Cooking with "Hot Sour Salty Sweet"

[BadRabbit]

I can't believe that this is not already a topic but the search didn't turn one up.

I know I'm a little (ok, a lot) late to the party on this book but I just bought it and wanted to hear some of your experiences cooking with it.

I was thinking about starting with the Lao Hot and Sour soup with Fish tonight.

[Chris Amirault]

Happy to chime in whenever I can; when I get home tonight I'll snoop through my (very stained) copy. One thing I can recommend from memory: the pomelo salad, a terrific introduction to the book's simple approach to complex flavor combinations. If you can get your hands on a couple of pomelos (or some good tart white, not sweet red, grapefruit), go for it.

[MikeHartnett]

I never really got into this one because I got distracted by the authors' other books, and then by Thompson's Thai Food. Chris Amirault, what does this book have to offer over Thai Food?

[Chris Amirault]

Well, besides focus (TF is about Thai food whereas HSSS explores southeast Asia broadly defined), I'd say that HSSS is the bunny slope whereas TF is the Olympic downhill. As with most Duguid & Alford books, you can usually toss together meals in HSSS pretty quickly, and, given their introductions, I think "toss together" is very much their personal cooking style. Thompson's obsessive TF attempts to be a research-based encyclopedic compendium with restaurant-complex recipes. (And imo succeeds: it's probably my favorite cookbook of all time.) Very little "tossing together" there.

[mkayahara]

Well, besides focus (TF is about Thai food whereas HSSS explores southeast Asia broadly defined)

Does that include Thailand, though? I've been wanting to break into Thai cuisine a bit, and bought Thompson to that end, but found him too intimidating, so Thai Food has basically sat on my shelf unused for almost a year. Something to bridge my current skill level with Thai cooking and Thompson's book would be useful to me.

[BadRabbit]

Well, besides focus (TF is about Thai food whereas HSSS explores southeast Asia broadly defined)

Does that include Thailand, though? I've been wanting to break into Thai cuisine a bit, and bought Thompson to that end, but found him too intimidating, so Thai Food has basically sat on my shelf unused for almost a year. Something to bridge my current skill level with Thai cooking and Thompson's book would be useful to me.

It definitely includes Thailand. I've just briefly scanned the book at this point but there were multiple Thai recipes like Chiang Mai Curry and Khao Neeo Mamuang.

[Chris Amirault]

Matt, I think HSSS is precisely the book you should check out.

[BadRabbit]

I tried the red curry paste recipe this weekend and the chicken curry that it goes in and was not all that impressed. I really think that the typical paste I can buy at any grocery store is more well rounded and tasty.

All the fresh ingredients were of excellent quality so I'm guessing the shrimp paste was the issue (unless the recipe is just not good). The Asian food store I went to only had one type of shrimp paste and the description sounded like what the book described. The side of the jar said 77% fermented shrimp, salt. It was kind of grey which is also how the book described it but the Thai words were different than what was listed in the book.

Any suggestions on a brand of shrimp paste I can order online?

Edited April 24, 2012 by BadRabbit (log)

[mkayahara]

I picked up Hot Sour Salty Sweet from the public library several weeks ago, but I've been travelling a fair bit in the last few weeks, so I didn't get around to trying anything out of it until this weekend. Thank goodness for renewals!

Anyway, yesterday I made the pomelo salad and the khao soi. I didn't make the red curry paste for the khao soi; although I can get pea eggplants here, I'm having trouble finding dried Thai chillis, and coriander root is, of course, only spottily available. (Let's not even talk about makrut limes.) So I used Mae Ploy, which is a change from our usual brand, and I'm looking forward to comparing it in some of our usual red curry dishes. I really enjoyed the khao soi, but it's hard not to enjoy something with that much coconut milk in it and fried noodles on top!

I don't think I've ever worked with pomelo before, and it had easily the oiliest skin of any citrus fruit I've ever peeled. My hands were covered, and there were clouds of the stuff making me sneeze. (Too bad the oil isn't more aromatic and less bitter, or it'd make a great cocktail garnish.) For interest's sake, I started from a whole coconut for the dry-roasted coconut garnish, which was probably overkill for 2 tablespoons, especially when I couldn't really taste it in the final dish. I liked the salad; it was a nice fresh counterpart to the richness of the khao soi, but I found the dressing too salty for my taste. Easily fixed.

Next I want to make the spicy grilled beef salad, and one of the laab recipes... plus the red curry paste, if I can get all the ingredients before the book has to go back to the library. This is why I usually prefer to buy my cookbooks!

[JTravel]

When we toured Thailand a few years ago it seemed like we had pomelo for every meal. Not my favorite, but in that climate it is very

refreshing.

I do own that book and I'll have to get it out and follow along. I think I did the spicy grilled beef recipe, but it's been a long time. Time to fire up the grill.

[Jason Perlow]

Over the years we have collected a great deal of cookbooks due to publishers sending us sample copies but many we have given away. When we were cleaning out the house and packing things up for our upcoming move to Florida, my wife discarded at least 100 cookbooks, this is one of the few that she decided to keep.

The copy that we have is dogeared and has scribbled notes in it. that should tell you something.

