh- and saltwater fish and shellfish, you'll find an abundance of healthful, provocative seafood dishes, such as Ayuthaya Haw Mok Talay, a scrumptious mousse of curried fish, shrimp, and crab, redolent with chili and coconut milk, grilled and served in fragrant banana leaves.Surprisingly light preparations for meat include Fiery Grilled Beef Salad, a classic of Bangkok cafe cuisine, and mu kratiem phrik Thai, a simple stir-fry of pork medallions sizzling with garlic and black pepper. The Thai Vegetarian Cooking chapter is really a whole book unto itself, encompassing its own blend of curry pastes, soups, appetizers, entrees, and one-dish meals-all completely free of animal or fish products. The Thai Salads chapter showcases such recipes as Coconut, Lemon, and Ginger Salad or Grilled Lobster Salad with Green Mango that demonstrate the great variety and sensuousness of this branch of Thai cooking. Drinks and desserts include such ethereal treats as Rose-Petal Sorbet and the refreshingly herbaceous Lemon Grass Tea, wonderful either hot or cold. There's also a chapter that shows how to marry these newfound Thai tastes with classic American cooking, through such improvisations as Bangkok Burgers with Marinated, Grilled Onions and Spicy Thai Ketchup.True Thai is more than a cookbook; it is a collection of grace notes exemplifying Thai cuisine's dedication to pleasing the senses. There's even a chapter on preparing Thai-style table decorations, many of them as edible as they are lovely.True Thai's 250 recipes, each with helpful and fascinating notes, present Thai cuisine with simplicity and elegance. True That is the most authentic, authoritative, and accessible Thai cookbook ever printed in English.

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Lemongrass And Sweet Basil: Traditional Thai Cuisine Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a sweet, simple book that provides a great introduction to the ingredients and techniques you need to begin making basic Thai dishes. It is not exhaustive or particularly creative, but accomplishes what it sets out to do. With clear instructions, glossary, and balanced flavor combinations, I've found the recipes (which range from homemade curry pastes to marinades, soups and noodles) accessible and delicious. Recommended for the inexperienced Thai cook.

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Creating the tastes of Thailand is an irresistible challenge for cooks who love the pungent combinations and subtle balance of ingredients.True to Thai traditions, Lemongrass and Sweet Basil features recipes based on Royal Thai Cuisine, but the author has moved from the highly decorative and intricately carved presentation to a more easy-to-follow, modern approach.The key to successful Thai cooking is using the best and freshest produce that you can find, so the book starts by detailing the main ingredients that are essential to the Thai cook.This is followed by clear instructions on the cooking methods and techniques that are used to achieve the unique Thai flavors.Based on the traditional recipes of each Thai region, every cook has his or her own version of a dish including the addition of a secret ingredient or two.Kham shares with us over 50 of his recipes from Isan and Central, Southern, and Northern Thailand.Also included is a chapter of Thai "tapas," Khap Klaem with mouthwatering dishes such as Fresh Oysters with Spicy Thai Sauce and Drunken Noodles.The stunning photographs accompanying the recipes give a strong sense of the Thai way of life.The beautiful location photography shows the seamless integration of food and the Thai Buddhist religion and the vibrant and informative food photographs reflect the Thai's liking for strong color and the importance of garnishes.Thai people have a passion for the best ingredients, a passion for eating, a passion for the experience of sharing good food.Be inspired by this and create a delicious meal for your family and friends.

