Category Archives: chicken

by | 10/22/2010 · 4:08 pm

Accidental Fusion

 

Chicken stew at Lertros

 

The four of you who read this blog may have noticed I’m not writing as often as I used to. The answer: I’m busy watching television. It’s called “having priorities”. Give me a break, mom, dad, @SpecialKRB and Mrs. Silverman! Haha, just kidding. My mom doesn’t read my blog.

But now that StarWorld is showing a rerun of “Britain’s Next Top Model”, I find I have the time to talk about my new favorite rediscovery. I’ve been rereading David Burton’s “The Raj at Table” and have been struck all over again about how historical events seep, unwittingly, into a country’s culture and cuisine. A silver lining from the British Raj: the ingrained sense of “superiority” that went with England’s colonization of India resulted in “English” food created from Indian ingredients that ended up an entirely new cuisine.

Not surprisingly (sorry Britons, I love Welsh rarebit as much as the next guy, but…), that culinary influence did not really go both ways. The English way of cooking had little impact on the Indians. But the ingredients they managed to transplant to their adopted country had tons: cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes (referred to as “love apples”), green beans, avocados and corn. Without the West’s potatoes, the Indians would not have come up with aloo gobi; without spinach, no saag paneer.

All the same, a lot of English food got more “Indianized”, and an entirely new Anglo-Indian fusion resulted, the most famous dishes of which are probably kedgeree (a rice porridge featuring smoked fish like Finnan haddock, which is why many mistook this dish for Scottish) and mulligatawny soup (what cynics called the “remnants of yesterday’s curry” in liquid form).

But there were other, no less noble, creations: country captain (chili- and turmeric-infused chicken); corned beef bhurta (borne out of the scarcity of beef in Hindu India); sweet potato chapatis; a”Madras Club Pudding” (using mostly dried fruit instead of the more expensive sugar for sweetness); and a “Sandhurst Curry” served in the officers’ mess alongside sliced bananas and shredded coconut. Many of these dishes, in some form or other, trickled their way through English cuisine, lending a touch of the tropical to the stoic roasts and hearty puddings of the north.

But I’m rambling. Again. I love these old-style dishes and have vowed to recreate them for my long-suffering friends and family (who have already had to put up with any number of “retro American” dinners of “perfection salad” and tuna tetrazzini) because they are perfect snapshots of an interesting point in time, irresistible to this girl who majored in Indian history (because I loved the food. Yes, really.)

Which is why I love going to Lertros Alacarte (74 74/1 Silom Soi 4, 02-234-3754). Its old-school diner ambiance — sort of like where the two old guys in “the Muppets” would hang out if they were to live in Thailand — is totally my style, and some of its food specials — a fusion of Thai-Chinese and Western — are becoming increasingly hard to find elsewhere.

Like the Indianized Anglo-cuisine of the British Raj, the story of this food (Chinese-style curries, chicken and tongue “stews”, minces and pork pate, or moo yaw) is primarily a political one. According to Chef McDang (yes, he has basically taught me all I know about non-Northern Thai food), King Rama IV sought to entertain the various Western officials at his court by  serving “Western” food. He used chefs who learned to cook in the employ of British officials; these chefs were almost always Chinese. The result: Western ingredients cooked with Chinese techniques.

So for one of the oldest forms of Thai-Western fusion out there, look no further than Lertros. And if you see Statler and Waldorf, steer clear.

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Filed under Asia, Bangkok, chicken, Chinese, food, restaurant, rice, Thai-Chinese, Thailand

by | 10/04/2010 · 5:19 pm

The Taste of Envy, II

Bitter melon stewed with grilled pork and squid at nahm

Many Thais might be accused of feeling envious of famous Australian chef David Thompson, and for good reason. His restaurant nahm (lowercase “n”, somehow) at The Halkin in London was the first Thai place to earn a Michelin star — an indicator of big-time international acclaim, if you are a chef — and he is the author of one of the most well-regarded cookbooks of all time, Thai Food. Calling him an “expert” on Thai cuisine is no big stretch.

