seabream

The book is amazing. Simply amazing. I pre-ordered it and just finished reading the whole thing, cover to cover. I haven't yet cooked anything from it, but I went to an event with Naomi Duguid where they served samples of the "spiced rubbed jerky" (page 196) and the "sticky rice cake" (page 279). Both dishes were fantastic. I am planning to start cooking from it next week. Still deciding which dishes to make first - there are so many I want to try! Would love to know if anyone has cooked anything from it, and which dishes are tried and recommended.

Yes, that is very similar to the grating bench I got. Using a cleaning brush is a great idea! I will get the one you recommended to use next time. I've used the grating bench many times since my last post and continue to love it. Because I've only used it to make coconut milk, I haven't been bothered by the little bits of husk. However, I've been having ideas of other uses for freshly grated coconut where the bits of husk would not be welcome. So this is a very timely recommendation! Thank you!

Thank you everyone for all the fantastic ideas! I just wanted to let everyone know what I ended up making with these liquids: Octopus juice: I cooked finely chopped onions and garlic in olive oil, then deglazed with white wine, then added tomato paste and chopped tomatoes. I undercooked some store-bought bucatini, and finished cooking it in the sauce. I finished it with lots of fresh Genevose basil leaves. Oh boy! So good! The octopus flavor in the pasta was really intense, and the thick bucatini soaked it up very nicely. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I will definitely make this one again. Next time I am planning to add the actual octopus chunks to the pasta. Zucchini water: I made a yellow gazpacho. Used yellow heirloom tomatoes, zucchini water (which was intensely green), green pepper, onion, garlic, vinegar, salt and sugar. I decided to make it yellow (as opposed to the traditional red) because my zucchini water was so green. I was afraid that adding red tomatoes to it would result in brownish soup. The gazpacho was fantastic, but the zucchini flavor was subtle. Best of all, husband loved it! Anyway, I often end up with these two kinds of juice (which I've thrown away in the past), so I will have a chance to try the other ideas suggested here. Thank you so much for your replies!

I'm looking for ideas to cook with the following: * 1 cup zucchini stock/juice. I made zucchini strands, salted them, and squeezed them. I was left with about 1 cup of perfectly salted zucchini juice. So good! * 1 cup octopus stock. I cooked octopus in its own juices with lemon peel, Thai chilies, cilantro stems and garlic. I was left with about 1 cup of intensely flavored octopus stock. It would be a shame to throw these wonderfully and naturally flavored liquids away, so I'm looking for ideas to use them. I thought about making risotto, but I typically use 3 cups or so of stock to make 1 cup of risotto. I would rather not dilute the stocks I have. I guess I could add chicken stock to complete the 3 cups... Also, my husband is not into soups or stews with too much liquid. I'm thinking that such small amounts of stock may be good to make a sauce, or maybe a foam? Anyway, would love to hear your ideas!

I'd like to update this thread with my latest experiments. I tried using the food processor and blender, which worked fine. But I was so intrigued by the bench grater that I had to get one. So I got a Thai "rabbit" and used it yesterday for the first time. It took me a little while and a few scratches (you know, those wild rabbits...) to get the hang of it, but once I did, it worked wonderfully, with no further scratches. So thanks for the recommendation! I have a question, though. As I was grating the coconut, little bits of the outside brown husk would fall into the plate where the grated coconut was going. This is fine to make coconut milk, but not so good if I'm going to use the grated coconut for something else. I'm wondering if others have the same problem, and if you have a good solution to avoid it. I tried to cut the "hairs" of the coconut and scrub it a bit, which helped, but didn't fix the problem entirely. Thank you!

I've attached a photo of the Mussaman curry we made. Ooh, how amazing it was! The introduction to the recipe in the book says it all: it is the most time consuming curry I've made, and also the most delicious. I wouldn't say it's hard to make: someone who has made other curries from this book has already mastered all the techniques needed for this curry. But it is time consuming - VERY time consuming! And so good... It combines the Thai curry flavors I love (galangal, lemongrass, shallot, garlic) with the Indian flavors I love just as much (cumin, coriander, cloves, etc). I didn't make that many changes to the recipe. I omitted the coriander root because I didn't have any, and the cassia bark because I'm not a big fan of it (although I can see how it would go well with the other flavors, for those of you who like it). I added the lower end amounts of palm sugar, fish sauce and tamarind while making the paste. After adding the paste to the coconut milk, I added quite a bit more of all three. I added the upper end amount of coconut milk, but next time I may reduce that. I bought really nice organic free range chicken legs from my local halal store, which I think made a big difference. Is it worth spending a whole afternoon preparing it? Once in a while, I would say yes. I think I will have cravings for this curry in the future...