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Thai Food Review

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(More customer reviews)`Thai Food' by Australian chef, restaurant owner, and Thai food scholar David Thompson is one of those books which, if you have an enduring interest in food, you genuinely regret it took any more than a few days since its publication to acquire, read, and assimilate the book's material. It is one of those books where you can open it to virtually any page and find evidence of its quality.
I recall some reviews of this book which noted that although it was certainly comprehensive, it may be criticized for giving recipes containing hard to find ingredients. While I think this is a valid criticism of a book advertised as having recipes for the home cook such as `Vatch's Thai Kitchen' by chef Vatcharin Bhumichitr, it is not a valid criticism of a scholarly book where the object of the author is to present an accurate picture of a national cuisine. And, Thompson has done this as well or better than virtually every good survey of national cuisines I have reviewed such as Diane Kochilas `The Glorious Foods of Greece', Jean Anderson's smaller book on `The Food of Portugal', Marcella Hazan's `Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking', Diana Kennedy and Rick Bayless various books on Mexican cuisines and the granddaddy of them all, Julia Child's `Mastering the Art of French Cooking'. This may be just a bit unfair to these authors, as not all of them were aiming at a grand scholarly treatment of an entire cuisine. Child, for example, was giving us `cuisine bourgeois', leaving the three other types of classic French cooking to others. Kennedy and Bayless have covered Mexico in not one, but in at least two or three different books, with Kennedy's latest, `From My Mexican Kitchen' being a model treatment of some special subjects in a national cuisine.
Thompson has covered the whole range of Thai cooking, including very good essays on Thai history and geographical regions and the regional influences on Thai cuisine. One look at the map of Thailand and you can see how broadly different one part of the country may be from another. The northern section virtually pokes its head into the China, and Chinese make up about 11% of the population, as they seem to do in virtually every country on which they border or every nearby island group such as the Philippines. Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam surround the Northeast. The southern peninsula borders on Malaysia. The central rice-growing region is close to Burma and India. There are some parts of the country such as the far north and northeast to which it was literally impractical to travel from capital Bangkok until the mid-1920's when a railroad was build from Bangkok to Chiang Mai on the Ping river.
While China, India heavily influences Thai cooking, and it's Southeast Asian neighbors, it is also different from China and India in important ways. While the wok is important to Thai cooking, it is not used in the same way as their Chinese neighbors. The most traditional Thai wok is actually earthenware, replaced by brass upon contact with European traders. `Traditional Thai stir-frying was not the fierce and furious method of the Chinese, but gentle frying over radiant heat in an earthenware pot.' It is obvious in this very same paragraph that Thompson is not a `scientific' food scholar, as he correctly states that the proper technique is to heat the wok before adding the oil, but describes the level of heat as `white hot'. White-hot temperatures are found only in the centers of stars, not in Bangkok kitchens. Nevertheless, his cooking advice is solid and entirely consistent with observations made by Shirley Corriher on heating metal pans before adding oil.
Every major cuisine has their classic techniques for preserving food. In fact, one may almost measure the sophistication of a cuisine by their representative preparation and preservation methods. The Italian cuisine is one of the world's leaders because of their cheese-making for milk preservation, salumi techniques for preserving meats, drying and curing methods with ham, winemaking and olive oil techniques, and salting techniques for fish and capers. While salt is a signature ingredient of Mediterranean cuisine, it is simply not as common in southeast Asia, so Thailand and surrounding countries extending as far north as Korea use fermentation as their primary preservation technique. It seems they simply ferment everything the can get their hands on, such as bamboo shoots, bean curd, fish, rice, watercress, and soybeans. Like the Italians with Parmesan and anchovies, the fermented products are often sources for adding saltiness to dishes.
When I go to a Thai restaurant or look at recipes in popular Thai cookbooks, many Thai dishes seem to be a mix of a great number of ingredients. Thompson, on the other hand, states that the ideal of a Thai salad is simplicity, but it is also about a balancing of ingredients, as exemplified in Alford and Duguid's book title, `Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet'. I will venture the hypothesis that this great mix of tastes comes from the intersection of the sour of fermented ingredients and the strong capsasian chiles used to combat the oppressive Thai heat.
Some people, even some foodies, may be inclined to dismiss this book as simply not a type of cooking with which they have any interest. I would recommend they get and read much of this book anyway. One example is the chapter on salads. In spite of the great difference in ingredients, I find a remarkable similarity between Thai and French salad making. This means that Thompson's essay and survey of Thai salads contains some insights into saladmaking that you simply may not get anywhere else. Even if you never go out of your way to find red shallots, holy basil, or Kaffir lime leaves, there is much you can learn here!
This book should be on the shelves of anyone who wishes to be sophisticated about food.


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Real Thai: The Best of Thailand's Regional Cooking Review

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(More customer reviews)Like the author, I was also a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand (though it appears from her introduction to the book that she preceded me there by about 15 years).
Anyway, I was thrilled to learn of this book soon after I returned to the U.S. in the early 1990's. My sister had discovered it soon after she had visited me in Thailand, and had found the recipes to authentically replicate many of the dishes she remembered from her first-hand Thai experience. I was skeptical when my sister initially told me of the book, but was pleasantly surprised from the moment that I began to read through it -- so pleased, in fact, that my sister gave me her copy right there on the spot, and then went out the next day to replace her own copy.
What so pleased me was the genuine authenticity of the recipes captured in the book (rather than the "westernized" or "fusion" versions that are contained in so many recipe books, and on far too many a restaurant menu these days). Many of these other books are really glorified "coffee table" books, whereas McDermott has compiled here a practical working guidebook that addresses the entire breadth of Thai cuisine. The recipes contained in her book masterfully and faithfully reproduce the exact dishes that you might find in a restaurant (large or small) or in a typical Thai home, and they are generally quite easy to replicate. As a byproduct of being more authentic, the versions that she has captured in this book also have the added benefit of tasting better than many of the dishes that you are likely to encounter at many Thai restaurants here in the U.S. If you want a book to cook from (and not just to display), this is the one.

