Product Description

Contains more than 175 recipes, but this book is much more than just a recipe collection. Su-Mei presents a history of Thai cooking woven through with the people and customs that shaped it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #541904 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

From Amazon.com
Americans love Thai food. Among the best cookbooks exploring this rich, tantalizing cuisine is chef-restaurateur Su-Mei Yu's Cracking the Coconut. Insisting that there can be no true Thai cooking without homemade "core" preparations (such as various chili pastes), Yu includes precise, accessible recipes for these and other essential ingredients while outlining fundamental techniques in vivid detail. Readers learn the proper hand motions for cracking a coconut, how to wrap ingredients in banana leaves, and how to work a mortar and pestle, the central Thai-kitchen implement. The book's 175 recipes are divided between chapters devoted to essential ingredients or dishes. The chapter on Thai curry ("the signature dish") explores the basics of preparing this exciting fare and includes such delicious recipes as Red Curry with Roasted Pork and Green Banana and Sweet Green Curry with Meatballs. A chapter called "The Secret of Thai Salads" offers recipes for a small repertoire of essential dressings and such tempting recipes as Apricot, Shrimp, and Pork Salad and a salad-feast called, simply, Lamb and Roast Duck. Yu provides cultural notes and cooking lore throughout the book, often drawing from her recipe-hunting travels abroad. It's hard to imagine a better start for anyone wishing to "cook Thai" than this fully illustrated book, which perfectly balances recipes and instruction to make it an innovative standout. --Arthur Boehm

From Publishers Weekly
Owner of San Diego's Saffron Restaurant, Yu takes her Thai cooking seriously: she expects readers to pound curry pastes by hand in a mortar and pestle (a process that takes about 30 minutes)Dand don't even think about using canned coconut milk unless absolutely necessary. In compensation for all this work, Yu provides flawless and authentic recipes full of the fresh flavors of Thailand, such as Grilled Mackerel Salad with pickled garlic, coconut and peanuts and Beef and Pumpkin Stew with kabocha squash and cilantro. Recipes are organized loosely according to main ingredients, and in one chapter simply because they represent "The Thai Philosophy of Food," which consists of juxtaposing contrasting tastes. A chapter on fiery curries includes Red Curry with Roasted Pork and Green Banana and Sour-Orange Curry with Tender Vegetables. Aside from the work of grinding the curry paste, these can be assembled relatively quickly. Another chapter focuses on "The Big Four Seasonings," or salt, garlic, coriander root and peppercorns, and provides a recipe for a paste of the four that can be used in everything from fish batter and deep-frying batter to meatloaf. Noodle dishes are both hot (several types of Pad Thai) and cold (Cool Noodles with Jungle-Style Sauce). Thai salads are original and refreshing: Pomelo and Shrimp Salad and Banana Blossoms with Chicken Salad. Yu also writes beautifully of her own experiences cooking and eating in Thailand. For Thai novices and for those who are seeking to delve more deeply into this sophisticated and often surprising cuisine, this book is a must-have.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
For fans of Southeast Asian cuisine, here are two excellent cookbooks. An immigrant from Vietnam to the United States, My Tran has developed her own simplified versions of favorite childhood dishes, many of which now appear in The Vietnamese Cookbook. Her excellent introduction to one of Southeast Asia's most colorful cuisines provides more than 100 recipes for such tempting treats as Spring Rolls and Lemon Rice mixed in with a few pinches of personal recollections and some outstanding color photographs. Novice cooks will especially appreciate the clear, easy-to-understand layout of each recipe, which takes the intimidation out of preparing these dishes. My Tran's book will serve as a good complement to other, more classic Vietnamese cookbooks, such as Nicole Routhier's The Foods of Vietnam (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1989), and is recommended for most public libraries. Rather than simplifying or adapting recipes for American tastes and markets, chef and restaurant owner Su-Mei Yu instead serves up a cookbook that pays homage to the cuisine of her homeland while offering detailed instructions on preparing Thai dishes in the old manner. Cracking the Coconut covers everything from the equipment and ingredients needed to traditional preparation methods such as the use of a mortar and pestle. The text not only gives readers 175 delicious recipes but also provides a fascinating look at the history of Thai cooking as well as a few glimpses at the people and forces that have helped shape it. For the most part, the author forgoes the traditional cookbook arrangement by type of dish (i.e., appetizers, salads, desserts, etc.) and instead devotes chapters to a specific ingredient such as rice or a signature dish such as Thai salads. A sumptuous feast for both serious and armchair cooks, this lavishly detailed cookbook is highly recommended for all public libraries.DJohn Charles, Scottsdale P.L., AZ
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

My favorite book on Thai cooking
I will probably have to buy a new copy in the next couple of years because the one I currently own is falling apart...especially the sections on making curry pastes. My favorite by far is the Panang Chile Paste. Takes awhile to make, so I usually make several batches at once. I have also substituted chicken, pork, shrimp and white fish for beef in the Panang Neur recipe.

I have used several Thai cookbooks in the last twenty years. This is the only one that has satisfied me. I do wish there were more diagrams and illustrations.

Delicious food but time consuming
Su-Mei Yu's book is tasty and yet informative. Not knowing a lot about Thai culture, I found the chapters breaking down the origins of the food to be most interesting. In one instance she gives a synopsis of how important the coconut is to the Thais but also explains how to prepare the coconut so you will be able to prepare the food authentic Thai-style. The instructions on how to prepare the food are very concise and simple.

Most of the recipes are from scratch, which means if you have limited time, it is not the cookbook for you (on avg it takes me 2 hrs to create one dish including the chopping/pounding of the curries and cooking time). All the curries/chile waters/pad thai involve many ingredients, so unless you have a strong interest in Asian cooking, it might not be worthwhile to purchase the book for one recipe. For example, she talks about creating tamarind juice from soaking tamarind pulp in water and advises against short-cuts such as pre-processed tamarind juice. Unless you have other recipes you want to use this ingredient for, its going to sit in your cupboard. I also found that the recipes call for a huge amount of spicy chiles, so cut down on it if you can't handle the heat.

Also, there are a minimal amount of pictures in the book, if you don't have any idea what certain ingredients look like or haven't had exposure to Thai food, you might have a hard time figuring out what the dishes are supposed to look like. Pictures of the ingredients would be very helpful as well.

Overall, the book is one of my favourites. Well written and entertaining, it is a cookbook for serious (and patient) cooks. The recipes are delicious and the flavours are complex. But for beginners of Asian cooking or for people on the go, you might want to try something simpler.

Ignore the negative reviews
This is the best book on Thai cooking I have come across. I beleive it would be the only book I would like to be a castaway with. I have a great collection of cook books , including all the classics but this is rapidly becoming my favorite. The recipies work, the text is personal and friendly, and the illustrations marvelous. The Thai names for the recipies are funny and authentic but not found in other books. This adds to the fun of cooking the food.
I have just returned from Koh Samui where I had Thai cooking classes and these recipies are right in line with what I learned. The American sustitutions are helpful for cooking here but the book tells how to be authentic too. Actually I have found most of the strange ingredients fresh here in good old Texas.
I hope to visit the author's restaurant someday. A truely wonderful book. Buy it now.