As a Thai, I do eat pad thai. We all do eat pad thai, but not all the time. It's just a dish. It became the national dish because the government said so. A very generalized history ofnit is that they invented the recipe during the time where Thailand need strong identity to escape colonialism plus the rice shortage due to wartime was real back then. The dish that is more ubiquotous that people really do eat more all the time is Pad Kaprao.
That turned out to be a success as Thailand is the only SE Asian country that has never been colonised. But I don't understand how the dish helped fight rice shortage as the noodles themselves are made from rice.
Rice noodles are lighter than rice. In other word, noodles have lesser density than rice. A large portion of rice noodle gives an apparent of a large meal. add the fast growing bean sprout to it. You can feed more people.😄
@@Jeffffrey0902 Wow you know that Thailand is the only SEA country never been colonised. I am impressed with your knowledge and feel honoured at the same time. Thanks. Pad thai was invented during the time of PM. Plaek (จอมพล แปลก พิบูลย์สงคราม) He was the PM during WWII when there were many turmoils from political unrests after the revolution from absolute monarchy to democracy, food/supplies scarcity in WWII, to the spread of communism. ( Well, colonialism was not really a serious threat by that time because the western countries had jumped into WWI&WWII and became weaker. The colonialism was a "HUGE" threat around year 18xx long before the WWI and we Siam (old name of Thailand) pretty much avoided being colonised by executing the King Rama V's strategies. ) PM Plaek thought nationalism was the key to strenghten up the country. So he launched many policies based on the idea of nationalism. For example, changing the name of country from Siam to Thailand, so-call-modernising citizens' way of life (and of course inventing a national easy dish Pad Thai), simplifying Thai language, etc. Some policies' consequences are given up and some still live on. Why Pad Thai? The word "Thai" was used because of the nationalism. Noodle was used because it's cheaper than the whole grain rice. Noodle can be made from broken grains.
@@jJ-yr7wj I feel embarrassed because I didn't get good grades in history. 🙈 But since I'm from Hong Kong, a former British colony, it's nice to know a few things about colonialism in Asia. Thanks for answering my question about the noodles. Have a great weekend! 😁
I was in a small dirt road town in Kanchanaburi and my mototaxi driver said his wife could make me Pad Thai if I was hungry. I thought he was stereotyping me as a farang that only eats pad thai, but turns out his wife ran a street stall that specialized in pad thai made to order. Best I’ve ever had. I can attest that it is a real thing in Thailand!
I'm Thai and I love good pad Thai. I don't know why people think that Thai people don't eat padthai, which baffles me. Thai people do eat padthai, but we don't eat padthai everyday, just like we don't eat curry every day, or we don't eat pad krapow everyday. Also, Thai people eat padthai as a stand alone dish, and it is a one person dish, we don't share padthai. Maybe this is the reason why foreigners don't see Thai people order padthai in Thai restaurants. In proper Thai dinner, all dishes like curries, tom yum kung, tungtong, todman, etc. are put at the center of the table and to be shared by everyone, and everyone have their own plate of rice. So it's kind of weird ordering padthai for yourself when you're supposed to be having shared meal with everyone else.
I literally saw a video the other day with millions of views saying, I am a thai person and no one here eats pad thai, we eat pad kee mao instead. So probably supposedly thai people who say thai people don't eat pad thai is why!
From my experience most people eat padthai like once a year or at most every quarter. Theres exceptions on a few who really like it and have it every week.
It's just maybe because people are getting more culturally sensitive and things starts to get overcorrected. it's similar to Chinese food where a lot of my non-Asian friends in US now would usually be joking that is not real Chinese food when discussing my heritage -- which it's half-true because dishes like 糖醋里脊(TangCuLiJi) and 咕咾肉(GuLaoRou) do exist, but they are not in the form that Panda Express and P.F. Chang serve, and certainly not what Chines people eat everyday given the abundance of choices. We just need to keep educating people on the nuance of each cuisine so that people have a full understanding.
My Thai family eats padthai but not often. Much less often then other street foods like pad see ew, pad Krapao,and Khao man gai. And they prefer fish and fish and more fish in every form! It’s like if you they see a good padthai cart and it’s lunchtime, you’re going for it. Honestly it’s not that easy to find now. In the 90’s most bak soi markets had one padthai cart. Not anymore.
Stereotype is a good way of describing Pad Thai for the tourists. People were always surprised when I would ordered real Thai food in Thai, my ex wife taught me to speak Thai with a bit of an accent from Southern Thailand. My Thai is very strong though I'm a little rusty now, I left Thailand in 2001. But I love to practice my Thai when I go to Thai restaurants locally. I'm a big burly white guy, but my Thai is really good. Only problem, the waitresses try to catch me for a boyfriend/husband, I almost hate telling them I'm gay and I already have a husband, But I've already had two wives and that's enough for one lifetime.
I've seen a grand total of 3 videos from you in the past day and I'm already in love with your sense of humor. The "how about a zucchini" delivery was perfect.
I’m Thai and I’d like to second this. I like to eat Pad Thai but only from time to time. That’s because we Thai people have so many options to choose to eat. But whenever I crave Pad Thai, I go find and enjoy a nice dish of Pad Thai.
I asked the same question about bitter melon to my family during my childhood years. But over the years when I grew older, I enjoy eating recipes with bitter melons and somehow bypass the bitter taste. It has a lot of potent vitamins and health benefits that cannot be underestimated!
@@user-ph3ji8gp3pTastebuds just vary, I think I love bittergourd (same thing as bitter melon as far as I can tell) - and always have, even as a very young kid. Like, I have eaten sauteed bittergourd straight out of the fridge as a snack, in my childhood. My parents OTOH _hate_ it, and always have. They had to be forced by _their_ parents to eat it, well into adulthood (because good for health, etc). Once their parents passed, mine just stopped eating it, lol.
Yeah, I never really like the taste of bitter melons. My mom would cook these with the melon stuffed in the middle with ground pork in a soup. I guess people eat available things and continue to eat them even though they are not tasty. Look at stinky tofu! I tried it three times and still can't stand them. As someone stated before, why not just eat regular tofu!
We stayed in Thailand for 3 weeks and I already miss the food and the people so much. I tasted so many different dishes. 😋 And I love Thai values and respect we can learn from in the West.
The broccoli in in the photo, yes. Thought you were going to mention the no spoon. The places that have one "Thai" dish and it's got peanuts cracked me up! My Greek friends go crazy with a "Greek" dish that just has feta in it. Thanks for the tips in setting up a full meal.
When you said that thing about geniune Thai restaurants I had to check one of my favourites. It is located in a very small Swedish village (we have a lot of Thai immigrants, there is decent Thai practically everywhere) but this one is exceptional. So I decided to check the details of the menu and yes, they have a lot of nonstandard items, and nothing in the way of sushi or other non-Thai Asian food. Now I am even more looking forward to my next work trip there in a few weeks.
