Thailand Cooking

Thai food has a thousand and one variations, making it a universal culinary phenomenon.

Like anywhere, the basic food types are fish, beef, fowl, and seafood.

Amazing variations come with the use of herbs, spices and in particular the way they are cooked and presented.

Thai cuisine we know today is an amalgam of various cooking influences from many centuries of assimilation.

In old Siam, cooking was simple, consisting mainly of grilling, stewing, baking, with the liberal use of plants, leaves from many trees and herbs – typical of the peoples waterborne lifestyle as many of the old Siamese Kingdoms evolved mainly around the rivers and canals.

 

Chinese migration from the North added stir and deep frying, the early Indian traders brought with them their curries.

The ingenious Thais substituted India’s ubiquitous ghee (a type of cooking butter) with something much more abundant in Thailand – coconut oil.

Thai food was bland until the arrival of the Portuguese missionaries in the late 1600s which changed all that, with the introduction of chili from South America, today most Thai dishes are chili-hot and a fiery experience for the uninitiated – take care!

However, Thai cuisine is more than herbs and spices it is both an art and cultural expression.

 

Thai cooking pays meticulous attention to detail, vegetables are cut at an angle almost uniformly, fish are scored before steaming and sometimes marinated to allow the herbs and spices to seep in.

Strange as it may sound, many a Thai cook will insist on a chopping board made from the trunk of a Tamarind tree, believing it will add to the flavor of the food?

If this is your first brush with Thai cuisine these are The Top Ten:

1. Spicy shrimp soup
2. Green chicken curry
3. Thai fried noodles
4. Fried chicken with basil
5. Grilled duck curry
6. Chicken in coconut milk
7. Beef salad
8. Grilled pork on sticks
9. Fried chicken with cashew nut
10. Beef curry in a spicy peanut sauce.

Of course many restaurants serve European food and a full range of products can be found in the major supermarkets – Tesco Lotus, Big C and Foodland.

Our staff whilst not ‘Cooks’ can produce an amazing array of foods spiced to suit the delicate European taste, however if you want it HOT no problem!

Thailand holiday homes can provide a chef at an extra cost subject to notice, however ask the girls nicely and for a gift of a few baht they will cook a meal for you and join you in the culinary experience.

All food displayed was cooked by the girls at Thailand Holiday Homes.