5 comments about Tommy Tang's Modern Thai Cuisine.

1. Reading this cookbook one has to wonder, is this about food, or is this about Tommy? I've eaten for several years at his restaurant (far better 10 years ago than now) and honestly, the recipes in the book are less than reproducible. There is a recipe for Tiger Roll-about as Thai as Pizza. The pictures are good, but the Tommy's tenor of 'Ain't I great and witty?' makes me gag. Sorry...give me a good recipe for a good Lemon Grass soup and you've got a devotee. I pour over Pad Thai recipes, this one just doesn't cut it. I'll eat at the restaurant (especially on Drag Night) but I won't cook from the book.



2. As a person who never cooks,after eating at Tommy Tangs restaurants in Pasadena and Hollywood,I had to rush out and buy the cookbook.WOW!!!!!!What a book!!!!!!I found the recipes to be well written and easy to follow,and the pictures were absolutely mouthwatering,like the dishes at the restaurant.Since then, I have eaten at many Thai restaurants and purchased Thai cookbooks and have yet to find one that is remotely close in quality to Tommy Tangs.The cookbook is absolutely the bible of Thai cooking and a must for any kitchen.



3. This is a book full of tremendous recipes, from classic Thai curries to superb innovative takes on dishes such as mee krob. An excellent introduction to Thai cuisine for anyone interested in cooking or eating! Although Tommy gets creative at times, this should not be confused with the Asian fusion approach which is so fashionable in 1999 --it is truly Thai cuisine. Buy this book if you can find it! Your taste buds will thank you.



4. I have prepared many of the recipes in this cookbook. It is my Thai cuisine bible and I have never prepared anything but something ( or many things)that were not rated superb by everyone at my dinner table. Tang's recipe for tom kha kai is amazing, though I cut the coconut milk ,two thirds coconut milk and one third water. I have not found a light coconut milk that is worth using. His pad thai recipe is difficult but good if done correctly and I made the Salmon with Kaffir Lime Sauce last week and it was amazing! I have other Thai and Southeast Asian cookbooks, but none compare to Tommy Tang's. I have gone to his restaurants in LA and Pasadena, and they have both been great.



5. I have tried quite a few recipes in this book, and have to say that this cookbook is one of my all-time favorites. Every single recipe is delicious. Don't worry that you can't find Tommy Tang's Thai Seasoning in the local asian markets; he lists the ingredients in the glossary, so you can approximate your own version... garlic, black & white ground pepper, chili powder and cayenne. The recipes are rich, flavorful, clearly written, original and well-rounded, except for dessert. When you love savory and spicy foods as much as I do, who cares about dessert anyway?!
   
   We don't eat Pad Thai in restaurants anymore, because after we tried Tommy Tang's version in our kitchen, nothing else comes close to being so fresh and wonderful. My coconut curry favorite is the Green Curry Salmon... what a treat! Another can't miss authentic dish is the Green Papaya salad. But there is much more, and I'm sure I will eventually make every dish in this cookbook.

No comments about Complete Book of Thai Cooking.

1 comments about Vatch's Thai Kitchen: Thai Dishes to Cook at Home.

1. `Vatch's Thai Kitchen' by chef Vatcharin Bhumichitr is a relatively inexpensive (cover price $24.95) collection of recipes and adaptations of recipes he prepares in his various restaurants in London and Miami. My first impression is that this is a book on the fast track to the budget tables at Borders and Barnes and Noble, as it is in an oversized format with big pictures and a less than big name publisher. But one can be wrong about these things, so I press on.
   
   If a book is very good (at least five stars) or very bad (three stars or less), you can tell it after reading a page or two. I cannot tell after a few pages whether this book is very good or very bad, so there is a good chance that you can also reliably assign four stars after just two or three pages, but I will go further, because it is easy for a four star book to still have strong appeal to a special audience.
   