Also, my take on "genuine food" is that the food need to be eaten in the right environment. That divine light white win you sip in the shade in Mediterranean summer can become a sour, watery mess in winter in the Scottish mountains. I think the same is true for produce, they need to be grown reasonably close to where they are used, in the right soil and climate. That said, you can get delicious food that is _not_ "genuine" but still reminds you of the dishes you miss from home. (In a world where I spend a decade abroad that might happen).
Bitter melon is good when you can taste the kind of slightly sweet aftertaste. It's like when you drink good plain tea or coffee, when you feel the kind of refreshing "sweetness" afterwards. Also, if you make it less bitter then add other strong tasting things to it, like stir fry it in fermented black-bean sauce with beef, or cook it with salty duck egg, or drip honey on cold crunchy bitter melon, the refreshing taste of bitter lemon makes a fantastic combination with the strong flavor.
What I like about this channel is that you make an effort to reply to commenters' questions in older videos, even if it is to direct them to contact you thru other means.
I used to hate bitter melon. But it once in a restaurant here where thinly sliced bitter melon (like strips with a mandolin), soaked in ice cold water to make it crunchy, and then dip in honey before eating. SOOOOOOO GOOOODDD
My favourite was in Ghangzhou where it was served super fresh and pure blanched with a side of soya sauce and fresh chilli dip. I devoured almost the whole plate!
I can totally relate to your pet peeve about dishes being called 'Thai' for no legimate reason. Mine is similar and it's about dishes being called Hawaiian just because it has pineapples in it. Pineapples were brought into Hawaii, so it's not even a native plant. Or worse yet, calling everyone in Hawaii a Hawaiian. It is being very disrepectable to the native people of Hawaii that has Hawaiian blood. I was born and raise in Hawaii, but don't call myself Hawaiian because I am not. Mahalo for this great Q & A!
Excellent. All the questions were interesting. Also, the skill of smearing cold butter on bread is something Americans learn at an early age and then never think about again.
oh... add on the the pictures, Thai food presentation. Usually there's a harmony with genuine Thai dishes especially in restaurants and sometimes in street foods. It's always aesthetically please. Like even with basic mango and sticky rice, sometimes there's different colors of sticky rice (mixed with pandan or palm sugar) or like in Som Tam, you get a mix and splashes of warm colours .Sometimes you get fruit cuttings that's closer to fruit carvings. I went to a restaurant in Krabi that plated their raw vegetables and sambal belacan with pea flowers.
Bittermelon straight up steamed is so bad but if you remove most of the bitterness it works really well with other strong tasting ingredients. My mom usually make a spicy bittermelon stir fry with a lot of dried anchovies it's surprisingly really good, it becomes almost like a condiment where you only take a little bit of it to eat with rice and other protein. I used to hate bittermelon in any form but this changed my mind 😂
I have never been to Thailand, but back in 2002 I took a Southeast Asian cooking class in San Francisco. The things I learned are incredible! First we shopped out by Seventh and Clements, NOT Chinatown. This area is where the locals get their Asian groceries. Second, we learned all of the different cooking methods and cool ingredients (like lemon grass & kaffir leaves) that you illustrate in your videos. I love Thai food! Especially the curries. Thanks for posting these.
Also, you should try a North Indian dish called Punjabi Bharwa Karela (Punjabi Stuffed Bitter Melon). It's fried and stuffed with caramelized onions and spices. Most of the strong bitterness is in the seeds, and they are often removed. However, some people like the crunch and extra bitterness and keep them in. I think the sweetness from the onions and heat from the spices tempers the bitterness to a more pleasant level. It goes well with roti or paranthas. I was trying to leave a link to a website with a recipe, but UA-cam keeps deleting my comment - hopefully this one sticks.
I absolutely concur on the bread and butter issue--I'll take the butter and place it on top of something warm for a few minutes and get back to it later. Oftentimes the basket of bread is toasty warm and wrapped in a towel, which is a nice warm place for my cold butter....
Cold butter is one of mine too! I was raised on a farm in NC, USA. We always had room-temperature butter. Love cooking SE Asia and you give me great ideas. SEA has some wonderful SE Asian restaurants. What are some suggestions for people that visiting your lovely city?❤
I love what you said about disliking seeing one Thai dish at a non-Thais restaurant. I feel the same whenever I see any random Thai, Chinese, Indian, Japanese etc. dish at a Western restaurant, except I've never verbalize why I dislike it as well as you did.
I totally agree with taking a look at the menu to find out if a place is authentic or not but I do think the demographics of the area really do influence what you'll find on the menu. My parents owned several restaurants all in different areas and catering to different demographics. The first one was in a white-majority area so most of the food we served was basic Thai food with Americanized Chinese food to stay in business. The second one was in an Asian majority area and we served much more authentic Thai dishes like guay jub. I admire those who are brave enough to add more unique and less common Thai dishes to their menus but in the end, but it all depends on whether the people around there will want to eat them or not.
I'm Thai but who wasn't a pad thai lover since I was born. One day, my life changed ever because I tried a bite of Pad Thai in Somtum restaurant at Mega Bangna, Bangkok. The restaurant's name is Tum Tum. It's my the best pad thai so far!
Great Q&A thank you!!! I learned so much in 15 minutes. And so excited to hear you and Kenji are doing an IRL event in Seattle, can't wait to hear more about it.
You almost had me with the red and green curry! On an unrelated note, religious restrictions prohibit my use of shrimp paste. What can I use instead (call it the impossible question)? Glad I found you, great channel-subscribing now!
I also just moved back to Seattle, and so will try to make everyone on this channel jealous by hopefully attending the local even with Kenji López-Alt!
@@adamthehtkminion6750 thanks! I have tried miso, but I haven’t been completely satisfied (sadly, I KNOW what shrimp paste tastes like, and I actually like it😢). I have tried shiro miso (white) and shinshu miso (yellow). Maybe I need to try aka miso (red) or even hatcho miso (dark red with no added grains).
Good to know Pad Thai is a lot like Brisket in the USA. That's how I imagined it, a good tasty dish that people do really like, but they dont eat it all the time. And restaurants have to put extra effort to include on the menu.
While in school, I worked at a Thai restaurant. The owners told us to always recommend "Pad Thai". One day, I asked "why?" He said the ingredients are cheap, it was the most profitable food.😅
I'd imagined Pad Se Ew was the cheapest. A restaurant near me charges $19 for either Pad Thai or Pad Se Ew. One comes with tofu, onion/chives, egg, peanut, sprouts and lime... The other is just a similar portion of noodles with egg broccoli and sauce. @@willowpitbull47
Padthai is one of those thing that occupies half the kitchen. Too much work for something that peopel don't order too often. You want Padthai, you go to Padthai place.
I, as a Thai, don't really order pad thai that much. If I crave for stir-fried noodles, I would go for Pad mee Korat. Maybe because I'm from Korat, but Pad mee Korat is more savory and spicy which I prefer more than Pad Thai.
