Customer Reviews

What's Cooking: Thai

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this cookbook this summer, more to add to my collection than to actually learn Thai cooking. But then I tried a few recipes, and I've been hooked on the cookbook ever since...

Having grown up in an Asian household, I'm already familiar with a lot of the ingredients and techniques used in Asian cooking, but I love the fact that this cookbook explains ingredients and technique without being condescending to those who aren't familiar with Asian cookery much less with the kitchen.

I usually use post-it notes to mark the recipes in a new cookbook that I want to try. When I started marking pages in this cookbook, I realized that I wanted to try everything. While I haven't had a chance to sample it all just yet, I can tell you that everything I've tried has been perfect. Even my boyfriend, who is definitely a "meat and potatoes" man loves when I prepare something from this book. I've also found that, despite the simplicity of the recipes, my dinner guests always assume that I went to elaborate lengths to prepare these wonderful foods. My favorite is an exquisite cilantro coconut chicken dish that just knocks the socks off of anyone who tries it.

This is one of my first Asian cookbooks. It's a great cookbook for beginners. Not only the instructions are clear and easy to follow, all the ingrediants in this book are easy to found in most grocery stores. I have tried several receipts on the day of my party, my guests were surprised and enjoyed the food very much. I am highly recommand this book for anyone who enjoying asian cooking.

Christine France's What's Cooking Thai might better be termed "Dumbed Down Thai", "Asian-like Dishes for Dummies", or "Vaguely Thai-Influenced and Intermittent Thai Dishes". This is a cookbook shamelessly cashing in on one's desires for authentic Thai cuisine. I've traveled to Thailand to firsthand experience the cuisine, eat regularly at Thai restaurants, and have made quite a few recipes from various Thai cookbooks, with fresh galangal, fresh cilantro (coriander) and lemongrass from the side of my semitropical home....

The recipes appear to have been thrown together without careful proofreading, or certainly trying them...last night I made "Roast Chicken with Ginger and Lime", and had to laugh when the recipe called one to "place the chicken halves on a tray over a roasting pan half filled with boiling water"...roast in a 350 degree oven for ~1 hour...When the chicken is cooked, boil the water from the roasting pan to reduce it to about a scant ' cup. Blend the cornstarch with the water and stir into the reduced liquid. Heat gently until boiling, then stir until slightly thickened and clear. Serve the chicken with the sauce...Huh??

Come on, Christine, " reduce" a roasting pan half filled with boiling water down to a "scant ' cup"? Uh-huh, sure! Why not make a rich water reduction from 2 gallons down to a "full ' cup" for more of that rich "water reduction" taste?!

Is there no better crafted sauce to put over the chicken than Christine's bland cornstarch and "reduced water"...for shame! I hope others do not buy your book on "Sauces"...I've seen enough! Now in fairness, it can be a tasty chicken given it's ingredients, however to compensate for the addled instructions, I added all of the chicken drippings, with some fat, yielding perhaps one truly "scant" ounce and some cornstarch and water, to create a more tasty sauce! So, this book is geared for beginning cooks, who may not be able to rescue a sloppily written recipe with it's bland sauce, and improve it on the fly.

This book's drawbacks additionally include it's complete lack of corresponding Thai names for the recipes..it would have been nice (or perhaps rather embarrassing for Christine) to match a recipe with a familiar name at a Thai restaurant to see how close the ah, abbreviated "inspired" recipe comes to it's authentic cousin, (at least twice removed).

It lacks in it's forward any helpful hints on how to best obtain, approach and prepare the unique items of the Thai kitchen that appear in better books. It could give more hints than are in the recipes. I do give it credit for asking one to use mortar and pestle rather than food processor for preparation.

The book's has abbreviated recipes, suitable for a "Somewhat Thai-influenced Cookbook", however there are better, and easy books available, for cooks who do not have a good basis of Thai dishes.

Such recipes as "Baked Cod with a Curry Crust" are of questionable Thai origin.

