The Taste of Thailand
Skilled Thai cooks have an almost sixth sense for synthesizing disparate flavor elements into a seamless, unified, utterly balanced whole. And that’s not something they’ve achieved by accident. Thai cuisine has been developing as long as has
Thailand itself, and over that time, its practitioners have learned which ingredients counter others, when to pair something mild
with something heavy, and when to balance something hot with something sweet.
The chief tools of this edible art are the herbs, spices, roots, shoots, and other ingredients that comprise the Thai cook’s
seasoning armamentarium. There’s nothing particularly mysterious or exceptional about the contents of the Thai pantry.
Ingredients like cilantro, kaffir lime leaf, sweet basil, mint, lemongrass, coriander seed, cumin, peppercorns, garlic, galangal,
ginger, chilies, tamarind, shallots, coconut milk, palm sugar, dried shrimp, and fish sauce are common coin throughout
Southeast Asia—in some cases, throughout the world.
And balance in Thai cuisine doesn’t just play out within a single dish. It’s the guiding principle in designing an entire meal.
As in most of Asia, Thais enjoy their meals “family style,” where a welter of dishes appears on the table at once rather than
course by course. Diners sample from each, sharing the bounty with their tablemates. This isn’t just for the sake of convenience
or ease of service. It brings the group together and is the best way for individuals to taste the full range of flavors that make
the experience so pleasing.
Ordering a successful family-style Thai meal is easier than it looks—if you keep balance in mind. First, start with rice. Aromatic white jasmine is the norm—the bedrock of any Thai meal, whether in a castle or a cottage. Then just keep adding from there:
perhaps a couple of soups, one with a clear broth and another enriched with coconut milk; fresh, crunchy salads and relishes
that show off seasonal produce; several curries that feature everything from poultry to seafood to meat and demonstrate a
range of flavors; perhaps even a noodle dish or two to fill things out.
Play around with textures by choosing dishes made with different cooking methods, like frying, steaming, simmering, grilling,
and stir-frying. And make sure to get in lots of color—pretty easy to do when you’re dealing with the rainbow of ingredients in
Thai kitchens. Counter complex dishes with simple ones, fresh flavors with heavier pickles, spicy with sweet, sour with salty,
hot with cooling. And don’t forget dessert! This isn’t the time or place for chocolate cake, but for a lighter, mildly sweet
creation based on fresh fruits, palm sugar, glutinous rice, coconut milk, and even the subtly sweet and perfumed pandanus
leaf, often described as the vanilla bean of Asia.
The whole meal is very flexible, which you have to be if you want to stay balanced and enjoy the best ingredients of the
season. There’s no better way to keep the palate invigorated through what can be a very long meal. Instead of being numbed
by the excess, your senses actually come out enlivened. In the end, you’ve not only experienced the full range of Thai flavors,
but you’ve had a social, convivial encounter, as well—a chance to grow closer to your dining companions.
And while we often speak of Thai cuisine as a single, unified style, the reality is that in every kitchen and every town, individual
cooks call upon culinary traditions passed from generation to generation to shape local foods to local tastes. Those foods and
tastes, in turn, are the product of their native regions:
(Adapted from Thai Cuisine Beyond Curry, by Chef Chai Siriyarn, copyright 2007.)
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The North
Slow-simmered, smoothly seasoned comfort foods make Northern Thai cooking stand out: creamy curries and coconut milk
soups; meats and vegetables with a tangy edge of lime; little ground-pork sausages called naem; and the regional predilection
for sweet glutinous rice, steamed and rolled into palm-sized balls that are handy for dipping into pungent relishes and sauces.
The North is one of Thailand’s remotest regions, still inaccessible to most of the country until the early 1900s. As such, its towns
and villages, hidden behind mountain ranges and river valleys, developed a cultures and cuisine all their own—one that bore less
resemblance to those found throughout the rest of Thailand than to those of its neighbors, Myanmar (Burma) and Laos.
