Customer Reviews

A Taste of Thailand: The Definitive Guide to Regional Cooking (Pavilion Classic Cookery)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love Thai food and rank it in my 5 favorite cuisines. Authentic Thai ingredients are becoming more and more available, both in Asian markets and even in regular grocery stores. This book provides authentic recipes that are easy to follow. The book also has some beautiful pictures of both the dishes described and the regions of Thailand from which they originate. The author provides valuable background information for both eating and (unexpectedly) travelling in Thailand. In fact, I brought this book on a trip to Thailand. Since many Thai menus have dishes in both Thai and roman letters, I was able to match some of the menu items with recipes in the book, which was both helpful and interesting. I am glad I got this book before it went out of print and would recommend picking it up at any opportunity.

I have been in Thailand and I like to enjoy street food, which I find it the best and tastiest of all. This book has taught me what ingredients to use and how to prepare the dishes I ate there. Now I can cook and enjoy Thai real street food whithout going to Thailand. My wife is Indonesian and we have an Indonesian restaurant in Barcelona. Both cookings are similar and we serve some Thai dishes as well, which by the way were learned from this book.

My Thai husband has been so homesick, so I picked up this book to try and alleviate it. I didn't even know how to boil water before I read this book! I love it! My husband never eats out any more, and has told me that he might never go back to Thailand! The illustrations are great, and even I can accomplish the most difficult dishes. A must have for anyone wishing to cook Thai food!

I've had a copy of this for years, along with VB's "Thai Vegetarian Cooking." Now, this amazing book has been re-released in paperback. I can't think of a better cookbook. I like the fact that the recipies and their variations are authentic. Moreover, the book contains remarkably beautiful photos that capture the history and culture of various Thai regions. This fact may not be obvious from the marketing material. I'm not sure why. Setting the scene enhances the smell and flavor of the food. One gets the sense that the author is an artist, scientist, adventurer and innovator.

I recently took up Thai cooking, and found this cookbook. There are a few good recipies that I tried, and I think there are many more in the book somewhere, but the book is a bit hard to navigate. Lots and lots of prose, lots of history and culture - an excellent book if you like that. I personally like a cookbook that's well laid out, gives me the essentials, and doesn't try to educate me too much. I prefer to learn about the culture elsewhere.

There is one recipie in there - the panaeng curry on page 90 - that I will make many times. So if you use the adage that my mother did - only expect one great recipe per cookbook - then this book meets the test.

-jwt