   There are at least two special audiences that can do better than this book. The first is easily those who want a taste of real Thai cooking from an authoritative source. As luck would have it, there is an excellent, authoritative book in English on Thai cooking, the book `Thai Food' by David Thompson', published by Ten Speed Press. While this book lists for $40, it has 670 pages compared to the thin 144 pages from chef Vatch. Thompson's book has been criticized for being pretty parochial for requiring a lot of hard to find Thai ingredients.
   
   Bhumichitr's book promises to give recipes one can make with ingredients available at your local supermarket. Well, I think not. He has several recipes that make use of ingredients I tend to have a hard time finding even at my local megamart. Lemongrass is becoming pretty common these days, but I still cannot find Kafir lime leaves on a regular basis, and I have never found fresh galangal, even in New York City in Chinatown, Dean and Delucca, or Zabars. The best I did was a tin of dried galangal. So, if you are going to the trouble of ordering ingredients through the Internet, why not simply get Thompson's authoritative book to begin with.
   
   I also found more than one case where the basic style of Thai food as described by Thompson is violated by Bhumichitr's dishes. Thompson says Thai salads are simple affairs with little added to distract from the featured ingredient. Bhumichitr's salads seem to have everything but the kitchen sink.
   
   I have other difficulties with this book. While I am usually willing to forgive a few minor errors in recipe writing, they usually mean that a book containing such lapses in editing are not suitable for beginning cooks, since an experienced cook will easily think through the lapses. In this book, I think the prep instructions are not very carefully checked, as there are several times when I believe the intention was to peal vegetables, yet there is no mention of this step. I am also not thrilled about the author's stating that deep-frying can be done with equal ease with either a wok or a deep fryer.
   
   The introductory section on ingredients looks good, but I think it is only fair at best. There are several Asian ingredients used in the recipes that are not covered in the chapter on ingredients. I also question some of the statements in this section, as when the author says that galangal was `immensely popular' in late Medieval Europe. I checked my medieval cookbooks and found it mentioned in only one out of three books, and only in a minor role in a few less common recipes. There was no mention of it in my Renaissance cookbook. Much of the effort going into this section is wasted, as there are pictures of some of the ingredients, but nothing to connect those pictures to the text. Tsk, tsk.
   
   So this book is certainly of little value for people interested in authentic Thai cuisine or to people interested in easy Thai cooking. One audience that may find value here is experienced Thai cooks who want to add interesting entertaining recipes to their arsenal. Many of the recipes are easy, with very fancy, elaborate looking results. For that purpose, almost every recipe is accompanied by a better than average photograph of the dish. This is not something you will get from `Thai Food', so, if this is your cup of tea, then this book will help you.
   
   While I have not reviewed it, if you are interested in Thai cooking and find Thompson's book a bit dry, try Alford and Duguid's book `Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet'.

5 comments about Thai Vegetarian Cooking.

1. For people who long for a taste of true Thai cuisine, this cookbook offers recipes for many well- and little-known authentic Thai dishes. For example, my mother used to make the "White Radish Cake with Beansprouts" for me when I was growing up, but I've never seen it on any menu in the States. Now I can make it myself!

   A few of my friends have bought this cookbook, and without exception, each one loves it. A couple of my favorites are the hot and sour vermicelli salad and chickpea curry.

   These recipes are the genuine thing and even if you're not a vegetarian, you will enjoy the recipes. If you are a vegetarian, you will be delighted with the variety of tastes and textures to discover.




2. This is one of the best cookbooks I know of. And it's also one of the healthiest - there's no dairy in it. It's a shame the book's out of print because the recipes are simple and delicious. Worth tracking down a copy.



3. One of the most authentic thai cookbooks I've used. English and Thai names of the recipes are included as well as great pictures that inspire. Lots of tasty curries which I love (have only tried a couple so far but all have been tasy). Ingedients are all things we can find in the store or easily online for something like kaffir lime leaves. Highly recommend this one.



