“Principles of Taste”

Posted: 28 Nov 2010 06:42 PM PST

After years of entertaining his fans with his cooking talents on TV, ML Sirichalerm Svasti has finally released his first print masterpiece, The Principles of Thai Cookery.

"Thai people don't have pride in their eating culture," says Sirichalerm, aka McDang, who created the Thai food Bible to capture the pride of his own culture and country.

Despite his extensive experience with Thai cuisine, the Western-educated food guru spent over five years researching and recollecting his childhood memories into the book that was recently included in the top 10 list of annual summer readings by JP Morgans.

Divided into three parts, The Principles of Thai Cookery traces the history of Thai food and desserts, the influence from neighbouring cultures, and the diversity of the food in different regions in the first part. The second part delves into the structure of Thai cookery through cooking techniques with recipes. The last part features ingredients widely used in Thai cuisines especially the herbs and spices, and includes photos.

"We wanted to make it accessible for all," says McDang, who takes a scientific approach to cooking in his book. The son of a food expert, MR Thanadsri, McDang returned to his homeland after years of studying abroad in the 1990s. The professional chef tried hard to build his own reputation, without falling under his father's shadow.

A picture of the palace kitchen culture from his earliest memories is portrayed in the book: He used to listen to the women natter away, exchanging their morning gossip as they pounded pastes for their curries, and he smelled the scent of cooking garlic as he watched the girls painstakingly carve green mangoes or cucumbers that would be used as throwaway garnish for lunch that day.

Others have only second-hand information from those living in the palaces. "But I have first-hand experience of being inside the palace kitchen," says McDang who combined his childhood memories and culinary experiences in his new book.

Thais often assume that foreigners don't eat kapi (shrimp paste) or fish sauce. Most Thais and international food connoisseurs believe that the heart of Thai food is the heat of the dish, but McDang finds the heart of the cuisine in the intensity of its flavour.

A new way to educate novices must be applied. Unlike conventional chefs of the past decades who were trained to rigidly follow instructions, McDang has his own ways of teaching.

Instead of presenting a cooking demonstration for his students, McDang offers scientific explanations of how ingredients are gradually cooked when added or how different the taste will be when added at different times.

As he has always educated his audience in his cooking shows and in his book, the Western-educated chef reveals the secret of how fresh coconut milk breaks down as it cooks and when light speckles of fat appear on the surface the temperature of the pot is hot enough for the next step. He also reveals that homogenised or UHT coconut milk in cans will never break down.

His scientific explanations extend to say oil temperature is usually higher than water. After the break-down, the rising oil temperature makes the paste comprising fresh herbs and spices becomes cooked more easily. Inadequate temperature can distort the taste of the curry.

The book aims not only to educate people around the world about Thai food but also to deliver the pride of the Thai people in their cooking culture.

'The Principles of Thai Cookery' is available at Asia Books.

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Cookery

Monday, November 29, 2010