Her "Pad Thai Noodles" with tomato ketchup, (Yes!) whose photo certainly looks unlike the sum of the ingredients, with apparently green onion sections/Chinese chives (doubt lemongrass) tossed in by a food stylist, who never read the ingredients!

Want to make the great standard, Tom Kha Kai soup (chicken with coconut milk)? Sorry, not even an imitation recipe or authentic one in this meager book.

Settle for Christine's "Thai" Creamy Corn soup with Egg, Mushroom and Tofu Broth, or Spinach and Ginger Soup, Chili Spiced Shrimp wonton Soup, or Chilled Avocado, lime and Cilantro Soup...which are combinations clearly more Chinese or Latin than Thai! Perhaps these recipes are inspired by Christine's visit to a Mexico City "Hilton" or other restaurant catering to American or British style cuisine!

Want an "Indian/Middle East- inspired" rather than true Thai dessert, try Christine's Rosewater Ice! Want "Asian-influenced"? Go for Christine's Caramel Apple Wedges with (token) Sesame seeds! There's "Balinese Banana Pancakes", to fluff up this crazy quilt of a recipe book, looking pretty similar to a dish one can have at an IHOP (Innternational House of Pancakes) or Stir Fried Pork and Corn..."typical of Thai street food"...hmmm missed that street stand in Thailand!

Truly Authentic Thai, NOT found here!

For Authentic Thai recipes, read the large and beautiful Thailand The Beautiful Cookbook, by Panurat Poladitmontr; David Thompson's scholarly tome, Thai Food; Nancie McDermott's Real Thai; Cracking the Coconut by Su-Mei Yu; It Rains Fishes by Kasma Loha-Unchit, to name just a few far more authentic Thai cookbooks. Charmaine Solomon's Complete Asian cookbook has more authentic and tastier Asian recipes.

Christine is said on the flyleaf to have written/co-written over 20 books...if they are also possessing this questionable authenticity and so-so quality, worst case scenario, that might leave 19 other books for you to pass by, as well! I hope this is just one of her lesser quality books, and look forward to reading some others with better authenticity from so prolific a cookbook author.

Well, I guess I am not as high-level of a cook as the previous reviewer thinks you need to be in order to enjoy Thai cuisine. We LOVE the Cookshelf Thai book and have no complaints about it. My husband and I have enjoyed many of its recipes and have not had a hard time with the directions making sense. What some may view as a dumb-downed version of Thai cooking is actually what we would consider a fun way to enjoy Thai without making it into your part-time job. We love the Pad Thai recipe (which always turns out delicious and is a whole lot more authentic than the box mix most people get from the store). We also love the Green Chicken Curry, the Thai-Spiced Cilantro Chicken, the Mango Coconut Smoothie and the Coconut Rice. We cook from it weekly and many of our friends have enjoyed the recipes as well. And considering that I bought the book for a buck, I've been nothing but happy with it.

I received this book from a friend before I knew much about Thai food. After eating more thai food and actually visiting Thailand, I see that this book is an insult to Thai food. From using Ketchup to make Pad Thai (yes I know that authentic ethnic food can be difficult to make but how many corners can you cut before you still call it ethnic?) to a Crab bruschetta with mayonaise this book shows you what Thai food is not. Your time would be much better spent searching all sorts of Thai food recipe websites than using this book. On the positive side, the recipes are fairly easy and the pictures are pretty.

Christie France's Cookshelf Thai is merely a reprint of "What's Cooking Thai" with a different title, and some minor changes. I've reviewed this prior version on Amazon, and that review follows...adapted for this copy-cat book..

Christine France's book might better be termed "Dumbed Down Thai", "Asian-like Dishes for Dummies", or "Vaguely Thai-Influenced Dishes". This is a cookbook shamelessly cashing in on one's desires for authentic Thai cuisine, and most of these recipes are not Thai, so save your money, and buy a real Thai cookbook!.