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Nancie McDermott, widely regarded as the American expert on Thai cooking, offers a clear, straightforward approach to dishes that many Westerners have tasted only in restaurants. In Real Thai, she demystifies once and for all every aspect of this flavorful, healthy cuisine. Organized geographically by region, over 100 tempting, easy-to-follow recipes explore not only dishes that may be familiar to Americans, such as Chicken Coconut Soup and Pork Satay, but also lesser-known local specialties such as Crab Cakes with Cilantro Paste, Fish with Yellow Curry Steamed in Banana Leaves, Sticky Rice with Mangoes, and Son-in-Law Eggs. Including advice on basic utensils and techniques, a glossary of ingredients, a list of shopping sources, and a section of suggested menus, this is the definitive guide for novice and expert alike to the diverse flavors of a regional Asian cuisine that is rapidly becoming an international favorite.

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Tommy Tang's Modern Thai Cuisine Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a book full of tremendous recipes, from classic Thai curries to superb innovative takes on dishes such as mee krob. An excellent introduction to Thai cuisine for anyone interested in cooking or eating! Although Tommy gets creative at times, this should not be confused with the Asian fusion approach which is so fashionable in 1999 --it is truly Thai cuisine. Buy this book if you can find it! Your taste buds will thank you.

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A Taste of Thailand: The Definitive Guide to Regional Cooking (Pavilion Classic Cookery) Review

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(More customer reviews)I love Thai food and rank it in my 5 favorite cuisines. Authentic Thai ingredients are becoming more and more available, both in Asian markets and even in regular grocery stores. This book provides authentic recipes that are easy to follow. The book also has some beautiful pictures of both the dishes described and the regions of Thailand from which they originate. The author provides valuable background information for both eating and (unexpectedly) travelling in Thailand. In fact, I brought this book on a trip to Thailand. Since many Thai menus have dishes in both Thai and roman letters, I was able to match some of the menu items with recipes in the book, which was both helpful and interesting. I am glad I got this book before it went out of print and would recommend picking it up at any opportunity.

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A classic introduction to the history, preparation, and eating of Thai food.This classic work was one of the first books to bring authentic Thai cuisine to a Western audience. First published in the 1980s, it set the standard to which all subsequent books followed. It first takes the reader through a brief history of Thailand before introducing the ten essential ingredients and the most common techniques. Clear, approachable recipes are split into regions—from the more basic fare of the countryside to special-occasion dishes and the more elaborate cooking of Bangkok. Here is the genuine food of the Thai people, presented with passion and authority. Vatcharin Bhumichitr, a widely respected chef and cookbook author, is also a well-known restaurateur; he recently opened Tamarind Thai in Miami.

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Thai Home Cooking: Quick, Easy, Delicious Recipes to Make at Home (Essential Asian Kitchen Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)The recipes in this book are wonderful. I have cooked the green and red curries, the pad thai, and the tom kha gai. I'm going to cook the Chang Mai noodles next. I was looking for a good approximation of the wonderful Thai food I had in D.C., and with some tweaking, was able to match it. A couple tips: If you're new to cooking thai food, DON'T SKIP ANYTHING UNLESS THE DIRECTIONS SPECIFICALLY SAY YOU MAY! There is a section devoted to ingredients that you should read carefully. In my opinion, a thai curry is NO GOOD without genuine kaffir lime leaves, which are hard to come by. I found them in the frozen section of an asian grocery store. Also, if you fry the curry pastes, they stay for up to 2 months. Last, a note on flavor. The curries needed a little more sweentess for me to be perfect. Try adding 1/2 tablespoon more palm sugar to the red or green SUACES if you have the same problem. Also, don't be afraid to reduce the number of chilies in the SAUCES (don't know about the pastes themselves though). Lastly, a food processor makes any of these dishes relatively easy. Besides that, once you get the basic ingredients, you can make many of these dishes, over and over again, making it cost efficient. This book is a wonderful intro to tasty thai food.

