Larb Laab Larp

[Terrasanct]

I love larb but I never realized how easy it is to make. Made it for the first time tonight with pork. Even though I had to sub lemon for lime, and didn't have fresh mint (I used dried), it was still just right. Even my picky husband liked it a lot. I just wish I'd made more, it's all gone. I served it with baby lettuce leaves and brown rice, which worked really well.

[hjshorter]

How much do I love this thread? Let me count the ways...

Enough to look it up after not posting in months. It's summer in Washington, DC, which means larb season is upon us. My favorite is chicken, but I've been known to larb cold leftover beef, ground pork, and once I even larbed lamb.

What do you larb?

[C. sapidus]

Fourth of July pork larb with shallots, mint, scallions, cilantro, lime juice, fish sauce, jalapeno, cayenne, galangal powder, and roasted rice powder. I didn’t measure, but probably 2:1 lime to fish sauce. Juicy, savory, spicy, tart, herbal, and refreshing – I’m getting closer.

Crunchy Romaine lettuce leaves, but no rice. I was hoping for leftovers, but all disappeared.

[patrickamory]

Yummy. Bruce when you say you're getting closer, are you saying you're still not satisfied with your larb?

[C. sapidus]

Yummy. Bruce when you say you're getting closer, are you saying you're still not satisfied with your larb?

Thank you, Patrick. I like this larb very much, but next time I may try adding lemongrass, garlic, galangal, sawtooth coriander, or a little fragrant broth.

[Deephaven]

Just was linked over here by Heidih from the dinner thread.  Didn't know this thread existed.  Had to read it all.  It's my wives favorite dish.  It is also indirectly what brought me here.

I recently tested an induction range for our remodel.  I wanted to test the evenness of the large burner with a cheaper 12" saute pan and thought, perfect.  I will drop 2.5 lbs of cold burger into it, crowd the pan and see how it does.  I made a bunch of other dishes that day, but that burger was a Laab snack for us and the employees of the Wolf distributor.

 

Needless to say I found egullet by searching the net for discussions on induction friendly pans.  The copper thread managed to get me to sign up and post.

[C. sapidus]

23 minutes ago, Deephaven said:

Needless to say I found egullet by searching the net for discussions on induction friendly pans.  The copper thread managed to get me to sign up and post.

 

Now that you are here, perhaps Larb Laab Larp will keep you hanging around.

 

I posted this on the dinner thread but Heidih is right - larb should be here. Chicken larb with lemongrass, red onion, minced ginger (sub for galangal), fish sauce, lime juice, red chile powder, ground toasted rice, mint leaves, and cilantro. Put it all together and then season to taste with more lime juice, fish sauce, and red chile powder..

 

[C. sapidus]

Made beef larb so I am bumping this thread. Hmm, no one has larbed since August?

 

[Smithy]

On 10/12/2023 at 7:17 PM, C. sapidus said:

Made beef larb so I am bumping this thread. Hmm, no one has larbed since August?

 

 

Thanks for the reminder! I've eaten larb recently (I wrote about it here) and acquired a restaurant-portion recipe for that restaurant's version, but not gotten round to making it for myself lately. I must remedy that. As it happens, I have a surfeit of ground meat from a daughter-in-law's recent visit. It's labeled as beef but may be venison; I haven't looked yet. I wonder how venison larb would taste?

[KennethT]

1 minute ago, Smithy said:

 

I wonder how venison larb would taste?

I'm sure it would be just fine. The laap flavors are so strong I don't know if you could tell what type of meat it is.

 

Has anyone made Northern Thai laap rather than the Isaan version?

[Smithy]

Just now, KennethT said:

I'm sure it would be just fine. The laap flavors are so strong I don't know if you could tell what type of meat it is.

 

Has anyone made Northern Thai laap rather than the Isaan version?

 

Good point about the strong flavors. Since the other member of my household flinches at the thought of deer meat, larb seems to be indicated! 🙂

 

What's the difference between the Northern Thai version and the Isaan version? Got recipes, or proportions?

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

 

Good point about the strong flavors. Since the other member of my household flinches at the thought of deer meat, larb seems to be indicated! 🙂

 

What's the difference between the Northern Thai version and the Isaan version? Got recipes, or proportions?