I retired and immigrated to Thailand five years ago, I married a local Thai women a few years ago, she's a great cook. We used to eat pad Thai once a week, but that's dropped to once or twice a month. Usually we go to a shopping mall near the airport in Chiang Mai city. There's an old woman who works out of a tiny corner unit in the food court, she offers a few pad Thai options, normal or glass noodles, with or without shrimp. That's it! Why go to her? She has won Michelin stars for her pad Thai, it's the best pad Thai we've ever had. My in-laws like it, but don't eat it often, they'd rather have som tam, Khao soi, crispy pork, noodle soups, grapow, there are so many amazing dishes to eat in Thailand that pad Thai is just something to eat once ina while.
One of the best Pad Thai I've ever had was from a university canteen in Mahidol University's Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities in Salaya. And even though I'm foreigner, this Pad Thai was also madly popular between local students. The line was usually so long the vendor had to limit the order to 20 buyers with 1-2 orders of Pad Thai each.
I think part of what's behind those pad thai questions is that folks are wondering whether it's an "American" Thai dish in the way that most of what Americans find on "Chinese" menus isn't really "Chinese" but "American Chinese."
Just watched your Q&A. Great. I am addicted to your vlog, your smile, your sense of humor and am jealous of your husband. You are as he knows a beautiful lady AND you cook Thai. Anyway have you ever thought of giving us an overall recipe for a complete Thai dinner for company? An assembling of “these go well together” as a complete meal? That would be killer. A frustrated old Italian man wanna be Thai chef, Dominic
Hi Adam here - and that's an excellent question! If you want to ask her that one directly rather that put it out to the community though (as she doesn't see the comments on here once the post is more than a week old), you can check out all the options to get hold of her at hot-thai-kitchen.com/contact . (If you send an email I'll see it as well, so say hi :))Cheers!
From a falang on the ground in Thailand (กรุงเทพ, ธนบุรี represent, yo!): Pad Thai is a little hard to find sometimes because, as you said, it's kind of a specialty item i.e. fried noodle stalls are not that common in smaller markets. Thais will definitely line up for it if one is there though. The go-to that everybody eats, and you can find a stall selling it in every market, is Pad Ga Prao. (Make mine หมูกรอบ please.) Although as a falang, it's really hard to get the vendors to make it spicy enough. Takes me about three trips to the same vendor to get them trained up. ;) A problem in กรุงเทพ, not a problem in อีสาน lol. Speaking of spicy, I've found it really difficult to find a true red curry. Prik Geng or Prik Geng Pao, no problem, but those are usually stir-fries, not true (saucy/soupy) curries. I even had one vendor at a curry table (you know: the ones where they'll have multiple trays of different curries spread out and just spoon you out a bag on order, with no chance to de-spice it to falang levels) *refuse* to sell me her red curry. "Too hot for falang, you have this," and gave me something else. Lol. This is Thailand, as they say.
You are so right about not trusting us to be able to tolerate spicy food 😂 i went thru the same with my Mexican family. You gotta prove yourself. Only Mexicans tend to think its funny to overspice foods... its sweet the Thais dont want to cause harm 🥲
Oh no. The Thais will definitely bring the pain if you ask for it, then giggle and point at you while you suffer. But they only do that once they've gotten to know you, even then just occasionally. It's just for laughs and all in good fun. They're still sweet, but make no mistake; they can and will light you up sometimes.@@AliciaGuitar
@@AliciaGuitar Some yes, some no... I find Bangkok and tourist areas to be more problematic when ordering spicy food as there are too many tourists who think they can handle 'spicy food' and really can't. Up in the north east I find they don't really question whether you can or can't they make it as you order it... though I find for Papaya Salad just telling them how many chilies works well. When cooking Pad Grapao at a vendor where you interact with the cook - you can indicate more after they show you how much is going in as a default and it works out. When going out with Thais, I let them do the ordering anyway as I know my knowledge of what dishes complement others in a meal properly is lacking... and they know that I have no problem with tolerance (with the odd exception).
Yes. I am half Thai. My mom made papaya salad often and we loved it. In Las Vegas, I found a Thai restaurant that became my favorite Thai restaraunt in Las Vegas - Ocha. Better than Lotus Siam. So authentic. On my first visit, I ordered pad thai. Being smug, I asked for the highest spice level. It was so tasty, but almost unbearably spicy. I asked for a pitcher of water. The server thought it was so funny as did the white guy at the next table. He saw I was an amateur, lol. He was laughing and chomping on hot peppers while I was crying hot flames from my eyeballs. It didn't matter. I was hooked. They had beef jerky like my mom used to make. So tasty. I would still order papaya salad, but on a lower heat scale. Lol.
One of my favorite Thai restaurants uses broccoli in some dishes, but they use Chinese broccoli instead of regular broccoli. Which is a different taste & texture than regular broccoli.
Рік тому+1
One thing missing from the 'How to know if a Thai restaurant is "legit"' was your comment from the Prik Nam Pla video. "That if I'm in a Thai restaurant here and I asked for it, and they don't know what I'm talking about. I am walking out." Something I have started to look out for, since I watched that video.
I loved all of the questions and all of your answers, but when bitter melon came up you made me laugh! I do like bitter melon and all I do before stir frying it is to slice it and sprinkle a bit of salt on then let it sit for 15 minutes and rinse it off.
I'm Thai and have lived in Bangkok my whole life. I can't remember the last time I ate Pad Thai or had a friend who wanted to eat Pad Thai for lunch. My favorite Thai dish is Thai shrimp yellow curry.
I noted you were rather scornful about broccoli. I was reminded of the evenings when I sat at my favourite restaurant in Chiang Rai and watched the cook strip the skin of the Pak Kai Lan before cooking it. It was my favourite Thai vegetable. I thought I'd never be able to find it here in the UK but hey, we have long tender-stem broccoli which is almost the same as Kai Lan but not quite. Now I grow a selection of oriental herbs and vegetables my life has become more complete.
The pad thai question is almost the same to the phở question I get asked as a Vietnamese. It's great, it's nice and definitely easy to find but I mean we have a million more dishes to eat out with. And yes, bittermelon is the devil's creation.
Pai, you saved my bacon once I became a home cook WITH KIDS-all of your tips on rice have kept my children fed and happy and my kitchen that much hotter and Thai...er? Big thanks from a busy dad who loves to cook.
7:45 About Pad Thai. For Thai (Local) people, the common / daily dish would be "Pad Ka Prao" (ผัดกะเพรา) and "Khao Man Khai (ข้าวมันไก่)". Also you will never go wrong with Som Tum (ส้มตำ / Papaya Salad)
Pad Kraprow was one of my favorites as well as Yellow chicken curry. I love it hot like for Thai, when I told them make it Thai hot they looked at me crooked until I assured them I cou8ld eat it super hot. I really learned to love hot spicy food in Thailand. I always especially loved Som dtum gup gai yang.
@@Nico-vv4pb I'd say Khao Ka Moo is common but a bit less ubiquitous, it's more along the lines of Pad Thai where you have places that specifically serve a set of similar rice dishes like the chicken rice, pork leg (ka moo) rice, etc. It's slightly more specialized, where as Pad Kaprao is very ubiquitous, any cart or place which makes regular Thai food will have it.