I am going to cook the Mussaman curry now. I am going to start by making the curry paste. I will keep the laptop with me in the kitchen, so if you have any tips/questions, etc, I will get them while I'm cooking. I'm super excited about dinner tonight

Oh, I forgot to say that I soaked the fish maw too, and I added it to the soup at the same time as the tofu skins and lily buds. The white things you see in the photo, floating on top of the soup, are the bits of chopped fish maw.

Carolyn, Actualy, I did take a photo, which I'm attaching here. I didn't follow a recipe. I started by making a stock with a duck carcass, ginger and scallions (I made the stock in the pressure cooker). Then I soaked the tofu skins and lily buds separately until they were soft. When the stock was ready I added some salt to taste and put it in a pot on the stove, with the heat turned to medium. Then, I added the softened tofu skins, lily buds and raw spinach, and let the soup simmer just until everything was heated through. Last, I added a beaten egg in the style of egg-drop soup (with the help of a pair of chopsticks to slide the egg into the hot water in strands). This was also my first time attempting the egg-drop soup technique, and it turned out really well - it's easier to do than it seems. It was really yummy. Let me know if you decide to try it. Would love to hear what you think about it.

I was hoping you guys would forget This week has been crazy at work, but I'm still planning (and looking forward to) make the Mussaman curry, with homemade coconut milk. I will report in this thread when I do.

patrickamory: Not yet. We were planning to make it, but had too many leftovers - the worst enemy of someone who enjoys cooking We're going on a trip for a week now, and we'll be making this first thing when we get back. I will for sure report on my experiments here. So stay tuned...

Kasma says the following: http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/ingredients/cocmilk.html "I do not recommend freezing coconut milk as this increases the likelihood of curdling when it is next used in cooking – unless you are just warming it through without boiling." However, I think Kasma is referring to canned coconut milk. http://www.realthairecipes.com/category/glossary/sauces-and-pastes/ "...it separates and gets chunky when you heat it. I’m not sure why freezing does this to coconut milk. I’ve experimented with freezing my own homemade fresh-pressed coconut milk, and the same thing happens." This one clearly refers to homemade coconut milk. http://homecookingwell.wordpress.com/2009/05/15/science-in-the-kitchen-can-you-freeze-coconut-milk/ This shows a photo of the separation that happens when using previously frozen coconut milk. So, in summary, I think the flavor is mostly preserved but the texture is not. Maybe I've been lucky, but the coconuts I've purchased here have never been moldy. I think I will aim for two coconuts for the Mussaman, even if that gives me less cream than what the recipe calls for. I agree with you that 3 cups of cream is quite a lot. The recipe does seem a bit more involved than the other curries, but not by much. The only extra step is the deep-frying of the chicken, which is not hard or that time consuming.

You may have watched chef Dan Barber's talk about sustainable foie gras in Spain. If you haven't, here's the link: It just so happens that I will be driving by the little town where Pateria de Sousa is located: http://www.lapateria.eu/home.html I am wondering if any of you has been there before. Their website has very little information. Is it a restaurant? Or a store where they sell their foie gras and meat products?

The photos look fantastic! I need to make that pork curry! Will let you know about the holy basil. I have decided to give homemade coconut milk another try, inspired by all the tips in this post. Can leftover coconut milk be frozen? I'd like to make the "Mussaman curry of chicken, page 329", which calls for 3 cups cream and 4-5 cups milk. Should I aim to use 3 coconuts to end up with roughly 3 cups of cream? If so, I'll have lots of milk leftover. Or should I aim for 2 coconuts? That would give me close to 2 cups of cream, but I would use up all the milk and cream.

Is a Lao-style mortar and pestle worth purchasing? I'm talking about a mortar and pestle like this one: http://store.gourmetsleuth.com/lao-mortar-and-pestle-P45.aspx I've been using a Thai-style granite mortar and pestle to make the pastes/sauces for my SE Asian salads (such as som tam), and then to very gently incorporate all the ingredients of the salad together. I understand the granite mortar and pestle is not the right tool for the job, and that the clay one should be used for this purpose. I'm wondering if purchasing a clay mortar and pestle will make a visible difference in how my SE Asian salads turn out.