That means milder Myanmese-style curries seasoned with turmeric and ginger and served with egg noodles and plenty of
chicken or beef. Kao soi is one such classic, a filling yellow curry brimming with chicken and noodles and served with a side of
pickled mustart and roasted chili paste. Look for Laos’ influence in dishes like oam gai, a red chicken curry that shows off its
Laotian origins with its spicy chili bite.
(Adapted from Thai Cuisine Beyond Curry, by Chef Chai Siriyarn, copyright 2007.)
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The Northeast
Thailand’s barren, rugged Northeast—lying just across the Mekong River from Laos and Cambodia—got dealt a tough hand
with its unforgiving landscape. The irony of it all is that despite its obvious unsuitability to farming, the area developed mainly
on an agricultural model. But while the Northeast, also called the Isan, remains Thailand’s least economically prosperous region,
culinarily, it’s a diner’s dream.
Turning scarcity into a goad to ingenuity, Northeasterners have developed a creative approach to cuisine that could put any
Iron Chef to shame. With only a handful of hardy greens and simple roots, and dried and fermented river fish, they’ve
developed a dining style that’s earned the respect of professional chefs throughout Thailand.
There are plenty of appetizing selections on a Northeastern menu, including green papaya salad, Laotian-style dishes seasoned
with dill, sticky rice steamed and rolled into palm-sized balls, barbecued chicken rich with garlic and chili, and larb salads of
minced meat, chili, lime, mint, and pla rah, the Isan’s quintessential seasoning paste made from salted fermented fish and rice
powder.
(Adapted from Thai Cuisine Beyond Curry, by Chef Chai Siriyarn, copyright 2007.)
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The South
This narrow strip of land stretching from Central Thailand down to Malaysia is a little bit of paradise nestled between the Indian
Ocean on the west and the Gulf of Thailand on the east. Southern Thailand promises a lush natural bounty and conditions ideal for growing tropical produce.
You’ll find no shortage of fresh fruits or vegetables here, where locals feature them as the main attraction in brilliantly colored salads or as garnishes atop cooked dishes and curries. Meanwhile, the coconut is the “cow” of the South, giving southern Thai's its milk, cream, sugar, shredded meat, and oil. And if you want great seafood, this is the place to get it.
With water all around, fishing nets are always full.
A trading port since the Middle Ages, southern Thailand has long served as a way station for merchants from around the world, especially the Muslim world. The tastes and ingredients of that cultural exchange linger today in dishes like gaeng mussamun, an aromatic Indian-style beef curry thickened with coconut milk and redolent of cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and locally grown pineapple. Grilled chicken satay with peanut sauce, also common in Indonesia and Malaysia, is another adopted dish that
Southern Thais serve with their own flair.
(Adapted from Thai Cuisine Beyond Curry, by Chef Chai Siriyarn, copyright 2007.)
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The Central Plains
The Chao Phraya River Valley in Thailand’s Central Plain is both rice bowl and produce market to the country. Yet it’s
squeezed up against the 21 st-century metropolitan city of Bangkok. This region is home to Thailand’s palace cuisine, while
also laying claim to one of Asia’s most enticing street-food scenes. Exploring Central Thailand may be exhausting, but it’s
the kind of exhaustion you never grow tired of.
The best school for learning about Central Thai cooking holds session in Bangkok’s many markets and food stalls. If it grows,
swims, flies, or walks, you’ll find it here. And after scoping out the stands, head to the vendors selling the snacks and street
foods that make life on Bangkok’s klongs, or sidewalks, so delicious.
Every type of noodle imaginable—not least of all the national dish, pad Thai—is available morning through midnight, as are
hundreds of types of grilled meats, fried fish cakes, crispy egg rolls, salads, and clever little sweets. And when you’re ready
for something fancier, head to a restaurant that serves the traditional cuisine of Thailand’s royal courts—a revered art that
embodies not only balanced flavors but refined visual aesthetics.