Northern Thai laap is a totally different thing.  It really should have a different name, but the name laap is a designation for the use of chopped meat (or ground, but traditional is hand chopped).  According to Andy Ricker (of Pok Pok), laap is named from the sound the knife makes when hitting the cutting board full of meat while chopping it.  Anyway, the Northern Thai version has no lime juice and is, instead quite herbal - almost medicinal.  It's typically served with a whole bush of various herbs - kind of like what you see in Vietnam.  Actually, the first time I ever had the herb rau ram was in the Pok Pok in NYC (now closed) that was served alongside this laap.  I have Ricker's Pok Pok book at home which has a recipe for it but you can also find it here: https://www.austinbushphotography.com/blog/blog/pok-pok-preview-3-laap-meuang.html Some of the ingredients are hard to find, but now that a friend has brought some makhwen home from Chiang Mai, I realize that you could sub Sichuan peppercorns and get pretty close.  Also, the traditional recipe uses a LOT of offal, but you could definitely do it with plain ground venison.  It won't be the same, texture-wise, but many of those offal textures are a little off-putting to most Westerners, so omitting it might not necessarily be a bad thing.

[liuzhou]

2 hours ago, KennethT said:

Anyway, the Northern Thai version has no lime juice and is, instead quite herbal - almost medicinal.  It's typically served with a whole bush of various herbs - kind of like what you see in Vietnam.

 

The Northern Thai version came from Laos, carrried by refugees in the 60s. There is stiil a large Laotian population in the north. 

I first ate rau răm in Laos where it is usually served with the "Vietnamese" herbs including rau răm.

 

 

[C. sapidus]

3 hours ago, KennethT said:

Northern Thai laap is a totally different thing.  It really should have a different name, but the name laap is a designation for the use of chopped meat (or ground, but traditional is hand chopped).  According to Andy Ricker (of Pok Pok), laap is named from the sound the knife makes when hitting the cutting board full of meat while chopping it.  Anyway, the Northern Thai version has no lime juice and is, instead quite herbal - almost medicinal.  It's typically served with a whole bush of various herbs - kind of like what you see in Vietnam.  Actually, the first time I ever had the herb rau ram was in the Pok Pok in NYC (now closed) that was served alongside this laap.  I have Ricker's Pok Pok book at home which has a recipe for it but you can also find it here: https://www.austinbushphotography.com/blog/blog/pok-pok-preview-3-laap-meuang.html Some of the ingredients are hard to find, but now that a friend has brought some makhwen home from Chiang Mai, I realize that you could sub Sichuan peppercorns and get pretty close.  Also, the traditional recipe uses a LOT of offal, but you could definitely do it with plain ground venison.  It won't be the same, texture-wise, but many of those offal textures are a little off-putting to most Westerners, so omitting it might not necessarily be a bad thing.

 

Thanks for posting that link, for several reasons. Austin used to post here, and he was very helpful when I first started cooking Thai food. I still make his beef Panang recipe from time to time. Hmm, I should try to find that . . .

I have made what 'Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet' describes as a Shan style laab. Good stuff, but other than no souring agent rather different from the link you posted. I have not tried David Thompson's 'Chiang Mai-style larp of pork', which looks similar to the Pok Pok recipe. I might have to try that next time I have access to the ingredients and time on my hands. 😋

 

Also, I was not aware of the Pok Pok cookbooks so I will be checking them out for sure.

 

Random observation: "Pok pok" would be a better onomatopoeia than "laab" for the sound of cleaver hitting cutting board.

[KennethT]

3 hours ago, C. sapidus said:

 

Random observation: "Pok pok" would be a better onomatopoeia than "laab" for the sound of cleaver hitting cutting board.

 

Ricker actually said that "pok pok" was the sound a pestle made when making things like curry paste from scratch or som tum.

[KennethT]

3 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

The Northern Thai version came from Laos, carrried by refugees in the 60s. There is stiil a large Laotian population in the north. 

I first ate rau răm in Laos where it is usually served with the "Vietnamese" herbs including rau răm.

 

 

This makes sense.  I know almost nothing about Laotian food, or Burmese food for that matter, which I also gather is similar to northern Thai food.  One of my favorite northern Thai foods was a pork curry made without coconut milk but using dried spices - gaeng hung leh - which I gather is Burmese in origin.

[liuzhou]

4 minutes ago, KennethT said:

This makes sense.  I know almost nothing about Laotian food, or Burmese food for that matter, which I also gather is similar to northern Thai food.  One of my favorite northern Thai foods was a pork curry made without coconut milk but using dried spices - gaeng hung leh - which I gather is Burmese in origin.

 

Yes, Burmese food is a wonderful mix of S.E. Asian and Chinese influences alongside many Indian and partly colonial influences from the UK. Me likes a lot.

