The Thai Kitchen

- Equipment and Utensils
- Essential Techniques
- Cooking Methods
- Traditional Recipes
- Characteristics of Thai Food and Seasoning
- A Note for Vegetarians

Characteristics of Thai Food and Seasoning

Thai food has three levels or tiers. Firstly, the taste of the ingredients used; secondly, the texture of those ingredients; and, finally, the seasoning. The complex and vibrant qualities of Thai cooking are based on the interplay of these components.

Thai cooking is a paradox: it uses robustly flavored ingredients - garlic, shrimp paste, chilies, and lemongrass - and yet when these are melded together during cooking they arrive at a sophisticated and often subtle elegance, in contrast to their rather coarse beginnings. Often the ingredients employed in a recipe can be an extraordinary, bewildering array of up to 20 items in a single dish. In any other cuisine this would guarantee a cluttered and confused finish, yet in Thai cooking these disparate ingredients are transformed into a seamless whole - the honed result of generations of fine Thai cooks. This does not mean that all the tastes are blended into an indistinguishable unity, but that the diverse flavors work harmoniously in concert - rounding, contrasting and supporting each other.

Although perhaps not a critical element, the texture of the various ingredients plays a much greater, more defining role in Thai cooking than in other cuisines. Chilies have a surprising characteristic: they sensitise the palate to texture, despite their initial impact. In a simple stir-fry of green vegetables, for example, texture is crucial to the character and therefore the pleasure of the dish. In other recipes, texture plays a less apparent role but is still a feature - for instance, the crunch of deep-fried shallots or peanuts in salads. The garnishes of chilies, torn or shredded kaffir lime leaves, crunchy and pleasantly bitter eggplants, or the leaves of various basils, not only perfume but add texture, since these garnishes are usually meant to be eaten. Perhaps the most obvious example is the raw vegetable accompaniments to relishes (nahm prik and lon). All have texture that is played against the background of rice.

Seasoning is the considered application of flavors: sweet, sour, hot and salty. Two, three, or occasionally all four of these primary tastes create the ultimate level of taste that so distinguishes Thai cooking. Balance is paramount. If the principle of European cooking is 'keep it simple', then the Thai dictum is 'keep it balanced'. A dish that is palatable can be transformed into the memorable by the deft employment of seasoning. It does not disguise the ingredients but imbues them with a greater dimension. Thai food strives to achieve a balance where the tastes, textures and seasonings are assembled in every dish to the intended degree, enhancing and defining it.

Each region has a customary preference; each dish its requisite seasoning; and each cook their own predilection. It is this agreed sequence, followed by countless Thai cooks, that maintains proper - or at least consistent - Thai taste.

While there is an accepted combination of seasonings, perhaps, not surprisingly, there is also latitude according to personal preference. Old written recipes often conclude with the injunction brung rot dtam jai chorp ('season according to your heart's desire') - and open invitation to change. This involves making mistakes, but is all part of the process of developing skills and understanding the underlying mechanisms, combination of techniques and seasoning. Only then can recipes be adapted and ingredients used freely, seasonally and successfully while still achieving balance.

All Thai believe that each cook has a seasoning tendency: salty, sweet, hot or sour. Whatever one's ultimate preference, rarely should it conflict with standard seasonings, although it will alter them slightly; it should enhance the finish, not overwhelm it. The cook who achieves this is said to have fi meu, a sure talent and deft skill in cooking and assembling the requisite balance of tastes, texture of ingredients and in the ultimate seasoning.

- Adapted from Thai Food, by David Thompson