Unless, of course, you are Thai. If you are Thai you are supposed to exclaim at the arrogance of a Westerner who has the temerity to come to the motherland with an outpost of the well-regarded Michelin-starred Thai restaurant in London (at The Metropolitan, 02-625-3388). Because cooking Thai food for ignorant foreigners is one thing, but cooking it for Thais is another.

Or that’s what the media would have you believe. A “New York Times” story purporting to chronicle Thais’ feelings about Thompson and his characterization of modern Thai food as “decaying” and less complex than before caused a big splash a few weeks ago and, to me at least, seemed like a load of BS. Who cares? Another restaurateur comes to Thailand. Oh, he cooks Thai food? OMG! More manufactured controversy.

But a few days later, it seemed I was proven wrong. It seemed like people really did care. Or maybe I should just quote the Nation opinion piece, penned by ML Saksiri Kridakorn: “…it makes me hotter than biting into a hot chili hidden in a larb dish. It was a slap in the face to all Thai chefs in Thailand: don’t they know how to cook their own cuisine? It was also a slap in the face to all those who go to Thai restaurants. That makes all of us. What have we been eating?”

I wasn’t sure I understood what ML Saksiri was saying (do you say “khun”? Do you say “mom”? I don’t know!) Was he saying foreigners can’t cook Thai food? Because that makes absolutely no sense to a person who went to cooking school in France and somehow got a CAP in French cuisine (an achievement which really is a slap in the face to the French people). Or is he saying Westerners can’t criticize Thai food? Because I criticize Western food all the time, and if I couldn’t, what would be my reason for living?

I think — and this took a little digging — that he was saying David Thompson couldn’t possibly come to Thailand and purport to save “decaying” Thai cuisine, when it is not decaying, and doesn’t need his help. Well, all that stuff is arguable (the “decaying” part). But it did drum up some pretty publicity for nahm! Naturally, I went there to try it out.

Grilled mussels, satay-style

An amuse-bouche of “candied” pork on a sliver of pineapple (called ma hor) started the meal; then, a succession of canapes including a lovely mieng featuring pomelo, tiny bite-sized mee krob rolls (what is this thing with mee krob? Argh) and skewers of grilled mussels, slathered in peanut sauce and accompanied by cucumber slivers.

Local chicken given the "massaman curry" treatment

After that, a quick succession of dishes (so wise, keeping it family-style!): stir-fried pak waan (sweet greens), fiery nuea kem (sun-dried beef), a bright, buoyant cucumber yum, a pounded tamarind chili dip, a lohn-like pla rah song krueang, and a lovely-looking massaman chicken curry that I got nowhere near to even tasting (one thing that bugged me: it says it’s “bresse” chicken on the menu? Does this mean that “poulet de bresse” is being raised locally? How do I get some? Stop telling me I’m misreading “bresse” for “breast” on the menu!)

However … and I hate saying this, because this means I am a xenophobic, foreigner-hating Thai: there were some misfires. Like a vegetable yum that wasn’t as yum-like as I’d want it to be: my American palate only tasted sweet. The bitter melon, while still delicious, was a little more along the “bitter” end of the taste spectrum than I’d like my maraa to be (read: stewed to oblivion). In general, the food seemed to play more along the upper end of the registers, and I’m a girl who loves the deep, dark bass notes represented by gapi (shrimp paste). In that way, it reminded me a bit of Chote Chitr (where the chef, incidentally, is Thai).

Yummy custard apple with tapioca, coconut cream and mini-"doughnuts" -- genius

And, strangely, I was disappointed to not get to see Chef Thompson himself, although we did get to meet his partner, Tanongsak Yordwai. I think meeting the chef himself would be the one thing that would tip unsure and/or conflicted locals still mentally processing their meal at nahm into “I’m a David Thompson fan” territory.

Or maybe I’m just disappointed I didn’t get to take a picture with the man himself, slapping mah face.