4. I wish I had found this book a long time ago. It would have saved me much $$. This book has all the classic Thai recipes you would want (and for some reason many Thai cookbooks aren't all inclusive) - Pad Thai, Pad Si Ew, Mee Krob, Laad Nah, Curry Pastes, etc., etc. And, judging from past experience and other books I've read, the recipes look genuine, practical, and delicious. I'm vegetarian; however, you could easily add meat into these dishes if you'd like. If you only looking to get one Thai cookbook this is it.



5. I tried 4 recipes from this cookbook today and there wasn't one that I didn't want to eat straight from the pan! They were flavorful and delicious. I've always enjoyed resturaunt Thai primarily because i'm nuts about basil but I wanted to expand my repitoire. As explained in the book these aren't dishes with the meat left out, these are recipes that were created from scratch without meat even being a consideration. The ingrediants are easy to find (with the exception of Bitter gourd I NEVER can find that) with enough variety that you won't become bored. I was also pleasantly suprised that the dishes I tried weren't volcanically hot. They were pleasantly spicy much on par with Indian food but won't upset your stomach. I highly recommend this book.

No comments about Thai and South-East Asian Cookbook, the Ultimate: All the traditions, ingredients and techniques, with over 300 spicy and aromatic recipes illustrated step-by-step.

3 comments about Healthy Thai Cooking.

1. This book has delicous recipes which are easy to follow (with color pictures of most dishes). The dishes taste like delicous restaurant-grade food and are healthy and easy to prepare.



2. I am Balinese, have a restaurant and love food. I especially love Thai food.

   The recipes in this book are excellent and have obviously all been tested by the author. Follow them and you will not be disappointed.

   The presentation is clear at all times and the photographs are superb.

   Partcularly helpful are a couple of pages on which wines best accompany Thai food - and they are not those that you would immediately think of. The explanations are interesting and illuminating.

   I would recommend this book to restaurant owners, as well as people cooking at home for a few friends.




3. very tasty. quite healthy. many recipes are quick and easy, too. some ingredients are a little tough to get, but easily substituted. gorgeous pictures.

5 comments about It Rains Fishes: Legends, Traditions and the Joys of Thai Cooking.

1. "It Rains Fishes" is a wonderful example of a cookbook that relates a nation's cuisine in terms of the culture that creates it. The book is as much a testament to the author's love of Thailand as it is a presentation of Thai recipes. You can enjoy reading it even if you never cook a single dish. But if you do choose to take it into the kitchen, you will find the recipes straightforward and obviously refined by many years of implementation by students. Perhaps the most valuable lesson is the author's description of how Thai dishes are put together, less by recipe than by balancing the five dimensions of taste (sweet, salt, bitter, sour, hot). One cannot recreate Thai dishes with a quarter teaspoon of this and an ounce of that. It must be done in the moment by taste. That very philosophy, along with the use of fresh local ingredients, underlies much of New American cooking. The book's downfall, then, is obvious -- the availability of ingredients local to Thailand. If you live in an area with a good collection of Asian markets, you might have some luck. But if you rely on the "Asian" section of your local supermarket, you won't. It's pretty much that simple.



2. First and foremost the book presents a series of recipes, easy to follow and in every instance a delight to prepare and to serve. The preparation of the ingredients, their traditional uses, and helpful information about potential combinations provide the reader with a banquet of information about the preparation of food in the traditional Thai style. Moreover, the book contains helpful suggestions on preparation techniques, for locating and purchasing ingredients, and for ultimate presentation of the dish. Loha-Unchit clearly strives to prepare the reader for the Thai cooking experience: providing basic instruction for those just beginning and important details to more experienced Thai cooks.

   The book also is visually beautiful. Numerous line drawings and beautiful images (apparently watercolors) provide the reader with beautiful images ranging from market scenes in Bangkok to illustrations of people working in the countryside. I found myself going back to the pictures and imagining myself observing the scenes they depicted.

   Finally, this book is a feast for the mind. Loha-unchit provides the reader with a history of the foods, their origins, and their place within the Thai cuisine. Loha-unchit guides us through a process that enables us to obtain and employ ingredients to produce authentic and traditional Thai cuisine with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of results. For example, although the book contains recipes for making your own curries from scratch it also provides suggestions for commercially available curries that provide the flavors closest to Thai home-made.

