Showing 121 - 130 of 269
Old kitchen artistry
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 03/01/2016
» The kitchen equipment we use these days can look very modern, even futuristic, and who can guess what form it will take in the future? If we look in the other direction, at the apparatus our ancestors used for cooking, we’ll find that quite a few of them survive now.
Souped up broth best served hot
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 27/12/2015
» When you eat a meal in China, there will probably be an array of different dishes on the table. One thing that can never be missing, however, is some kind of dish with a broth. Here, you have to be careful to avoid being scalded. Dishes hot from the stove usually have steam rising up from them, but the broth in Chinese dishes gives no such warning. These foods appear cool and harmless, but if you aren't careful you'll leave the table with your tongue fully cooked.
Street and sour
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 20/12/2015
» A couple of months ago a survey was conducted to determine how people abroad viewed Thailand’s food. The result was that phat Thai was thought to be the national dish. Thai food, people thought, had to be sprinkled with pounded peanuts, and was made with fresh herbs that might include galangal and krachaai, although ginger could be used instead. A Thai dish had to be extremely spicy and was eaten with chopsticks. It was suitable for vegetarians and was cheap.
Danger lurking in your dinner
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 13/12/2015
» It is really incredible that the Department of Medical Sciences at the Ministry of Public Health has stated that fresh food treated with formalin can be made safe for consumption by washing and cooking. One high-ranking department official explained in detail that formalin is water-soluble, and that when it is present in fresh foods such as seafood, pork, chicken, or vegetables, repeated washing can reduce the quantity, and since most of these foods will be cooked, the heat will make whatever remains safe to eat.
The noodle superpower
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 06/12/2015
» A couple of weeks ago I wrote that Thailand was full of shops and vendors offering grilled chicken, and that this dish will remain a favourite with Thais for a long time to come.
The search for the real phat Thai
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 29/11/2015
» Anyone who makes phat Thai for sale and can’t produce a tasty version of the dish probably shouldn’t try to cook anything else, because preparing this favourite properly is no great feat. The ingredients needed to make it are all easy to get hold of: kuay tio sen lek (thin rice noodles), shallots, tofu, peanuts, small dried shrimp, chopped salted Chinese radish, eggs, bean sprouts, kui chaai (garlic chives), vinegar or sour tamarind water, palm sugar, nam plaa, ground dried chillies and fresh vegetables to eat with the noodles — banana flower, spring onion or bai bua boke (leaves of the Asian pennywort plant).
A beef about tradition
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 22/11/2015
» Until recently I had the mistaken idea that people were eating less beef than they once did. So many dishes that were once made with beef were now being made with pork instead.
All the fun of the fair
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 15/11/2015
» When you see the chedi of Wat Saket, also called the Golden Mount, wrapped in red cloth, especially at night when it is brightly illuminated, you know the temple’s annual fair is under way. Then an annual visit should be a must, because it is a unique opportunity to see a real Thai temple fair, the biggest and oldest one in Bangkok. There is something there to delight anyone, regardless of age, ethnic background or social class.
Spores to the fore
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 01/11/2015
» If the weather doesn’t pull any surprises over the next week or so, people who feel a seasonal craving for the mushroom called het khone — the “termite mushroom” — should get some money ready and head off to buy some at a special place they’ve heard of or maybe visited before.
Gather around Chinese table
B Magazine, Suthon Sukphisit, Published on 25/10/2015
» Most people who have enjoyed a to jeen (Chinese table) meal probably think it is a style of eating of Chinese origin that was spread though the world, including to Thailand, by Chinese emigrants. A to jeen meal is eaten at a large, round table that seats 10, with Chinese dishes brought out gradually over time, from appetisers through soup, main dishes of different types based on fish, chicken, duck, pork, then fried rice, and finally dessert. In all, 10 dishes will be served to the 10 people sitting at each table, and afterwards the guests are expected to be so full that they could not manage even one more mouthful.