Ken Hom Cooks Thai

Everybody loves Thai food. Only on the international scene for relatively few years, it is now ubiquitous. It's easy to see why. Thai flavours are highly individual, complex and clear, subtle and exhilarating, yet structurally (as it were) the cooking resembles the familiar Chinese. Ken Hom is an ideal guide to this fascinating cuisine in Ken Hom Cooks Thai. Stressing, as you would expect, the links with Chinese food, he nonetheless concentrates on the ingredients and techniques that make Thai cooking so special. The signature flavours are lemon grass and coconut, against which limes and lime leaves, coriander and basil are deployed. Thai food is also, famously, blisteringly hot. Ken Hom sticks to fairly simple, accessible recipes (eschewing the complexities of the distinct and highly decorative royal or palace cuisine), 130 in all. Starters include spicy salads made with fish, chicken and beef, and a delicious one in which grapefruit is dressed with lime, soy, sugar, chillies and dried shrimps. Soups tend to divide into clear spicy broth garnished with meat, vegetables and/or noodles (Fragrant Prawn and Lemongrass Soup is perhaps the most familiar of these) and richer concoctions based on coconut milk, such as Delectable Coconut Soup with Mussels or Rich Pumpkin and Coconut Soup. Fish and seafood dishes are among the glories of Thai cuisine, and they are well represented, from the simplicity of Steamed Fish with Coconut to the elaboration of Panaeng-Style Curry with Prawns. Red and green curries, made with chicken and beef, are perhaps the best known among dozens of mouth-watering meat, rice and noodle recipes. Ken Hom has produced an inspiring introduction to an inspiring cuisine. --Robin Davidson

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More Chinese than Thai - Rated
Although I like Ken Hom's books I was rather disappointed with this effort for the simple reason that his is interprepation makes the food more Chinese than Thai.

Fantastic , Easy To Prepare Recipes - Rated
I love this book and have cooked many recipes from it and they have turned out very well. The food is easy to prepare, the recipe instructions are clear and precise and the ingredients are fairly easy to find. The lemongrass and prawn soup is one of the recipes that turned out extremely well for me. I love to cook and this is one of my favourites because I know I will not be disappointed with the results. It is a reliable cookbook in the sense that I am sure that the end result will always be something really awesome.

Very easy to follow - Rated
I agree that these recipes are not entirely authentic. However, a lot of the finished dishes do bear quite a strong resemblance to authentic Thai food (although none of them are very spicy which was one thing I remember about Thai food in Thailand). The best thing about this book, however, is the fact that all the recipes are very easy to follow, the ingredients are not mpossible to find, the finished dishes are very tasty and guests are always suitably impressed. Additionally, authentic Thai food can take a long time to prepare (at least for a non-Thai person!) whereas these recipes are fairly quick so, for an "easy to prepare" taste of Thailand, I can fully recommend this book.

Ken Hom Cooks Thai (but not as I know it) - Rated
I am a Thai who loves Chinese food, and I have a lot of respect for Mr Hom. I use his Chinese cookery books all the time and his advice keeps my wok in pristine condition. But I have to say that none of the recipes in this book - fantastic though they look, sound, and no doubt taste - are recognisable to me as authentic. I have cooked Thai for a while and eaten it for longer (all my life) so I should know. Now I am well aware that this book is Mr Hom's interpretation of Thai dishes and he makes no claims to the contrary. His appreciation and enthusiasm for Thai food is especially infectious. However, there remains an understandably heavy bias for Chinese based dishes and cooking styles. All this is not obvious unless you are able to thumb through the book. So my comments here are merely cautionary to potential buyers of this book on Amazon. If you're looking for authenticity then look elsewhere. Otherwise, like me, you are sure to get hours of pleasure from the imaginative and tasty recipes in this beautifully presented book written by one of the best in the business.

A Chinese goes Thai. The perfect combination - Rated
Ken Hom has great credit promoting Chinese cooking in the world. This universal cuisine of the Far East seems to incorporate almost all styles. Yet Thai Cuisine has a very distinct touch. The extensive use of fresh coriander, lemon grass and fish sauce make Thai cuisine taste completely different from what we learnt so far from Ken Homs wonderful books about the Chinese cuisine. Thailand is a country of cultural mixtures. The Chinese play a great role. Mastercook Ken Hom is probably the best cook to promote the dialogue between China, Europe and Thailand. A wonderful combination which makes curious.