I used to hate bitter melons so so much as a kid. Now that I'm older I rather like them (if they are done right). Guess when you have lived for a bit, you kinda appreciate all flavours in food...just like in life. But I agree that it's a pain to cook them properly.
Best instructional cook on Utube bar none, informative, fun, accurate, and authentic, something you see little of in Uk thai restaurant's unfortunately, red and green curry and spring rolls are not staples in thailand :-) Thanks Palin made my day :-)
Pai if you’re ever in Melbourne Australia I strongly recommend Yim Yam - best Thai/Laotian restaurant I’ve ever eaten at. So many unique things on their menu - my favourite is the duck crepe with Asian slaw and dill sauce
On the topic of "legit" restaurants, i generally avoid "asian fusion" restaurants because it often feels like an excuse to not use standard/authentic ingredients.
Life after the baby comes along. We all think our lives were full and busy, but after the baby arrived we looked at each other and said "What did we used to do with all the free time we had before?" Thanks for a great video Pai. Oh my, I do like bitter mellon seeded and sliced into half rounds then simmered in mung bean soup. YUM!!! 555
Hi Pai. I hope you get to meet someone from Okinawa, Japan so you can try an authentic Goya Champuru that uses also Okinawan Tofu. They will explain to you how to enjoy it, bitterness and all. It is an acquired taste yes, but as a Filipino, when i cooked Ginisang Ampalaya (sauteed bittermelon with eggs, quite similar to goya champuru minus the tofu),I prefer to leave the bitterness
There's another vegetable called "Chayote" (Thai: ฟักแม้ว, มะระหวาน), its texture is just like bittermelon but it isn't bitter at all. My mom always calls it kid-friendly bittermelon haha
Hello Pailin. There is a rumor that eating bitter melon helps a person deal with diabetes. Some people say their diabetes is much better after eating bitter melon on a regular basis.
Always good to see someone with the correct take on bitter melon. I had it once in a Filipino dish that included cow bile as one of the ingredients. To this day, I suspect that the bile was in there to improve the taste of the bitter melon.
Bitten melon is popular in some parts of china. We dont get rid of the bitter taste of it but lower it down so it combines well with other ingredients.
I found out I have Celiac and unfortunately can't eat the pad thai dishes from my local Thai restaurants anymore. I still can have some curries and salads. But if I want Pad Thai I get it from a sushi restaurant that can make it gluten free- it feels so wrong! I miss authentic Pad Thai - maybe I'll have to make it myself sometime!
We have a Thai and Laos restaurant here in OKC, Four J's, run by a husband and wife. She's from Thailand and he's from Laos. It is some of the best food I've ever eaten! I HATED curry until I had hers! She makes, green, red, yellow and massaman curries. Each is wonderfully different and so intensely flavorful! And their pad Thai is out of this world. It is so nice having authentic Thai food close by!
For legit-ness, you mentioned an interesting menu. I love finding the northern Thailand or laos restaurant. Thats when youre guarantee to have the good stuff. Its funny that its always a separate menu from the main standard options
Awesome questions and extremely helpful answers! I lived in BKK for five years and I miss the people and food every day! Your videos are extremely helpful for when I want to recreate legit Thai food in the States....kap khun ka :)
Really appreciate you, Pai! Love Thai food and learned a few from courses in Thailand, your recipes are great and one of the ones I check when experimenting . Thank you for sharing so much.
Bittermellon hater here as well! 🙌🏻 Sometimes I wonder why people even think to eat it. I tried it steamed with meat, stir fried, even my mom told me she already took the bitterness with salt. Nope, still bitter 😂 I rather have raw zuchinni lol
Enjoyed this episode lots, all great questions and what fantastic answers by Pai Lin . Love your videos, Pai Lin. One of my favorite chef of all time. ❤ imagine this, I’m living in Thailand but I look for Pai Lin in Vancouver for my Thai or Chinese dish recipes 😂
Love your video! I'm from Singapore and we have lots of Thai restaurants which are standalones or stalls in food courts and hawker centres. I nearly always order a dish of Pad Thai if I'm trying out a Thai restaurant or food stall for the first time. If the dish sucks then it means that the chef may not be authentically Thai or is a Thai who doesn't know how to cook it. And I can tell you most of them are not up to standard. Which is a pity as Pad Thai is one of my favourite Thai dishes. That said, the other dishes usually taste okay so I take note not to order the Pad Thai again when visiting that particular restaurant.
I am often looking for the Thai select stamp of approval. I am a fussy eater too when it comes to Thai food. Another fact is that only a few Thai items actually use peanuts in them. Thailand is not the peanut hell many people think it is. I go to places where local Thais eat themselves, and where the food is prepared with love. Actually, I often cooked way better Thai food at home using authentic Thai products, and authentic recipes. Thai food is a delicious mix of Indian and Chinese influences made into their own unique Thai cuisine. I only have a few thai places I go in my home town, and one of them has a Thai select stamp. I always tell the Danish guy who owns it to make sure big boss is cooking my food (his Thai wife).
OK... so I just discovered and subscribed to your channel and have been sort of binging your content over the past week or so. I have to say this is one of my favorite of your videos. The bitter melon rant is hilarious, especially the way you deliver "How about a zucchini???".
Hilarious. You are always so sweet and "Thai' and "sabai" in all your vids, and suddenly, you go off on hard butter. Loved it. Going to BKK on Wednesday, can't wait for some chicken rice with lots of ginger. yum. (maybe your grandma's? )
As a Thai I do agree with Pai when it comes to Pad Thai, I only eat Pad Thai in Thailand! It's too good to be served in a restaurant with multiple dishes.
HAHAHA... Pailin, your rants got me laughing. I can relate to the things you said. Yeah, finding food purportedly from a country when I'm in a restaurant serving other stuff makes me mad. That part about cold butter too. Lol. 🤣
After being a visitor for more than 20 years in Thailand a "plate of stereotype" is exactly what you get when trying to order a non- thai dish (on the menu) at a restaurant unless it is owned by a falang. Not that I don't somewhat agree with the video on thai food in thewest, but to be honest there are more "fake" western food in thailand than "fake" thai food in the west according to my experience. But my experience is limited to 15-20 european countries and 6-7 us states, so my perception might be skewed.
For the "Do Thai people eat Pad Thai" question, I think it makes perfect sense they totally do, but maybe not every day, and also what you said about restaurants specializing in Pad Thai. I have made Pad Thai myself, from your recipes by the way Pailin! And it's quite a lot of work, especially making the sauce. It makes sense that you'd want to make giant batches of sauces so you don't have to constantly make it. If you're gonna do that, you should probably specialize in it!! Restaurants here buy cheap ready-made pad thai sauce... which works on most people... until you've made you own. Then the restaurant ones are disgusting XD
Here's the thing about cold butter from a food service worker. Since butter is made from cream, in the US the same health code laws that apply to milk and other dairy products apply to butter. If a health inspector finds room temprature butter, the restaurant will get a fine. The same problem comes up with cheese plates because most fancy cheese is meant to be eaten at room temprature. From my experience, cheese is left out at room temp with the odds of an inspection that late in the day extremely low. But I've worked at a place that got inspected during thanksgiving dinner, so anything is possible and that's what they get for being open on thanksgiving.