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Simple step-by-step instructions, with photographs, and an extensive guide to Thai ingredients make it easy to prepare vibrant salads, delicious main dishes, refreshing drinks and exotic desserts. Alongside the familiar curries are Penang curry, steamed fish in banana leaves and gai ying chicken.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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The Blue Elephant Cookbook: Royal Thai Cuisine Review

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(More customer reviews)A Magnificent Book from a Refined Establishment The Brussels based Blue Elephant which now includes 7 international branches and is still growing did a magnificent job with this cookbook as always under the guiding eye of its original founder Mr. Karl Steppe.
Exotic recipes include Green, Red and Yellow curry dishes for beef, chicken, lamb, and vegetarian courses. This in addition to delightful and sophisticated trademarks such as the Chicken Souffle, the Tom Yum khung prawn soup, Seafood Cassoulet, the Tod Man Pla fish cakes, crab claws, pad thai noodles, several varieities of stir fry rice, the restaurants star Jasmine Cake dessert, coconut sorbet, and bananna cake.
If you are ever in Beirut, Brussels, Dubai, Copenhagen, Paris, London, Lyon or New Delhi don't pass up the chance to visit the incredible experience of dining at this top notch sophisticated establishment. From the moment you enter a Blue Elephant you will be dazzled by the exotic decor.

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Southeast Asian Food: Classic and Modern Dishes from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam Review

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(More customer reviews)This book more than fulfills my expectations of a book on SE Asian food. There are excellent introductory comments about the background to foods from different areas and easy to follow recipes.

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The diversity of cooking styles and the delicious range of fresh ingredients are just two of the reasons for the allure of Southeast Asian cooking. With a selection of recipes showing the varieties and unique properties of each cuisine, from tangy Thai salads, satisfying Vietnamese soups, aromatic Indonesian curries and exquisite Malaysian sambals, Southeast Asian Food is the authoritative book on the subject. With the help of the author's clear and easy-to-follow instructions and her knowledge of the local foods, you'll be able to recreate these delightful, fragrant dishes in your own kitchen. As Brissenden says, "With the world full of same-tasting, instant approaches to Southeast Asian food through packets and jars, this book aims to serve as a guide to cooks who wish to enjoy its true freshness and variety by cooking it for themselves. If it also conveys a sense of a rich and diverse set of culinary traditions I shall be more than happy."

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Thai Cooking (The Essential Asian Kitchen) Review

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(More customer reviews)For me, my enjoyment of Thai cooking is in its broad variety of sauces which combine sweet and spicy tastes. This book does a great job of revealing the "secret" ingredients and preparation methods for making and replicating many of the sauces I enjoy at my favorite Thai restaurants. For the "mix master" types that are into "fusioning" unlikely flavors to create new and novel taste experiences, but in a traditional Thai context, this is the perfect "how to" book for you.

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Thailand's unique blends of hot and sweet, sour and salty, make its food utterly different from that of its neighbors, even though many of the ingredients are the same. In Thai Cooking you'll learn how to create over 60 of these delicious blends in your own kitchen--everything from fresh curries and tangy salads to pan-fried noodles and barbecued seafood.

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Thai in Minutes: Over 120 Inspirational Recipes Review

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(More customer reviews)We bought this book a few years ago, each time I reach for it and try a new recipe I have not been disappointed! I love the steamed fish with lemongrass and the southern chicken curry even pleased my teenagers. Prep time is fairly minimal if you stock most ingredients, and I find it easier to use store bought red or green curry paste. I'm a novice at Thai cooking, this book makes it tasty and easy!

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Simple preparation and quick cooking methods are the main ingredients in this book featuring 140 flavorful no-fuss dishes created by the man who runs the finest Thai restaurants in London. The fare ranges from elegant curries and flavorsome fish dishes to fragrant noodles and refreshing salads. All dishes can be prepared in 30 minutes or less, even favorites such as Geow Rod (Vegetable Wontons) and Gratdoo Mood Tod (Spare Ribs with Chili and Lemongrass).