 

Laotian food is similar in many ways to Vietnam and Cambodia, but with its own quirks and inventions. It is widely accepted that larb originated there. Also, they eat a LOT of fish, often smoked and their equivalent of fish sauce is padek, which is very different from Vietnam's or Thai, in that it contains lumps of the fermented fish and can make a meal just served over rice.

 

[C. sapidus]

 

Made chicken larb tonight, from David Thompson's recipe in Thai Food. Instead of ground chicken I hacked up boneless chicken thighs with a cleaver. Kinda fun and I did prefer the texture, but the lab safety guy in me keeps picturing salmonella-laden aerosols. 🙄

 

 

[heidih]

1 hour ago, C. sapidus said:

Made chicken larb tonight, from David Thompson's recipe in Thai Food. Instead of ground chicken I hacked up boneless chicken thighs with a cleaver. Kinda fun and I did prefer the texture, but the lab safety guy in me keeps picturing salmonella-laden aerosols. 🙄

 

 

Sure the hacked chick was more enjoyable. The food safety fear was spray from hacking vigourasly?

Edited November 1, 2023 by heidih (log)

[C. sapidus]

26 minutes ago, heidih said:

Sure the hacked chick was more enjoyable. The food safety fear was spray from hacking vigourasly?

 

Yes, but I would prefer "recognition of risk" rather than "fear".

 

I worked with a guy who was an expert on aerosol generation and laboratory-acquired infections. Short version: adding energy to something germy will spread germs around.

 

So I wiped everything down carefully afterwards. 🙂

[Smithy]

I made my first attempt at larb last night, using a recipe given me by a restaurant in Duluth. Of course their proportions are huge (10 pounds each of pork and beef, with seasonings to match), and it's a bit of a challenge to cut the proportions down, but I couldn't figure out quite why they seemed so "flat" tasting. This morning I realized I'd forgottento include the fresh ginger! When I get something satisfactory I'll post more about it here. 

[KennethT]

11 minutes ago, Smithy said:

I made my first attempt at larb last night, using a recipe given me by a restaurant in Duluth. Of course their proportions are huge (10 pounds each of pork and beef, with seasonings to match), and it's a bit of a challenge to cut the proportions down, but I couldn't figure out quite why they seemed so "flat" tasting. This morning I realized I'd forgottento include the fresh ginger! When I get something satisfactory I'll post more about it here. 

I've never seen a laap recipe that used ginger.  Is this an Isaan laap or a Northern Thai laap?

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

I've never seen a laap recipe that used ginger.  Is this an Isaan laap or a Northern Thai laap?

 

Sorry, this is a northern Minnesota laap. Who knows where / how the restaurant got its idea? The recipe is actually labeled as their pork burger, but when I asked them for their larp recipe this is what I got. I had some at a wedding buffet, along with all sorts of delightful trimmings (for which I also got recipes): pickled red onion, coconut lime rice, (Thai) curry sauce, pickled chilies, kimchi, and soy aioli.

 

Edited to add: I just checked with the restaurant and they confirmed that the recipe they gave me is what they call larb. I note that @C. sapidus mentioned using ginger as a substitute for galangal here. Galangal isn't as easy to source as ginger where I live, and that may be the reason that the Duluth Grill uses ginger.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Smithy
Updated the post (log)

[KennethT]

34 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

Sorry, this is a northern Minnesota laap. Who knows where / how the restaurant got its idea? The recipe is actually labeled as their pork burger, but when I asked them for their larp recipe this is what I got. I had some at a wedding buffet, along with all sorts of delightful trimmings (for which I also got recipes): pickled red onion, coconut lime rice, (Thai) curry sauce, pickled chilies, kimchi, and soy aioli.

 

Edited to add: I just checked with the restaurant and they confirmed that the recipe they gave me is what they call larb. I note that @C. sapidus mentioned using ginger as a substitute for galangal here. Galangal isn't as easy to source as ginger where I live, and that may be the reason that the Duluth Grill uses ginger.

Hmmm..... I've never seen galangal used in laap before either... at least not the Isaan version (the one with the lime juice).  The northern Thai laap is totally a horse of a different color and it's really uncommon outside of Northern Thailand. 

 

In general, I find this to be a pretty good representation of an Isaan laap: https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/laab-moo/

 

Also, just for clarity, my laughing emoji was for the N. Minnesota laap line... I wasn't laughing at anything else.

[Smithy]

35 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Also, just for clarity, my laughing emoji was for the N. Minnesota laap line... I wasn't laughing at anything else.

 

I was hoping to get a laugh out of that! But thanks for the clarification. 🙂