So funny, my wife and I have the same pet peevees with butter. When we go to the diner for breakfast, they will serve you indivual butter chips from the fridge and there is no way you can spread this on a bread or pancake. What I would normally do is to hold a hand full of butter in my palm to start softening them while waiting for my breakfast to arrive. I use to put it in my pocket for some body heat until my wife told me that the waiter might thing that I am stealing the butter. LOL
I look for a picture of the Thai king somewhere in the restaurant when I'm seeking authentic Thai food. Has never failed.
The "cash register Buddha" covered in coins is less reliable. 😉
Woww. You are an expert!
I agree it’s like magic when the restaurant have a picture of Thai king they always have delicious food !!! 😂😂
@@jJ-yr7wj lol😅
The first time I saw the king’s picture I asked the waiter who that person was. The answer got me so confused 😅
As a Thai, I do eat pad thai. We all do eat pad thai, but not all the time. It's just a dish. It became the national dish because the government said so. A very generalized history ofnit is that they invented the recipe during the time where Thailand need strong identity to escape colonialism plus the rice shortage due to wartime was real back then. The dish that is more ubiquotous that people really do eat more all the time is Pad Kaprao.
Second that !
That turned out to be a success as Thailand is the only SE Asian country that has never been colonised. But I don't understand how the dish helped fight rice shortage as the noodles themselves are made from rice.
Rice noodles are lighter than rice. In other word, noodles have lesser density than rice. A large portion of rice noodle gives an apparent of a large meal. add the fast growing bean sprout to it. You can feed more people.😄
@@Jeffffrey0902 Wow you know that Thailand is the only SEA country never been colonised. I am impressed with your knowledge and feel honoured at the same time. Thanks.
Pad thai was invented during the time of PM. Plaek (จอมพล แปลก พิบูลย์สงคราม)
He was the PM during WWII when there were many turmoils from political unrests after the revolution from absolute monarchy to democracy, food/supplies scarcity in WWII, to the spread of communism.
( Well, colonialism was not really a serious threat by that time because the western countries had jumped into WWI&WWII and became weaker.
The colonialism was a "HUGE" threat around year 18xx long before the WWI and we Siam (old name of Thailand) pretty much avoided being colonised by executing the King Rama V's strategies. )
PM Plaek thought nationalism was the key to strenghten up the country. So he launched many policies based on the idea of nationalism.
For example, changing the name of country from Siam to Thailand, so-call-modernising citizens' way of life (and of course inventing a national easy dish Pad Thai), simplifying Thai language, etc.
Some policies' consequences are given up and some still live on.
Why Pad Thai? The word "Thai" was used because of the nationalism. Noodle was used because it's cheaper than the whole grain rice. Noodle can be made from broken grains.
@@jJ-yr7wj I feel embarrassed because I didn't get good grades in history. 🙈 But since I'm from Hong Kong, a former British colony, it's nice to know a few things about colonialism in Asia. Thanks for answering my question about the noodles. Have a great weekend! 😁
I was in a small dirt road town in Kanchanaburi and my mototaxi driver said his wife could make me Pad Thai if I was hungry. I thought he was stereotyping me as a farang that only eats pad thai, but turns out his wife ran a street stall that specialized in pad thai made to order. Best I’ve ever had. I can attest that it is a real thing in Thailand!
I have lived in Thailand for 20 years and yes Pad Thai exists and there are market stalls that sell it but it is far down the list.
Let’s do something sooner than later!
pleeeeeeeeeaz
I NEED THIS
Why aren’t there more 👍 ?? We need them.
I'm Thai and I love good pad Thai. I don't know why people think that Thai people don't eat padthai, which baffles me. Thai people do eat padthai, but we don't eat padthai everyday, just like we don't eat curry every day, or we don't eat pad krapow everyday. Also, Thai people eat padthai as a stand alone dish, and it is a one person dish, we don't share padthai. Maybe this is the reason why foreigners don't see Thai people order padthai in Thai restaurants. In proper Thai dinner, all dishes like curries, tom yum kung, tungtong, todman, etc. are put at the center of the table and to be shared by everyone, and everyone have their own plate of rice. So it's kind of weird ordering padthai for yourself when you're supposed to be having shared meal with everyone else.
I literally saw a video the other day with millions of views saying, I am a thai person and no one here eats pad thai, we eat pad kee mao instead. So probably supposedly thai people who say thai people don't eat pad thai is why!
From my experience most people eat padthai like once a year or at most every quarter. Theres exceptions on a few who really like it and have it every week.
Hard to compair it to pad krapao or other dishes. It might be a gen z kind of thing thou. Alot of gen z never even tried padthai b4
It's just maybe because people are getting more culturally sensitive and things starts to get overcorrected. it's similar to Chinese food where a lot of my non-Asian friends in US now would usually be joking that is not real Chinese food when discussing my heritage -- which it's half-true because dishes like 糖醋里脊(TangCuLiJi) and 咕咾肉(GuLaoRou) do exist, but they are not in the form that Panda Express and P.F. Chang serve, and certainly not what Chines people eat everyday given the abundance of choices. We just need to keep educating people on the nuance of each cuisine so that people have a full understanding.
My Thai family eats padthai but not often. Much less often then other street foods like pad see ew, pad Krapao,and Khao man gai. And they prefer fish and fish and more fish in every form! It’s like if you they see a good padthai cart and it’s lunchtime, you’re going for it. Honestly it’s not that easy to find now. In the 90’s most bak soi markets had one padthai cart. Not anymore.
“A plate of stereotype…” You have finally nailed this for all the cuisines out there. A great public service. Thank you! 👏👏👏
Stereotype is a good way of describing Pad Thai for the tourists. People were always surprised when I would ordered real Thai food in Thai, my ex wife taught me to speak Thai with a bit of an accent from Southern Thailand. My Thai is very strong though I'm a little rusty now, I left Thailand in 2001. But I love to practice my Thai when I go to Thai restaurants locally. I'm a big burly white guy, but my Thai is really good. Only problem, the waitresses try to catch me for a boyfriend/husband, I almost hate telling them I'm gay and I already have a husband, But I've already had two wives and that's enough for one lifetime.
omg I have never heard anything more accurate in my life when describing "Thai" menu items at non-Thai restaurants lmao
I've seen a grand total of 3 videos from you in the past day and I'm already in love with your sense of humor. The "how about a zucchini" delivery was perfect.
Hahaha, I'll let you know when I have a standup show.
That really made me laugh! I’m new to this channel as someone who’s become quite Thai-curious as of late and I’m loving it. Thanks Pailin!