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Real Vegetarian Thai Review

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(More customer reviews)Vegetarians have long bewailed the difficulty of making Thai food: almost every ready-made Thai curry paste available contains shrimp or worse. Now it is possible to concoct your own! McDermott has created an Eastern cookbook with a Western eye, taking the mystery out of this delicious cuisine. Recipes are categorised along familiar lines, exotic ingredients are explained in a glossary and sources listed, unusual techniques (from opening a coconut to roasting chillis) are fully explained. This cookbook is very helpful indeed: there's even a bibliography and a list of menu suggestions, you can alter the amount of heat in a dish to taste (I'm a wimp about chillis and am doing fine), and she is not too snobbish to suggest replacements, such as ginger if galanga is unavailable. The lay-out is clear and easy to follow, and there are several interesting anecdotes about McDermott's travels in Thailand and the traditional Thai way of life.
The recipes are imaginative, healthy, straightforward to make, and they work beautifully. Many of them are vegan, and adaptations are usually suggested for those which are not. A "Basic Recipes" section gives recipes for essentials such as the different curry pastes, roasted chilli paste, vegetable stock, and "mushroom mince" (which she has invented to replace minced meat in traditional recipes).
Some examples of recipes included are:
Crispy spring rolls with sweet and hot garlic sauce
Green papaya salad
Jasmine rice soup with mushrooms, green onions and crispy garlic
Red curry with eggplant and sweet peppers
Butternut squash in fresh green curry
Firecracker broccoli
Coconut ice cream
Thai iced tea
To my surprise, Thai cookery turned out not just to be possible for vegetarians and vegans (an astonishing number of recipes are here, and meat-eaters will certainly not feel deprived), but the ingredients are easy to find, the recipes easy to make, and the results are dazzling.

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Real Thai has gone vegetarian! Everyone loves Thai food, but it's not easy to find truly meatless dishes. Thai cooking expert Nancie McDermott has developed inventive variations on traditional recipes, providing health-conscious cooks with a repertoire of meatless dishes that captures the vibrant spirit of Thailand. A helpful glossary introduces readers to the seemingly mysterious yet widely available ingredients and equipment used in Thai cooking and offers tips for finding or substituting them. With an emphasis on the classic techniques, ingredients, and flavors of Thai cuisine, this groundbreaking cookbook provides one hundred delicious recipes for everyday meals and special occasions.

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Malaysian Cooking: A Master Cook Reveals Her Best Recipes Review

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(More customer reviews)Malaysian Cooking: A Master Cook Reveals Her Best Recipes is packed with lovely large-size color photos by Masano Kawana inspired by her childhood memories, and offers dishes any Asian cook will find appealing. From Bean Sauce Noodles with Prawns and Sausage, spiced with sweet soy sauce and chili paste, to Ginger Soy Chicken with Rice Wine, filled with herbs and flavor, this is especially recommended for its focus on Malaysian dishes, as usually Malaysian fare is not given its own book but blended in with more general 'Asian' cookbooks. A top pick any general lending library strong in ethnic cooking will find popular and eye-catching.


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Malaysian Cooking introduces the art of using Malaysia's most aromatic cooking ingredients to prepare food with wonderful fragrances to excite both the palate and sense of smell. Since three quarters of what we taste comes from smell, the aromas produced by our food are vitally important to the enjoyment that comes from eating. Inspired by fond memories of fragrant cooking from her childhood days, author Carol Selva Rajah has included in this book a collection of new and traditional Malaysian dishes for anyone wishing to serve the best flavors of Malaysian food at home.

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Taste of Laos: Lao/Thai Recipes from Dara Restaurant Review

