Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

"Thai Cooking" by David Thompson


awbrig

Recommended Posts

He's an Aussie, I know that. Maybe you should hunt down some of the people who hang out on the Down Under forums and get them to check this thread.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awbrig, try searching on Nahm (his London restaurant). He was brought over from Sydney to open in the space left at the upscale boutique Halking hotel when Stefano Cavallini's restaurant there closed. My understanding is that he has collected family-heirloom handwritten recipes all over Thailand (the traditional way they are disseminated over there) and is the only non-Thai to have cooked for their royal family.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

the book has the most brilliant and purest recipe for larb that i've ever seen. i bring this book to bed with me and tuck it under my pillow. it comforts me and makes me feel safe, and loved.

other discussions of this book are throughout egullet. you can probably search on the author's name to come up with more praise, and, a picture of awbrig's boy. :blink:

glad your thai beef salad came out good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Adam, I like pounding too!

Or I use a stick blender (as suggested by Basildog) for better control than you get with a blender or processor.

Edited by Jinmyo (log)

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mortar. Pestle. Pounding.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is inducing Larb Jones. Must go get Larb for lunch... firesmile.gif

=Mark

Give a man a fish, he eats for a Day.

Teach a man to fish, he eats for Life.

Teach a man to sell fish, he eats Steak

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John Thorne reviews in the book in the current issue of Saveur. He says about what I said: it's a great read, totally uncompromising on ingredients and techniques, and therefore really hard to cook from. What he doesn't mention is that physically, it's a piece of junk: bad design, bad construction, bad photos. I still think everyone who's serious about Thai food has to own this book, but I can't get as excited about it as other people.

Matthew Amster-Burton, aka "mamster"

Author, Hungry Monkey, coming in May

Link to comment
Share on other sites

mamster's right about the quality of the book. my binding was broke the day it arrived.

i haven't cooked much from it ('cept for the perfect larb), but i've reviewed many of the recipes and they didn't jump out as something that would pose any sort problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's a review in Art of Eating #63.

No doubt, there are more approachable Thai cookbooks, but none has the breadth of this one. bla bla bla. This book is an inspiring challenge to cooks, and it will be a touchstone for coming generations interested in genuine Thai food.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Adam, I like pounding too!

Or I use a stick blender (as suggested by Basildog) for better control than you get with a blender or processor.

Nah, stick introduces to much air. Just blend the sloppy stuff (shallots) or annoying stuff (kaffir lime leave) and add to the pestal ground stuff. Blending lemon grass or gingeroid stuff is a no-no (fibre issues), unless you cut it up real small, in which cse you might as well pound. I want a bigger mortar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's right.

And I think that the blender rubs the oils the wrong way but I can't prove it.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John Thorne reviews in the book in the current issue of Saveur.  He says about what I said:  it's a great read, totally uncompromising on ingredients and techniques, and therefore really hard to cook from.  What he doesn't mention is that physically, it's a piece of junk:  bad design, bad construction, bad photos.  I still think everyone who's serious about Thai food has to own this book, but I can't get as excited about it as other people.

I have been given three copies, two Australian printings, one UK and all have been fine in phyisical quality. Could be a USA specific problem? Certainly, USA paper backs fall apart very easily.

As to cooking from the book, I haven't seen any real issues with it. I live in Edinburgh, which produce wise is terrible, but I can get all the ingredients, except yabbies and murray cod, which are Australian specific, and long coriander, which is I know not what. I know that you had problems getting fresh green peppercorns, but I assume that other ingredients should be OK?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey, I'm a little surprised by the assessment of the US copy, too. My book is gorgeous, with a heavily stitched binding and lush pics. Sometimes I just like to take it down from the shelf and pet it.

As for ingredients, after my brief phase of not knowing where to find things I've now located just about everthing I've needed. I do agree with mamster on the technique front, though - Thompson is absolutely uncompromising. Sometimes I follow his instructions to the letter, and sometimes I cheat a little. But overall, I have learned to love to pound.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...