Thats why Ive been a viewer for more than a decade! You learn to cook these dishes and you get some laughs
@@PailinsKitchen You always stand up to cook!
I love bittermelom! Bitter flavor tastes so good 😋 😍 😜 😊 😩
Thank you for addressing the bread and butter issue. I don't feel alone in my struggle now. LOL
#stopthecoldbutter
Sometimes, I think they must put it into the freezer to make it extra hard for their amusement!
If you watch Succession, there is a line in the show about how ‘the butter is frozen’. 😂😂😂
All they really have to do is serve warm bread. But, alas, restaurants have been getting stingier.
I've been complaining about it for decades lol, you see how much some things never change.
I’m Thai and I’d like to second this. I like to eat Pad Thai but only from time to time. That’s because we Thai people have so many options to choose to eat. But whenever I crave Pad Thai, I go find and enjoy a nice dish of Pad Thai.
I asked the same question about bitter melon to my family during my childhood years. But over the years when I grew older, I enjoy eating recipes with bitter melons and somehow bypass the bitter taste. It has a lot of potent vitamins and health benefits that cannot be underestimated!
@@user-ph3ji8gp3pTastebuds just vary, I think
I love bittergourd (same thing as bitter melon as far as I can tell) - and always have, even as a very young kid. Like, I have eaten sauteed bittergourd straight out of the fridge as a snack, in my childhood. My parents OTOH _hate_ it, and always have. They had to be forced by _their_ parents to eat it, well into adulthood (because good for health, etc). Once their parents passed, mine just stopped eating it, lol.
We Chinese soak them in alkaline water before cooking to get rid of the bitterness
Yeah, I never really like the taste of bitter melons. My mom would cook these with the melon stuffed in the middle with ground pork in a soup. I guess people eat available things and continue to eat them even though they are not tasty. Look at stinky tofu! I tried it three times and still can't stand them. As someone stated before, why not just eat regular tofu!
We stayed in Thailand for 3 weeks and I already miss the food and the people so much. I tasted so many different dishes. 😋 And I love Thai values and respect we can learn from in the West.
The broccoli in in the photo, yes. Thought you were going to mention the no spoon. The places that have one "Thai" dish and it's got peanuts cracked me up! My Greek friends go crazy with a "Greek" dish that just has feta in it. Thanks for the tips in setting up a full meal.
When you said that thing about geniune Thai restaurants I had to check one of my favourites. It is located in a very small Swedish village (we have a lot of Thai immigrants, there is decent Thai practically everywhere) but this one is exceptional. So I decided to check the details of the menu and yes, they have a lot of nonstandard items, and nothing in the way of sushi or other non-Thai Asian food.
Now I am even more looking forward to my next work trip there in a few weeks.
Also, my take on "genuine food" is that the food need to be eaten in the right environment. That divine light white win you sip in the shade in Mediterranean summer can become a sour, watery mess in winter in the Scottish mountains.
I think the same is true for produce, they need to be grown reasonably close to where they are used, in the right soil and climate.
That said, you can get delicious food that is _not_ "genuine" but still reminds you of the dishes you miss from home. (In a world where I spend a decade abroad that might happen).
Bitter melon is good when you can taste the kind of slightly sweet aftertaste. It's like when you drink good plain tea or coffee, when you feel the kind of refreshing "sweetness" afterwards. Also, if you make it less bitter then add other strong tasting things to it, like stir fry it in fermented black-bean sauce with beef, or cook it with salty duck egg, or drip honey on cold crunchy bitter melon, the refreshing taste of bitter lemon makes a fantastic combination with the strong flavor.
What I like about this channel is that you make an effort to reply to commenters' questions in older videos, even if it is to direct them to contact you thru other means.
I used to hate bitter melon. But it once in a restaurant here where thinly sliced bitter melon (like strips with a mandolin), soaked in ice cold water to make it crunchy, and then dip in honey before eating.
SOOOOOOO GOOOODDD
My favourite was in Ghangzhou where it was served super fresh and pure blanched with a side of soya sauce and fresh chilli dip. I devoured almost the whole plate!
I can totally relate to your pet peeve about dishes being called 'Thai' for no legimate reason. Mine is similar and it's about dishes being called Hawaiian just because it has pineapples in it. Pineapples were brought into Hawaii, so it's not even a native plant. Or worse yet, calling everyone in Hawaii a Hawaiian. It is being very disrepectable to the native people of Hawaii that has Hawaiian blood. I was born and raise in Hawaii, but don't call myself Hawaiian because I am not.
Mahalo for this great Q & A!
And the Hawaiian pizza was invented in Canada…
Favorite quote from a teacher of mine:
"What makes this pizza California?"
"We just put avocado on it."
@@Jeffffrey0902 There's no such thing as a Hawaiian pizza!
Excellent. All the questions were interesting. Also, the skill of smearing cold butter on bread is something Americans learn at an early age and then never think about again.
I'm American and I don't smear butter on bread. For me, butter is more for frying food or for use in baking.
@@DarDarBinks1986 What do you put on your bread?
oh... add on the the pictures, Thai food presentation. Usually there's a harmony with genuine Thai dishes especially in restaurants and sometimes in street foods. It's always aesthetically please. Like even with basic mango and sticky rice, sometimes there's different colors of sticky rice (mixed with pandan or palm sugar) or like in Som Tam, you get a mix and splashes of warm colours .Sometimes you get fruit cuttings that's closer to fruit carvings. I went to a restaurant in Krabi that plated their raw vegetables and sambal belacan with pea flowers.
Bittermelon straight up steamed is so bad but if you remove most of the bitterness it works really well with other strong tasting ingredients. My mom usually make a spicy bittermelon stir fry with a lot of dried anchovies it's surprisingly really good, it becomes almost like a condiment where you only take a little bit of it to eat with rice and other protein. I used to hate bittermelon in any form but this changed my mind 😂
Put it in Filipino Tinola or Tagalog Pinabek
Or fry with tomatoes and garlic, then stir in mixed eggs - amazing scrambled eggs 😂
I have never been to Thailand, but back in 2002 I took a Southeast Asian cooking class in San Francisco. The things I learned are incredible! First we shopped out by Seventh and Clements, NOT Chinatown. This area is where the locals get their Asian groceries. Second, we learned all of the different cooking methods and cool ingredients (like lemon grass & kaffir leaves) that you illustrate in your videos. I love Thai food! Especially the curries. Thanks for posting these.
Also, you should try a North Indian dish called Punjabi Bharwa Karela (Punjabi Stuffed Bitter Melon). It's fried and stuffed with caramelized onions and spices. Most of the strong bitterness is in the seeds, and they are often removed. However, some people like the crunch and extra bitterness and keep them in. I think the sweetness from the onions and heat from the spices tempers the bitterness to a more pleasant level. It goes well with roti or paranthas. I was trying to leave a link to a website with a recipe, but UA-cam keeps deleting my comment - hopefully this one sticks.
I absolutely concur on the bread and butter issue--I'll take the butter and place it on top of something warm for a few minutes and get back to it later.