OK, got it about the two pressings. I've been looking for holy basil everywhere, and I can't find it in any Asian store here in Seattle... lucky you, patrickamory! When I went to the nursery to pick up the kaffir lime tree, they ensured me that they will get plenty of holy basil in a month or two. So I'm planning to pick up a couple of plants and plant them outside. But I'll have to wait... I also bought cilantro seeds, which I will plant indoors for cilantro roots, since these are also hard to find around here. Then I'm planning to freeze the roots and use as needed. Exciting!

Regarding making coconut milk: patrickamory (and others of course - feel free to chime in): Thanks for your very detailed description about making coconut milk. I do have a few questions about the coconut milk making process though: * What is the purpose of putting the coconuts in the oven? Is it to make it easier to open them? Or maybe to make it easier to remove the flesh from them? * Do you taste any trace of the brown skin in the coconut milk when you leave it on? I've always peeled mine because I'm afraid it will affect the taste, but it's such a pain to peel it... * I wonder if using boiling water and briefly squeezing the mixture would have the same effect as using warm water and squeezing the mixture many times. * What is the purpose of doing a first and second pressing? Couldn't we simply add 4 cups of water to the coconut, strain, wait for a while, and skim the coconut cream from the top when it separates? This wouldn't give us a separation between first and second pressing of coconut milk, but I haven't seen any recipe specify one or the other. * If a recipe calls, for example, for 2 cups of coconut cream and 1 cup of coconut milk, I'm wondering how many coconuts you use. Technically, 2 coconuts should be used, assuming 1 cup of cream for each coconut. That would mean that we would end up with 5 cups of coconut milk leftover, which doesn't keep well. Another approach is to use 1 coconut, and use 1 cup of cream and 2 cups of thick coconut milk.

infernooo, The dish was amazing, even without the betel leaves. But you got me intrigued now. I will have to make another trip to the Asian store to look for those, now that I know it's possible to get them outside of Thailand. Pomelos are almost out of season here, so I will have to move fast. I'm curious if you used up the whole sauce in the salad, or if you saved part of it for later.

Good tip! Thanks!

patrickamory - The "Heavenly beef, page 505" recipe says to dry the beef in the sun for a full day. I'm wondering how long you dry it in the oven to achieve the same effect.

Yesterday our dinner was "Miang of pomelo with prawns, page 484" and "Fish cakes, page 494". Miang of pomelo with prawns * Really wonderful combination of flavors. Very similar to the "Pomelo salad, page 514", my favorite dish from this book. * I was happy that I was able to find all the ingredients, including the young ginger. So I didn't have to make any substitutions. * I used spinach leaves to serve it. David Thompson says we can use bai tong lang, betel or spinach leaves. What the hell is "bai tong lang"? He doesn't describe that in the ingredients list, and a quick search on the internet reveals pretty much nothing (aside from a few links to this same recipe in other sites). Or is it just another name for betel? * I'm wondering if any of you has been able to find betel leaves outside of Thailand. * I added less than half the sauce to the salad, and still thought it was a bit too much. The recipe just says to "dress with the sauce". Am I missing something? Fish cakes * They turned out a lot better than the first time I made them, because I added only 1 tbsp of fish sauce (the recipe calls for 3). As much as I'm trying to "cook by adjusting the flavors", this is a hard one because tasting a raw fish paste is simply not very appealing. The funny thing is that even with 1 tbsp of fish sauce, they were still very salty. * I used kaffir lime leaves from my just purchased kaffir lime tree... oh boy, what a difference! I used to buy leaves at the supermarket and freeze them, and never understood the point of adding them to food. They were tought and not that flavorful. The ones from my tree are softer than spinach leaves and so flavorful. I love the smell too.

I have made my fish maw soup and it was fantastic. We decided to keep it simple and use cheap ingredients this time, in case the soup didn't turn out so good. We used tofu skins, dried lily buds, spinach and egg (all ingredients we already had at home), on a duck stock (I just happened to have a duck carcass in the freezer). The texture of the fish maw was really nice and smooth, like eating little bits of soft jello. I remember it having more of a bite in restaurants. I am planning to continue making this soup, so that I can try the chicken and crab variations described above.

Chris - let us know how those recipes turned out!

infernooo - That recipe was on the short list of "next recipes" to make from this book. With your comment, that will be the next one we make. So thank you!

OK, I really got the point about adjusting the flavors, instead of following the recipe exactly as is. I still feel like I'm lacking "intuition" in Thai cooking, but that's the key skill I need to work on to cook Thai successfully (with this book or any other book). I also very much agree with the comment about cooking things intended for "beginners".