I've traveled to Thailand to firsthand experience the cuisine, eat regularly at Thai restaurants, and have made quite a few recipes from various Thai cookbooks, with fresh galangal, fresh cilantro (coriander) and lemongrass from the side of my semitropical home....

The recipes appear to have been thrown together without careful proofreading, or certainly trying them...I made "Roast Chicken with Ginger and Lime", and had to laugh when the recipe called one to "place the chicken halves on a tray over a roasting pan half filled with boiling water"...roast in a 350 degree oven for ~1 hour...When the chicken is cooked, boil the water from the roasting pan to reduce it to about a scant ½ cup. Blend the cornstarch with the water and stir into the reduced liquid. Heat gently until boiling, then stir until slightly thickened and clear. Serve the chicken with the sauce...Huh??

Come on, Christine, " reduce" a roasting pan half filled with boiling water down to a "scant ½ cup"? Uh-huh, sure! Why not make a rich water reduction from 2 gallons down to a "full ½ cup" for more of that rich "water reduction" taste?!

Is there no better crafted sauce to put over the chicken than Christine's bland cornstarch and "reduced water"...YUCK!
To compensate for the addled instructions, I added all of the chicken drippings, with some fat, yielding perhaps one truly "scant" ounce and some cornstarch and water, to create a more tasty sauce than this bland one in the recipe!

Since this book is geared for beginning cooks, who are not able to rescue sloppily written recipes, and improve them on the fly, they are in for BIG TROUBLE!

I do not think anyone has actually tested many of the "Sorta Thai" recipes, or they would have corrected the errors...this is the sad part about France's books...

Do you want you and or your family to be the guinea pigs for these untested recipes?


This book's drawbacks additionally include it's complete lack of corresponding Thai names for the recipes..it would have been nice (or perhaps rather embarrassing for Christine) to match a recipe with a familiar name at a Thai restaurant to see how close the ah, abbreviated "inspired" recipe comes to it's authentic cousin.

Such recipes as "Baked Cod with a Curry Crust" are of bogus Thai origin-Cod is from the colder Atlantic waters, and certainly not found in Thailand, especilly since the Thai's use delicious FRESH local fish!

Her "Pad Thai Noodles" (with tomato ketchup- Not too Thai, now is it, Linda!), whose photo certainly looks unlike the sum of the ingredients, with apparent green onion sections tossed in by a food stylist, who never bothered to read the ingredients!

Warning, your final result will not look like the pictures in the book!

Want to make the great standard, Tom Kha Kai soup (chicken with coconut milk)? Sorry, not even an imitation recipe or authentic one in this meager book

...Settle for Christine's "Not Thai" Creamy Corn soup with Egg, Mushroom and Tofu Broth, or Spinach and Ginger Soup, Chili Spiced Shrimp wonton Soup (Wonton's in Thailand, wake up, Christie!) or Chilled Avocado, lime and Cilantro Soup...which are concoctions certainly more Chinese or Latin than Thai! !

Want an "Indian/Middle East- inspired" rather than Thai dessert, then try Christine's Rosewater Ice!

Want "Asian-influenced"? Go for Christine's Caramel Apple Wedges with (token) Sesame seeds! (Apples are not in THai cooking)

There's "Balinese Banana Pancakes", to fluff up this crazy quilt of a recipe book, looking pretty similar to a dish one can have at an IHOP (Innternational House of Pancakes) or Stir Fried Pork and Corn..."typical of Thai street food"...hmmm missed that street stand in Thailand!

Truly Authentic Thai, NOT here!

For Authentic Thai recipes, read the large and beautiful Thailand The Beautiful Cookbook, by Panurat Poladitmontr; David Thompson's scholarly tome, Thai Food; Nancie McDermott's Real Thai; Cracking the Coconut by Su-Mei Yu; It Rains Fishes by Kasma Loha-Unchit, to name just a few far more authentic Thai cookbooks. Charmaine Solomon's Complete Asian cookbook has more authentic and tastier Asian recipes.