The cooking traditions of Thailand, balancing sweet, sour, salty and spicy elements within a single dish, built on jasmine rice, fresh herbs such as lemongrass and galangal, fish sauce, and chile heat introduced from the Americas after the 16th century. Traditional dishes fall into four broad categories: tom (boiled dishes), yam (spicy salads), tam (pounded foods) and kaeng (curries), with deep frying, stir frying and steaming introduced from Chinese cooking. A 2011 CNN Travel poll of 35,000 people worldwide ranking the World's 50 Best Foods placed seven Thai dishes on the list, more than any other country, including tom yum kung, pad thai, som tam and massaman curry.
Facts
Signature TechniquePounding fresh herbs and chiles into curry pastes with a mortar and pestle, and balancing the four fundamental flavors within one dish, are hallmark techniques. 1 Origin RegionMainland Southeast Asia, centered on Thailand. 2 Connections
Associated With
Expresses Tradition
Source The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan Davidson
Features Dish
Source The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan Davidson
Source The Oxford Companion to FoodAlan Davidson
Used By
Source Coriander, Wikipedia
Source Fish Sauce (Wikipedia)
Source Rice Noodles (Wikipedia)
Uses Ingredient
Source Larousse Gastronomique
Coconut, Ingredients Coconut milk is a base of Thai curries.
Source Coconut (Wikipedia)
Source Larousse Gastronomique
Source Larousse Gastronomique
Sources
1. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
Harold McGee, Scribner, 2004technique discussion: curry paste pounding
2. Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Oxford Companion to Food
Alan Davidson, Oxford University Press, 2014- entry: Thailand
- Features Dish: Pad Thai
- Features Dish: Tom Yum
Thai cuisine (Wikipedia)
Wikipedialead section, World's 50 Best Foods paragraphQuote, lead section, World's 50 Best Foods paragraph
Thailand had more dishes on the list than any other country: tom yum kung (4th), pad thai (5th), som tam (6th), massaman curry (10th), green curry (19th), Thai fried rice (24th) and nam tok mu (36th).
Larousse Gastronomique
Hamlyn, 2009- Uses Ingredient: Chili Pepper, entry: Chilli
- Uses Ingredient: Rice, entry: Rice
- Uses Ingredient: Ginger, entry: Ginger
Coconut (Wikipedia)
Coriander, Wikipedia
Used By: Coriander, RootsQuote, Used By: Coriander, Roots
used in a variety of Asian cuisines, particularly in Thai dishes such as soups or curry pastes.
Fish Sauce (Wikipedia)
WikipediaUsed By: Fish Sauce, Introduction, first paragraphQuote, Used By: Fish Sauce, Introduction, first paragraph
It is used as a staple seasoning in East Asian cuisine and Southeast Asian cuisine, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Rice Noodles (Wikipedia)
WikipediaUsed By: Rice Noodles, Thai section, pad thai image captionQuote, Used By: Rice Noodles, Thai section, pad thai image caption
Closeup of pad thai, a Thai dish made from rice noodles
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