Oftentimes the basket of bread is toasty warm and wrapped in a towel, which is a nice warm place for my cold butter....
Cold butter is one of mine too! I was raised on a farm in NC, USA. We always had room-temperature butter. Love cooking SE Asia and you give me great ideas. SEA has some wonderful SE Asian restaurants. What are some suggestions for people that visiting your lovely city?❤
Bitter melon is great! Try Okinawan Goya Chanpuru with lots of kōrēgūsu (chilis infused in rice alcohol) is fantastic and may change your mind. ❤
Taco rice > Goya champuru
I love what you said about disliking seeing one Thai dish at a non-Thais restaurant. I feel the same whenever I see any random Thai, Chinese, Indian, Japanese etc. dish at a Western restaurant, except I've never verbalize why I dislike it as well as you did.
I'm Thai and I have padthai very often. I love it.
Your energy is infectious! Makes me want to cook new things!
She seems to be a genuinely happy person. They don't call Thailand "The Land of Smiles"for nothing!
I just discovered your channel...and I love your sense of humor! I can now see more Thai food in my future.
I totally agree with taking a look at the menu to find out if a place is authentic or not but I do think the demographics of the area really do influence what you'll find on the menu. My parents owned several restaurants all in different areas and catering to different demographics. The first one was in a white-majority area so most of the food we served was basic Thai food with Americanized Chinese food to stay in business. The second one was in an Asian majority area and we served much more authentic Thai dishes like guay jub.
I admire those who are brave enough to add more unique and less common Thai dishes to their menus but in the end, but it all depends on whether the people around there will want to eat them or not.
I'm Thai but who wasn't a pad thai lover since I was born. One day, my life changed ever because I tried a bite of Pad Thai in Somtum restaurant at Mega Bangna, Bangkok. The restaurant's name is Tum Tum. It's my the best pad thai so far!
Great Q&A thank you!!! I learned so much in 15 minutes. And so excited to hear you and Kenji are doing an IRL event in Seattle, can't wait to hear more about it.
Thai Jasmine rice is a must in Thai food. It make the dish 50% more delicious.
My favorite one stop favorite Thai expert🥰 when I started watch your channel, I have learned to love and appreciate Thai food.
You almost had me with the red and green curry!
On an unrelated note, religious restrictions prohibit my use of shrimp paste. What can I use instead (call it the impossible question)?
Glad I found you, great channel-subscribing now!
Hi Adam here! ... and not impossible :) ... in fact there is a sub suggestion (miso) in hot-thai-kitchen.com/vegan-green-curry/. Cheers and have fun!
I also just moved back to Seattle, and so will try to make everyone on this channel jealous by hopefully attending the local even with Kenji López-Alt!
@@adamthehtkminion6750 thanks! I have tried miso, but I haven’t been completely satisfied (sadly, I KNOW what shrimp paste tastes like, and I actually like it😢). I have tried shiro miso (white) and shinshu miso (yellow). Maybe I need to try aka miso (red) or even hatcho miso (dark red with no added grains).
Good to know Pad Thai is a lot like Brisket in the USA. That's how I imagined it, a good tasty dish that people do really like, but they dont eat it all the time. And restaurants have to put extra effort to include on the menu.
Totally!
While in school, I worked at a Thai restaurant. The owners told us to always recommend "Pad Thai". One day, I asked "why?" He said the ingredients are cheap, it was the most profitable food.😅
I'd imagined Pad Se Ew was the cheapest. A restaurant near me charges $19 for either Pad Thai or Pad Se Ew. One comes with tofu, onion/chives, egg, peanut, sprouts and lime... The other is just a similar portion of noodles with egg broccoli and sauce. @@willowpitbull47
Padthai is one of those thing that occupies half the kitchen. Too much work for something that peopel don't order too often. You want Padthai, you go to Padthai place.
I, as a Thai, don't really order pad thai that much. If I crave for stir-fried noodles, I would go for Pad mee Korat. Maybe because I'm from Korat, but Pad mee Korat is more savory and spicy which I prefer more than Pad Thai.
I retired and immigrated to Thailand five years ago, I married a local Thai women a few years ago, she's a great cook.
We used to eat pad Thai once a week, but that's dropped to once or twice a month.
Usually we go to a shopping mall near the airport in Chiang Mai city. There's an old woman who works out of a tiny corner unit in the food court, she offers a few pad Thai options, normal or glass noodles, with or without shrimp. That's it!
Why go to her? She has won Michelin stars for her pad Thai, it's the best pad Thai we've ever had.
My in-laws like it, but don't eat it often, they'd rather have som tam, Khao soi, crispy pork, noodle soups, grapow, there are so many amazing dishes to eat in Thailand that pad Thai is just something to eat once ina while.
“Why do we grow these things?!” 🤣. Personally, I have a similar feeling about oysters. Love your channel❤️
One of the best Pad Thai I've ever had was from a university canteen in Mahidol University's Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities in Salaya. And even though I'm foreigner, this Pad Thai was also madly popular between local students. The line was usually so long the vendor had to limit the order to 20 buyers with 1-2 orders of Pad Thai each.
I think part of what's behind those pad thai questions is that folks are wondering whether it's an "American" Thai dish in the way that most of what Americans find on "Chinese" menus isn't really "Chinese" but "American Chinese."
Just watched your Q&A. Great. I am addicted to your vlog, your smile, your sense of humor and am jealous of your husband. You are as he knows a beautiful lady AND you cook Thai. Anyway have you ever thought of giving us an overall recipe for a complete Thai dinner for company? An assembling of “these go well together” as a complete meal? That would be killer.
A frustrated old Italian man wanna be Thai chef,
Dominic
Hi Adam here - and that's an excellent question! If you want to ask her that one directly rather that put it out to the community though (as she doesn't see the comments on here once the post is more than a week old), you can check out all the options to get hold of her at hot-thai-kitchen.com/contact . (If you send an email I'll see it as well, so say hi :))Cheers!
From a falang on the ground in Thailand (กรุงเทพ, ธนบุรี represent, yo!): Pad Thai is a little hard to find sometimes because, as you said, it's kind of a specialty item i.e. fried noodle stalls are not that common in smaller markets. Thais will definitely line up for it if one is there though. The go-to that everybody eats, and you can find a stall selling it in every market, is Pad Ga Prao. (Make mine หมูกรอบ please.) Although as a falang, it's really hard to get the vendors to make it spicy enough. Takes me about three trips to the same vendor to get them trained up. ;) A problem in กรุงเทพ, not a problem in อีสาน lol.
Speaking of spicy, I've found it really difficult to find a true red curry. Prik Geng or Prik Geng Pao, no problem, but those are usually stir-fries, not true (saucy/soupy) curries. I even had one vendor at a curry table (you know: the ones where they'll have multiple trays of different curries spread out and just spoon you out a bag on order, with no chance to de-spice it to falang levels) *refuse* to sell me her red curry. "Too hot for falang, you have this," and gave me something else. Lol. This is Thailand, as they say.