   This is not a cookbook for those who think you can label a dish Thai by adding a few peanuts and a bit of lemon grass. It is a book that provides the reader with a taste of the sensibility of Thai cuisine and Thai culture, a journey for both the mind and the palate.

   Experienced cooks will benefit from the insights Loha-unchit offers; inexperienced cooks will find their skills grow through use of the book. All will delight in the flavors, both visual and gustatory, that "It rains fishes" provides.




3. The prose in this book is so charming, and so well written. Kasma's stories of her youth sometimes almost brought a tear to my eye!

   More cookbooks should contain the cultural essays and autobiographical information that Kasma uses to explain why she loves the recipes shes shares with the reader.

   Enchanting!




4. The author of this cookbook goes out of her way to present not only traditional recipes, but enough knowledge and technique to help you achieve traditional taste. This is no mere recipe book, it's more of a guide to Thai cooking.

   From the very start, Loha-Unchit explains everything about the essential components of Thai cuisine and exactly what they do to each dish. Interspersed amongst her recipes are stories related to the dishes that may seem sappy to some, but generally help explain what the cook is trying to achieve with each recipe.
   
   This book will definitely challenge and enhance your cooking skills. After preparing a few of the selections she presents, you won't just know how to whip up several dishes by rote- you'll have a very good understanding of the essentials of Thai cooking.




5. This book is excellent for beginners (like me). It gives so much details about cooking techniques that it can get you started real quick and yet keep you going back to the book for little nuances and finer touches that could keep you recreating your favourite dish in yet another wonderfully different way. Kasma's love for her culture, her deep understanding of Thai cuisine and her intuitive knowledge of what a reader wants makes this book a must have for anyone venturing into Thai cuisine. As for me, the very first curry paste that Kasma's words walked me through paid for the cost of the book. Everything else I got out of the book is a sheer bonus of a pleasure. By the way, thanks to Amazon.com for helping me discover this book...!

5 comments about Cracking the Coconut: Classic Thai Home Cooking.

1. I had some hesitation in purchasing this book because the name didn't seem very thai, (half thai myself and was raised on the "real deal" as well as have been in several towns in thailand for months at a time pre-cooking years, I didn't want an americanized version of thai food) but then I had seen you on the show Cooking Live where your methods were in the same manner my mother cooks, but more of an easier measuring manner as opposed to trying to write down her recipes by watching her and her "eyeing" measurements! I just have to know the measurements before trying to alter it!

   I love this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who would want to learn the basics in traditional and not americanized thai cooking, and also who is not wanting to take the lazy way out as that other reviewer was referring. The book is to show you how to make it from scratch, and not looking for a review of canned goods or just out of the can. If all of the ingredients were exactly the same and just in a can, why would a cookbook even be needed?

   I don't know of many grocery stores, let alone asian markets, ESPECIALLY in California that wouldn't have fish sauce! I've lived in 4 different parts of the country since leaving home, and haven't ever had any problem in finding the majority of the ingredients shown in this book. From Indianapolis, to Phoenix, to Las Vegas and now a very small town in Michigan, they have their own asian section in the local grocery stores!

   Also, such as the other reviewer criticized Pad thai, each creation varies in the preparation per cook as it would in any family, just as I'm sure everyone has a different way to prepare something as simple as meatloaf. I love this book and its a good substitution for moms cooking, but yes every time I'm at home, I do put in my orders for my moms home cooking, just as any other person would with a great cooking mom! Khap Kuhn Ka Su-Mei!




