9781422277508

13

Getting Here

ago by the Chinese. And that vital Thai ingredient, the chili pepper, was brought to Thailand by Portuguese merchants. In his book Thai Food , author and chef David Thompson compares the histories of the tomato and the chili pepper as a way of explaining Thailand’s attitude toward outside influences. When explorers brought tomato plants from the NewWorld back to Europe, the plants were widely

The Five Flavors

Specific ingredients are used to create the all-important five flavors of Thai cuisine. Here are just a few: • Sweet: different types of sugar, including palm and coconut sugars • Sour: lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves (below) • Spicy: chili peppers • Salty: fish sauce, soy sauce • Bitter: bitter melon, leaves of the cassod tree

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