On My Bookshelf - The Food of Thailand

May 25th, 2008

The Food of Thailand is a great introduction to the world of modern Thai cuisine. Loaded with an impressive variety of recipes from several areas of the country, this offering is well written and beautifully presented. The recipes are organised by type (snacks and street food, soups, salads, fish and shellfish, meat and game, curries, stirfrys, noodles and rice, vegetables, desserts) and accompanied by stunningly gorgeous images. Ingredients, equipment and cooking techniques are also well photographed and the instructions and descriptions are clear and concise. To complement the fabulous fare, the writers and photographer guide the reader through a visual journey of many of the country’s provinces, its culture, and its culinary history.

My initial exposure to a wide variety of foods, herbs and spices began when I was a teen working in professional kitchens and has increased exponentially since then. Being an “international eater,” a title bestowed upon me by my friend, Jen Chen, my interest in foods from around the world seems inexhaustible and this latest addition to my culinary library has me crazy with inspiration.

Thai cuisine, particularly its soups and curries, happens to be … you guessed it, one of my favourite things (as it happens, Thailand is one of the countries I deal with on a daily basis in my work as an accountant for an international company). Actually, I am quite fond of other Asian/Pacific foods, too, but there’s something about a good Thai curry that makes my taste buds go wild. Perhaps it’s the way Thai cooks work what I like to call “magic” with ingredients and flavourings that are mostly considered unusual here in America.

Quite a few people I know happen to like Thai food a lot, but most have no idea what it takes to create the exotic tastes that their palates so happily welcome. Many of the ingredients that are basic to great Thai cuisine are items that the typical home cook has either never heard of or has had minimal exposure to, such as lemon grass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, Chinese broccoli, Thai basil, shrimp paste, red curry paste, shiitke mushrooms, and the list goes on. And it’s not just the ingredients themselves, but also the many ways they are combined and the techniques used in preparing the dishes that make them uniquely Thai.

I’ve already selected and shopped for a couple of recipes that I plan to try this weekend; a shrimp curry (uses galangal and red chilies), a hot and sour seafood soup and a veggie stir-fry with pork (calls for Chinese broccoli). Unfortunately, I ran out of time so I didn’t get shots of all of the other ingredients, but hopefully I’ll have time shoot them along with the recipe results images for my next post. Perhaps I’ll have time to provide some ingredient details then as well, but for now, it’s time to get cookin’. I’m out.

Filed under: Cookbooks, Herbs & Spices