2. This is the best book on Thai cooking I have come across. I beleive it would be the only book I would like to be a castaway with. I have a great collection of cook books , including all the classics but this is rapidly becoming my favorite. The recipies work, the text is personal and friendly, and the illustrations marvelous. The Thai names for the recipies are funny and authentic but not found in other books. This adds to the fun of cooking the food.
   I have just returned from Koh Samui where I had Thai cooking classes and these recipies are right in line with what I learned. The American sustitutions are helpful for cooking here but the book tells how to be authentic too. Actually I have found most of the strange ingredients fresh here in good old Texas.
   I hope to visit the author's restaurant someday. A truely wonderful book. Buy it now.



3. Su-Mei Yu's book is tasty and yet informative. Not knowing a lot about Thai culture, I found the chapters breaking down the origins of the food to be most interesting. In one instance she gives a synopsis of how important the coconut is to the Thais but also explains how to prepare the coconut so you will be able to prepare the food authentic Thai-style. The instructions on how to prepare the food are very concise and simple.

   Most of the recipes are from scratch, which means if you have limited time, it is not the cookbook for you (on avg it takes me 2 hrs to create one dish including the chopping/pounding of the curries and cooking time). All the curries/chile waters/pad thai involve many ingredients, so unless you have a strong interest in Asian cooking, it might not be worthwhile to purchase the book for one recipe. For example, she talks about creating tamarind juice from soaking tamarind pulp in water and advises against short-cuts such as pre-processed tamarind juice. Unless you have other recipes you want to use this ingredient for, its going to sit in your cupboard. I also found that the recipes call for a huge amount of spicy chiles, so cut down on it if you can't handle the heat.

   Also, there are a minimal amount of pictures in the book, if you don't have any idea what certain ingredients look like or haven't had exposure to Thai food, you might have a hard time figuring out what the dishes are supposed to look like. Pictures of the ingredients would be very helpful as well.

   Overall, the book is one of my favourites. Well written and entertaining, it is a cookbook for serious (and patient) cooks. The recipes are delicious and the flavours are complex. But for beginners of Asian cooking or for people on the go, you might want to try something simpler.




4. I will probably have to buy a new copy in the next couple of years because the one I currently own is falling apart...especially the sections on making curry pastes. My favorite by far is the Panang Chile Paste. Takes awhile to make, so I usually make several batches at once. I have also substituted chicken, pork, shrimp and white fish for beef in the Panang Neur recipe.

   I have used several Thai cookbooks in the last twenty years. This is the only one that has satisfied me. I do wish there were more diagrams and illustrations.




5. I watched Su-Mei Yu's being interviewed locally here in San Diego. After seeing it, I decided to try her restaurant here. It's a great local Thai noodle restaurant and serves her famous excellent Thai Chicken.
   
   Upon eating there twice, I decide to buy her 2 books. I absolutely love her book. Her dishes optimizes the combination of sweet, salt, sour, spicy that you REALLY can't figure out the breakdown of elements of spices when you eat the food.
   
   After making rounds at the local Asian grocery store to buy all the ingredients one afternoon (couldn't find green peppercorns or Thai white peppercorns), I adventured making her Crying Tiger dish, a Bangkok Chicken dish that they don't serve here in US. It was awesome!! My mouth still salivates when I think of this dish. It's so good that I made it again the next day for dinner.
   
   Can't wait to discover some of her other recipes. Being Asian American, Su-Mei Yu also incorporates some famous Chinese dishes as well!!

1 comments about Modern Thai Food: 100 Simple and Delicious Recipes from Sydney's Famous Longrain Restaurant.

1. MODERN THAI FOOD gathers innovative Thai dishes from Sydney's Longrain Restaurant and the creations of Chef Martin Boetz, who provides 100 of his favorite dishes adjusted for home cooks. From a Crisp Roast Duck and Lychee Salad and a Stir-Fried Squid with Light Curry Sauce to Smoked Trout Salad with Sweet Thai Dressing, this packs in many recipes created by chef Boetz, not to be found in any competing Thai cookbooks, and is a top pick for any who already cook Thai cuisine and seek new directions, especially for lending libraries strong in ethnic cuisines.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch

No comments about Authentic Recipes from Thailand (Authentic Recipes Series).