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(More customer reviews)It is unfortunate that this book should be subtitled "Lao/Thai Recipes," implying that there is a general commonality between Lao and Thai (Central Thai/Siamese) cuisine, which there is not. To be sure, there are certain individual dishes that can be characterized as Lao/Siamese because they are featured in both cuisines and their origins are obscure--they probably date back many centuries if not millennia. The Siamese Tom Yum Kung for example is none other than a substitution of shrimp for chicken (or catfish) in Lao chicken (or catfish) soup (a recipe appears in Taste of Laos, p. 45), while the Siamese Ho Mok is simply Lao Mok (a recipe on p. 90) with the addition of coconut milk and curry powder.
As for examples of common desserts, both the Lao and Siamese eat mango with sweetened sticky rice (p. 119), custard in a pumpkin (p. 118), and rice and banana steamed in banana leaves (Khao Tom, p. 121). The Siamese, however, eat prepared sweets in greater frequency and quantity than the Lao, who generally prefer fresh fruit. Partly for this reason, the Siamese dessert repertory exceeds that of the Lao in terms of its variety and development.
The greater Siamese affinity for sweets is one difference in eating preferences between them and the Lao. There are quite a few. The Siamese have a predilection for heavy spices (namely curries) and herbs (particularly "Thai" basil) and rich dishes--many based on coconut milk/cream, with the result that Siamese dishes are often very fragrant, oily, and liquid. This is incompatible with the Lao palate. In general, the Lao eschew the use of coconut in savory dishes, and the curries so popular in Siam never made an impression on Lao cuisine, despite more than a century (late 18th--late19th century) of Siamese political domination. Which is also one reason why traditional French food, with its heavy dishes and creamy sauces, based on flour, cream and butter (not to mention it's complex batterie de cuisine), never took hold, despite half a century of French rule.
The Lao palate is accustomed to grilled or steamed foods--with relatively simple flavorings, and fresh, uncooked vegetables. Lao cuisine, which is very healthful, uses a relatively small variety of herbs and spices, with a particular and distinctive emphasis on garlic and galanga (not ginger, as has been asserted elsewhere).
Hence the author's suggestions that the Lao eat curries is nonsense.
Having said that the Lao like their food simple and light, lean and green, besides differences in taste, there is a more practical reason that the Lao do not eat Siamese food, despite living next door to the homeland of one of the most popular Asian cuisines in North America.
Daovone mentions the Lao preference for sticky rice--which admittedly is an issue of taste, and by now everyone should know (of course they don't) that the Lao are the one people in the entire world who eat sticky rice as a staple. All traditional Lao foods then were developed by people who knew that the dish would be accompanied by sticky rice, which is eaten out of a woven basket, with fingers. Hence to keep the fingers clean and rice out of the various dishes, the dishes could not be wet or oily.
Siamese food, because of the ubiquitous coconut milk and oily curries, is too soupy for sticky rice. Though if you're using a spoon, it is perfect for regular white rice, which absorbs the broth and picks up the flavor.
Most of the rural Lao population, which is most of the country's population, still eat sticky rice exclusively. The urban population eats both sticky rice and white rice, depending on the dishes they are to accompany. Lao dishes would call for sticky rice, while foreign dishes, such as Chinese-style stir fries (which are popular), or Thai curry dishes (which are not popular) would be accompanied by regular white rice.
While the Lao use their fingers to eat sticky rice (the consistency of the rice makes it impossible to do it any other way), they would never use their fingers, as the Siamese and Indians traditionally do, to eat white rice. Neither, however, do they use chopsticks as their Chinese and Vietnamese neighbors (some) do. Chopsticks are reserved for noodles. For white rice, the Lao use spoons.
At times, it seems the author can't decide whether she's writing a Lao cookbook or a Siamese one. Why is Tam Mak Hung (Green Papaya Salad) called Som Tum in the Siamese manner? While this offense is one in name only, the author gives a recipe for Phad Thai, but describes it as "Koa Mee[Khua My] or Pad Thai," as though they were one and the same thing. In truth, they are quite different--the most obvious differences being that Khua My generally calls for beef (rather than the shrimp or chicken typically found in Pad Thai), dark soy sauce (rather than fish sauce) and caramelized sugar (rather than sugar added directly to the noodles).
Taste of Laos is written by a cook--and proprietor of a Lao/Thai restaurant, not a gastronome or sociologist, and hence everything said about Lao cuisine or culture must be taken with plenty of salt, or padaek, for which unfortunately there is no recipe or discussion, except by food guru and one-time ambassador to Laos Alan Davidson in the book's preface.
Neither is there a discussion of Lao cooking methods or equipment. The author's instructions for steaming sticky rice are not likely to lead to good results, because they are very vague and steaming sticky rice requires a little more effort than making white rice. To make the process easier, the Lao invented a special steaming basket and pot, but there is no mention of this apparatus in the cookbook. Nor is there a mention of the deep Lao-style mortar and pestle that is required for a proper Green Papaya Salad (Tam Mak Hung in Lao/ Som Tum in Siamese). The Lao mortar and pestle is indispensable in the Lao kitchen, and can be had for $10 at most Lao, Thai or Vietnamese grocery stores.
Throughout the book, Daovone tries to suggest that Lao and Siamese eat the same food, which is not true. I have already mentioned how much Siamese food the Lao eat. How much Lao food the Siamese eat is another question. Let it suffice to say that there are a lot more Isan (Lao) restaurants in Bangkok than there are Siamese restaurants in Isan (the ethnic Lao region of Thailand), and that "Som Tum" and "Larb" have become standards on Thai menus everywhere
The author's assertion that the Lao have ever been vegetarian ("In the past, most Lao became vegetarians purely for religious reasons.") is ridiculous. Buddhism has rarely exerted a didactic influence on the Lao, and certainly never in this regard. Historical records show that monks themselves in particular consumed all kinds of meats, sweets and delicacies with gusto.
Taste of Laos should have more accurately been subtitled, "Lao and Thai Recipes," because it contains both Lao and Thai recipes from the proprietor of the popular Dara Restaurant in Berkeley, which as a disclaimer I have to say that I have never been to. As one of only three cookbooks in the English language devoted to Lao cuisine, it is obviously of great worth. It is, however, far from comprehensive and not representative of what most Lao people eat. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that in Laos, the cuisine of Vietnam is twenty times as popular as that of Siam/Central Thailand. Light and fresh Southern Vietnamese cuisine, which presumably descended from the people known as Cham, is much more in tune with the Lao palate.
Daovone would have done better justice by including those Vietnamese and Vietnamese-inspired dishes that are so popular in Laos. Though since Dara is a Lao/Thai restaurant, I can understand why Vietnamese recipes have been excluded. Nevertheless, I was disappointed to not find even one Khao Poun dish, and even more disappointed that there is no recipe for Lao Sausage (Sai Oua).
That Daovone is from Xieng Khouang (famous for its Plain of Jars) contributes to the book's value. Lao cuisine often has many regional variations, and Taste of Laos has recorded permanently the Xieng Khouang variations of certain dishes. Also, though Daovone neglects many classic Lao dishes, she introduces a number of new dishes and new sauces, many of which are her own creation. The Vientiane Mango Fool (p.123), for example, is nothing I have ever even heard of, and the Catfish Salad ("Laap Pa Duk," p. 57) is nothing like your typical Goy/Laap.
This book is a keeper. Don't be put off by its ugly cover or the unorthodox Romanization of Lao dish names; get a copy of this cookbook. Who knows when you might find yourself far from a Lao grocery store and having to make your own Sour Pork Sausages (Som Mou, p.30)?
Taste of Laos: Lao/Thai Recipes from Dara Restaurant by Daovone Xayavong ($15.95) is publish