[mkayahara]

So I'm thinking of making the sticky rice tomorrow to go with the grilled beef salad (since my new Weber grill arrives tomorrow), but I have a question for those of you who have cooked such things before: when soaking the rice overnight, do you do so in the fridge, or at room temperature?

[Wholemeal Crank]

Room temp.

[mkayahara]

Room temp.

Thanks! I didn't get this reply until yesterday morning, and had put the rice in the fridge overnight. So I took it out first thing yesterday morning, and left it at room temp over the course of the day.

Last night, having received delivery of my new Weber grill and checked all the gas fittings for leaks, I made the grilled beef salad. I used tri-tip instead of the recommended sirloin, which may have accounted for some of the chewiness. (Or maybe that was my cooking.) I served it with Bibb lettuce, cucumber and blanched garlic scapes. I really loved the way the black pepper played with the rest of the ingredients in this.

I also served steamed sticky rice alongside, which I cooked in a Chinese bamboo steamer. It was OK, but not great. I'm not sure what was lacking... variety of rice? Cooking method? Cooking time? It just seemed a little bland to me. If I do it again (which I probably will at some point), I think I'll steam it for a bit longer.

[patrickamory]

All the fresh ingredients were of excellent quality so I'm guessing the shrimp paste was the issue (unless the recipe is just not good). The Asian food store I went to only had one type of shrimp paste and the description sounded like what the book described. The side of the jar said 77% fermented shrimp, salt. It was kind of grey which is also how the book described it but the Thai words were different than what was listed in the book.

Any suggestions on a brand of shrimp paste I can order online?

In general for Thai brands and ingredients I recommend checking out Kasma Loha-unchit's site - her recommendations are really spot-on, and have greatly improved my Thai cooking:

http://thaifoodandtravel.com/brands.html

http://thaifoodandtravel.com/ingredients.html

The shrimp paste she recommends has a green dancing shrimp on the plastic jar. The name is not translated from Thai script. I'm not sure whether you can order it online, but have a look around.

On a related note: from an old eGullet cook-off or tutorial, there's a note to always roast Thai shrimp paste for 5 minutes in a preheated 450F oven in loosely wrapped tinfoil. I always do this now, and it never fails to improve it - it's rounder, warmer, nuttier.

[Anna N]

Seeing and reading about the Matthew's dishes from Hot Sour Salty Sweet I borrowed a copy and have been dabbling in it over the last few days.

Vietnamese Chicken Salad.

Thai Fried Rice.

Simple Red Curry.

[patrickamory]

Wow. Those dishes look amazing.

I have this book in my to-sell pile (I found it too basic for Thai after Su-mei Yoo and David Thompson), but maybe I'll pull it back out and try some stuff.

[mkayahara]

Wow. Those dishes look amazing.

I have this book in my to-sell pile (I found it too basic for Thai after Su-mei Yoo and David Thompson), but maybe I'll pull it back out and try some stuff.

Agreed! I've been thinking about doing the Thai fried rice from the book, and I think it just moved up the priority list.

And patrickamory, if you end up deciding to sell it after all, I'd be happy to take it off your hands.

[Anna N]

Quick Khmer Pork with Green Beans.

Simple dish with few ingredients but it delivers on the taste - will definitely be making again.

[JTravel]

In Asian markets you can buy little individual sticky rice steaming baskets....which I then put in the bamboo steamer. It was served that way in N. Thailand.

We traveled to Thailand on one of Kasma's trips...I think her recommendations are right on. For regular rice I use her method that I found here on eG....Rinse, soak and put in a bowl on a rack. Perfect. Lots of info on her site.

NOW back to the book in discussion.

[mkayahara]

I lucked out on the weekend and found some coriander with fully intact roots at the farmers' market, so I'm looking at making a curry paste this week. I'm debating between the jungle curry (I'm pretty sure I can get krachai, based on the photos I've been looking at online) or the basic red curry.

[patrickamory]

mkayahara, you can sub regular ginger for krachai if you need to. Or young ginger.

[mkayahara]

Thanks, patrickamory, good to know. I saw several different rhizome vegetables at a local Asian market recently, and I think they were ginger, galangal, krachai and turmeric. I'll ask next time I'm there.

[Anna N]

Yesterday Kerry and I went in search of Thai ingredients and though we hit two large Asian stores near the Pacific Mall in Markham, Thai seemed to be the one cuisine not covered! However I was not to be outdone in my wish to make the Laotian Chicken Curry with Potatoes. A couple of dried Mexican chillies, supported by a couple of fresh Thai chillies had to stand in for the called-for dried Thai chillies. It seemed a bit odd to me to serve potatoes over rice but I am learning to surrender when it is an unfamiliar cuisine. The results told me that this was a good strategy. There are lots of leftovers even though I halved the recipe.

[Anna N]

First dud and it's not the recipe but operator error. I am a confirmed "wok wuss". Getting a wok screaming hot is something I will have to work up to. I don't think I soaked the noodles long enough and when I tried to stir-fry them, they clumped. They were a bit too chewy although they did improve as the gravy continued to soak into them. And I forgot to make the chile-vinegar condiment. Will have to flex my wok muscles and try this one again. The recipe calls for a generous grind of pepper to finish off and since I love pepper, I perhaps went a bit overboard!