Promotional Information

This title contains over 300 delicious and genuine Thai recipes of both classical and regional dishes along with 50 menus that provide ideas for combining them. There are also notes on availability and substitutions of ingredients and explanations of the essential techniques of Thai cookery.

About the Author

David Thompson is one of Australia's leading chefs, restaurateurs and cookery writers. He is also an eloquent ambassador for Thai food and culture. His Sydney restaurants have increased the awareness and appreciation of authentic Thai cooking. In July 2001 he opened Nahm, in London's Halkin Hotel. Seven months later Nahm gained a Michelin star, making it the first Thai restaurant to attain such an award. Earl Carter is an internationally know photographer specialising in food, interiors and travel.

Reviews

'The definitive guide to a cuisine that offers far more than fishcakes and green curry.'
*Waitrose Weekend*

'What I love about this book is the way it is so uncompromising. It’s classic Thai cooking… I think it will end up being an important historical record of Thai cooking.'
*Fivebooks.com, 'Best Cookbooks of All Time'*

Thompson, an Australian chef with two Thai restaurants in Sydney, opened Nahm in London last year; shortly thereafter, it became the first Thai restaurant ever to receive a Michelin star. Somehow, he also found the time to write this huge, exhaustively researched book, focusing especially on Thai cuisine of the late 19th century, when, he believes, Thai cooking "reached an apex." Although he explores regional and peasant cooking as well, the only recorded recipes of the time are from the upper classes and those associated with the Siamese court, and Thompson has translated and adapted many of those recipes. The first section of the book provides detailed cultural and social history and a guide to the regions and regional cuisines of Thailand. Then a detailed glossary of ingredients and a guide to techniques introduce the hundreds of recipes. These are grouped into chapters on relishes, soups, curries, salads, and sides, followed by one of menus with recipes. Chapters like "Food Outside the Meal"-snacks or street foods and desserts-complete the book. Su-Mei Yu's Cracking the Coconut is an excellent introduction to Thai home cooking, but Thompson's culinary history/cookbook is unique and will be an important purchase for any Asian cookery collection. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

'The definitive guide to a cuisine that offers far more than fishcakes and green curry.'

'What I love about this book is the way it is so uncompromising. It's classic Thai cooking... I think it will end up being an important historical record of Thai cooking.'