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This collection of nearly 100 dishes is true to the culinary traditions of Laos, from Young Banana Tree Soup and Catfish Salad to Nam Lao (mixed ingredients in a rice paper wrap). Accompanying the recipes are vignettes about the food and culture of Laos and an extensive glossary.

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Complete Curry Cookbook Review

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(More customer reviews)I like cooking saucy, meaty foods, and curries fit the bill. This is one of the easier curry books I've come across. Three main reasons:
1. It caters to the accessible-to-non-city-dweller ingredients without sacrificing spices I've found in other curry books. I honestly believe the Lamb Korma is really Lamb Korma. Besides, it included Filipino Adobo Chicken and Filipino Adobo Pork recipes, and it was very accurate - I grew up making those in Ohio.
2. Easy instructions for the slightly clueless cook. For example: "Use your food processor to blend the ingredients. If you don't have one, use your blender, but add a little more of the tomato liquid."
3. Full of useful easy-to-understand tips on what I could and shouldn't substitute, and how to prepare the ingredients. For example: "We recommend using full-fat yogurts, but if you use reduced-fat yogurts, make sure it does not contain gelatin, as it will create a curdled texture to the curry." And, "Make sure the yogurt is at room temperature before you add it, or it will also curdle. If you forgot to leave it out to warm up, give it..." Well, I forgot, I'm too lazy to wait any longer for the yogurt to warm up, and I don't mind curdled! Yum anyway, and not too curdled. Also - the recommendation to peel the gingerroot was inspirational. I grew up in a household where we gave 1-2 rough chops to large chunks of hastily washed ginger and called it good. This. Is. Much. Better.
Plus the tips are neatly organized in the beginning, the appendix in the back, and on the sides of the pages. The font is pretty without being pretentious, and its size is perfect. There's something to be said for a beautifully laid out page - and each page is beautifully laid out!

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Authentic curries made easy.

Curry is enjoyed throughout the world. This wonderful selection of curry recipes draws its inspiration from India, Thailand, China, England, Indonesia and the Caribbean.

These quick, easy and tantalizing recipes feature ingredients found in supermarkets, yet the dishes maintain authentic tastes and flavors.