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Filed under Asia, Bangkok, celebrity chefs, chicken, curries, dessert, food, restaurant, Thailand

by | 10/04/2010 · 3:56 pm

The Taste of Envy

Have you ever had an “envy crush”? Someone who, irritatingly and without fail, always managed to hold up a mirror to your own inadequacies and failures? Someone whose inevitable and apparently easily-won success you always applaud, but with a little seed of dread in your heart?

What is an “envy crush”? It’s a sneaking, reluctant admiration mixed with a dose of self-loathing. Which is how I feel about the proprietor of Soul Food Mahanakorn (56/10 Thonglor, (085) 904-2691), an unassuming restaurant close to home that is generating some healthy buzz.

The owner of the restaurant (OK, OK, it’s Jarrett Wrisley) is a completely inoffensive person who does not deserve crazed people like myself writing about him. Yet here we are. Him: “a long-time food journalist for beloved American magazine The Atlantic and elsewhere” (BK Magazine). Me: not able to get paid unless I write something about GDP or which investment bank is underwriting the latest corporate bond issue from Blah Blah Co. Also, I sometimes read The Atlantic. Him: “…quietly earning a fanbase with cuisine inspired simply by what’s fresh in the market” (CNNGo.com). Me: hoping, someday, to open a restaurant, northern Thai, named after my grandmother. Or, you know. Hoping someday to get paid to write about it. Either one.

Actually, I did correspond with Mr. Wrisley once before. On this site, in fact. I wrote something negative about — not ashamed to say it anymore — Krua Aroy Aroy, especially in regards to their kanom jeen nam ngiew, which is a dish of particular importance to me. Jarrett said I painted the restaurant as a tourist trap, which it isn’t exactly … not in terms of food or execution, at least (in spirit, maybe. I still think they are the Thai street food equivalent of Pierre Cardin). He was sort of right … but never mind. We have agreed to (sort of) disagree.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t wish bad things to happen to this person. I wish him all the success in the world — showcasing the soulful stylings of Thai home cooking and sometimes adding a few American twists is genius, and his food has more “soul” than, say, Krua Aroy Aroy (no, can’t let it go). But I’m happy with that success only to a certain point. Because if his column for The Atlantic gets optioned for a Hollywood movie (pitched as “Under the Tuscan Sun for hipsters”)** and he is played by James Franco and the movie becomes the worldwide success “Eat, Pray, Love” was supposed to be, then I will just have to go shoot myself.

So imagine my dismay when I actually go, and try the northern Thai “nam prik two ways”: roasted banana pepper dip, thick with tiny slivers of garlic, and tomato-and-ground-pork nam prik ong, garnished with tiny pork rinds, quail eggs and fresh vegetables. Or the “one-bite chicken wings”, dusted with ginger, garnished liberally with torn kaffir lime leaves. Or (and I love/hate this most of all), the fried chicken, heavily peppered and fried to a deep, crackling amber, eye-tearingly delicious and accompanied with a sweet chili sauce and clever little chunks of pickled watermelon rind.

A few things: it’s a tourist trap. No, just kidding! Ha ha. I’m so funny. What I meant to say is, it’s early days for this restaurant, so not everything is ironed out yet (but it will be, success is infuriatingly inevitable). The bathroom has to deal with some kinks. Also, our krapao ped order fell through the cracks. Not sure if Jarrett should appoint a maitre’d or an executive chef? Because supervising the dining room AND the pass are hard jobs, particularly when they are on separate floors.

Also, it’s so dark that I couldn’t take any pictures. But it’s also so dark that no one could see what I really look like so … never mind! If you want to see what the food looks like, go to http://www.soulfoodmahanakorn.com (no, I do not know how to link to other places. I am old. Also, I went to Bryn Mawr. Just kidding again, @SpecialKRB!).

**Carey Mulligan shows up as a young British backpacker who tries to run out on her check. My character (played by George Takei) also makes a brief cameo, before I meet a grisly end when my hairspray catches on fire. I am full of these ideas. Call me, Hollywood!

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Filed under Asia, Bangkok, chicken, food, restaurant, Thailand