Recipes and Reviews

The table of contents really does not due justice to the contents of this book. The desciption of a a modern Thai kitchen and fairly detailed descriptions of incredients, preparations, and cooking techniques in the first chapter were what first attracted me to the book when I started looking for a decent book on Thai cooking. (Prior to this book, my only source for Thai recipes was the Colonel Philpott postings on rec.food.recipes. And while those recipes were pretty good, I was always left wanting more since I tend to get a bit obsessive about my food.)

When you are working on putting together a nice Thai meal for your family or friends, wouldn't you like to be able to prepare all of the standard table condiments rather than opening up a bunch of jars and dumping them into bowls? And how many times have you seen recipes for Seur Rong Hai (Crying Tiger) or Maw Haw (Galloping Horse) or Namm Prikk Dum (Blackened Chile Water)? As you can probably guess from the names, the Thai love spicy food.

If you love rich tasting spicy food and your Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean cookbooks are just not doing it for you any more, then it is probably time to step up to Thai food. Just make sure that you have a large mortar and pestle because the spice pastes just do not have the right taste or texture when you try to make them in a food processor.