Some of the creative curry recipes include:

Vegetables masala (mixed vegetables, tomato, gravy, curry leaf); chicken and wild mushroom curry with saffron; Indian-style butter chicken; Kashmiri-style lamb with root vegetables
Thai beef-tamarind curry with potato; braised beef with chililime and lemongrass; Caribbean coconut lime braised pork; grilled fish tikka
Shrimp curry, Calcutta style; Caribbean-spiced tilapia; calamari curry
Dansak (lentils with vegetables); eggs sambal goreng; chili coconut dal.

Among the accompaniments and side dishes:

Tomato onion rice pilau; spicy Singapore noodles; zucchini pancake
Caramelized mango relish; spicy pickled green beans; fresh mint raita.

These and other authentic recipes will allow home cooks to experience international curry cuisine at its most tantalizing.

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Buddha's Table: Thai Feasting Vegetarian Style Review

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(More customer reviews)I've made 3 recipes from this book, and all of them were edible, although the Tom Kha required some alterations before I was willing to serve it.
I think the problem here is that the author is not himself a vegetarian (according to the intro) and therefore is not familiar with typical substitutions. The Tom Kha recipe omitted the usual fish sauce--just omitted it without any replacements. Could we use a konbu soupbase for a fishy flavor? Maybe some of that fermented bean paste? Something was missing. I'll have to attempt my own substitutions.
The Phad Thai recipe also just omitted the fish sauce without replacements. It had a pretty good flavor though. My husband thought it was great.
The author seems to use mushrooms in place of meat in most recipes. I like mushrooms, but if you don't, be warned.
I am familiar with good Thai flavor--there was a little hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant near where I used to live. The walls of the restaurant were decorated with framed magazine articles naming that restaurant as the most authentic Thai restaurant in the western United States. The food was excellent. The recipes in this cookbook are just close enough to remind me of that Thai restaurant, but far enough to make me really miss good Thai food.
The first time I opened this book, it made a cracking sound and now the pages are falling out; inferior binding, but the other books I own in this series are not falling apart.

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Buddha's Table presents a magnificent and joyful celebration of Thai cuisine that is guaranteed to add diversity and pleasure to your cooking and dining experience.It's easy to prepare any dish on a Thai menu with these guidelines and recipes from Thai chef Chat Mingkwan.Discover how to enhance the flavors that are found in Thai produce and spices and learn how to make your own curry pastes and sauces, the foundation for any great Thai meal.Chat's experience as a cooking instructor can be seen in his use of precise measurements, easy techniques, and simple instructions. These recipes have been tasted over and over by students and friends to ensure that they are flawless and delicious, but most important, that they manifest the Thai soul.

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Quick & Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes Review

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(More customer reviews)I love cookbooks and cooking. When my husband and I decided to get on an Asian kick, we chose this book because it eases you into Thai cooking. With no outrageous ingredients, octopus or black squid ink, this cookbook offers the lover of this type of cuisine an easy and very delicious alternative to some of the more authentic recipes offered in other cookbooks. By authentic I mean the strange ingredients. The Chiang Mai Curry Noodles is excellent and depeding on which curry you try, panaeng or red curry, can be hot and spicy, delicious. The Paht Thai Noodles were made in our household two nights in a row they were so good. The chicken coconut soup is a very refreshing dish and the Green Curry Chicken with Zucchini and Jasmine Rice was something even my three year old enjoyed.
In the beginning there is a small investment to be made in ingredients the average American does not have in their pantry. There is a fish sauce,(which is used in practically every asian recipe and in this book), soy sauce, and sri rachaa which is an Asian hot sauce and various curries and a couple other spices. But, once this book hits your life they will be as common and familiar to you as ketchup or mustard. Excellent pictures for those, like myself, who love pictures. If you are considering this book, go ahead without further reservation.

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Now busy home cooks can bring the fantastic flavors of Thai cuisine into the kitchen with a simple trip to the grocery store. Nancie McDermott, experienced cook, teacher, and author of the best-selling cookbook Real Thai, presents this collection of 70 delicious recipes that focus on easy-to-find ingredients and quick cooking methods to whip up traditional Thai. With recipes like Crying Tiger Grilled Beef, Grilled Shrimp and Scallops with Lemongrass, Sticky Rice with Mangoes, and Thai Iced Tea, along with McDermott's highly practical array of shortcuts, substitutions, and timesaving techniques, anyone can prepare home-cooked authentic Thai meals -- as often as they like.

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