555 your comment gave me a good laugh. Cool! :)
You are so right about not trusting us to be able to tolerate spicy food 😂 i went thru the same with my Mexican family. You gotta prove yourself. Only Mexicans tend to think its funny to overspice foods... its sweet the Thais dont want to cause harm 🥲
Oh no. The Thais will definitely bring the pain if you ask for it, then giggle and point at you while you suffer. But they only do that once they've gotten to know you, even then just occasionally. It's just for laughs and all in good fun. They're still sweet, but make no mistake; they can and will light you up sometimes.@@AliciaGuitar
@@AliciaGuitar Some yes, some no... I find Bangkok and tourist areas to be more problematic when ordering spicy food as there are too many tourists who think they can handle 'spicy food' and really can't. Up in the north east I find they don't really question whether you can or can't they make it as you order it... though I find for Papaya Salad just telling them how many chilies works well. When cooking Pad Grapao at a vendor where you interact with the cook - you can indicate more after they show you how much is going in as a default and it works out. When going out with Thais, I let them do the ordering anyway as I know my knowledge of what dishes complement others in a meal properly is lacking... and they know that I have no problem with tolerance (with the odd exception).
Yes. I am half Thai. My mom made papaya salad often and we loved it.
In Las Vegas, I found a Thai restaurant that became my favorite Thai restaraunt in Las Vegas - Ocha. Better than Lotus Siam.
So authentic. On my first visit, I ordered pad thai. Being smug, I asked for the highest spice level.
It was so tasty, but almost unbearably spicy. I asked for a pitcher of water.
The server thought it was so funny as did the white guy at the next table. He saw I was an amateur, lol. He was laughing and chomping on hot peppers while I was crying hot flames from my eyeballs.
It didn't matter. I was hooked. They had beef jerky like my mom used to make. So tasty. I would still order papaya salad, but on a lower heat scale. Lol.
🥦Poor broccoli! This was a very interesting and entertaining video as always, Khun Pai. Thank you!
One of my favorite Thai restaurants uses broccoli in some dishes, but they use Chinese broccoli instead of regular broccoli. Which is a different taste & texture than regular broccoli.
One thing missing from the 'How to know if a Thai restaurant is "legit"' was your comment from the Prik Nam Pla video.
"That if I'm in a Thai restaurant here and I asked for it, and they don't know what I'm talking about. I am walking out."
Something I have started to look out for, since I watched that video.
I loved when you mentioned using restaurant candle to either melt butter or toast the bread. Made me laugh but it's so true!
I loved all of the questions and all of your answers, but when bitter melon came up you made me laugh! I do like bitter melon and all I do before stir frying it is to slice it and sprinkle a bit of salt on then let it sit for 15 minutes and rinse it off.
Outstanding , Outstanding , Outstanding !!! Thank you so much !!!
Your sense of humor is greatly appreciated !!!
I'm Thai and have lived in Bangkok my whole life. I can't remember the last time I ate Pad Thai or had a friend who wanted to eat Pad Thai for lunch.
My favorite Thai dish is Thai shrimp yellow curry.
I noted you were rather scornful about broccoli. I was reminded of the evenings when I sat at my favourite restaurant in Chiang Rai and watched the cook strip the skin of the Pak Kai Lan before cooking it. It was my favourite Thai vegetable. I thought I'd never be able to find it here in the UK but hey, we have long tender-stem broccoli which is almost the same as Kai Lan but not quite. Now I grow a selection of oriental herbs and vegetables my life has become more complete.
Woo so glad you shouted out Siam sunset! Great place and I feel like LA is blessed with so many good Thai places.
Lovely to get your personal opinions and views on a lot of great topics ✨️ interesting and a lot to learn from. Always loved your recipes 🎉
The pad thai question is almost the same to the phở question I get asked as a Vietnamese. It's great, it's nice and definitely easy to find but I mean we have a million more dishes to eat out with.
And yes, bittermelon is the devil's creation.
Pai, you saved my bacon once I became a home cook WITH KIDS-all of your tips on rice have kept my children fed and happy and my kitchen that much hotter and Thai...er? Big thanks from a busy dad who loves to cook.
YESSSS!!! I’m not alone in my hatred of bitter melons! I don’t care how you cut/cook/prep them, IT IS PURE NASTINESS 😂😂😂
YEEEEESSS! Worst vegetable ever 😂
7:45 About Pad Thai. For Thai (Local) people, the common / daily dish would be "Pad Ka Prao" (ผัดกะเพรา) and "Khao Man Khai (ข้าวมันไก่)". Also you will never go wrong with Som Tum (ส้มตำ / Papaya Salad)
Pad Kraprow was one of my favorites as well as Yellow chicken curry. I love it hot like for Thai, when I told them make it Thai hot they looked at me crooked until I assured them I cou8ld eat it super hot. I really learned to love hot spicy food in Thailand. I always especially loved Som dtum gup gai yang.
Moo tod kratiem or moo krob was my favorite.
about khao ka moo? I love Thai food and i love khao man khai / som tum / khao ka moo
@@Nico-vv4pb I'd say Khao Ka Moo is common but a bit less ubiquitous, it's more along the lines of Pad Thai where you have places that specifically serve a set of similar rice dishes like the chicken rice, pork leg (ka moo) rice, etc. It's slightly more specialized, where as Pad Kaprao is very ubiquitous, any cart or place which makes regular Thai food will have it.
I used to hate bitter melons so so much as a kid. Now that I'm older I rather like them (if they are done right). Guess when you have lived for a bit, you kinda appreciate all flavours in food...just like in life. But I agree that it's a pain to cook them properly.
You inspired me to get a rice cooker, and life is so much better. So big thanks
Best instructional cook on Utube bar none, informative, fun, accurate, and authentic, something you see little of in Uk thai restaurant's unfortunately, red and green curry and spring rolls are not staples in thailand :-) Thanks Palin made my day :-)
Pai if you’re ever in Melbourne Australia I strongly recommend Yim Yam - best Thai/Laotian restaurant I’ve ever eaten at. So many unique things on their menu - my favourite is the duck crepe with Asian slaw and dill sauce
Thanks! I'll pass that on :) Cheers! Adam
also the best waterfall beef salad I've ever had
You are great. I 100% agree with you about serving cold butter! You always make me LOL. Keep telling it like it is!
On the topic of "legit" restaurants, i generally avoid "asian fusion" restaurants because it often feels like an excuse to not use standard/authentic ingredients.
Life after the baby comes along. We all think our lives were full and busy, but after the baby arrived we looked at each other and said "What did we used to do with all the free time we had before?" Thanks for a great video Pai. Oh my, I do like bitter mellon seeded and sliced into half rounds then simmered in mung bean soup. YUM!!! 555
I love Bitter Melon with soybean paste and chilis in a mushroom broth soup.
Also thai Lanna in canton ohio has a pork jungle curry
Hi Pai. I hope you get to meet someone from Okinawa, Japan so you can try an authentic Goya Champuru that uses also Okinawan Tofu. They will explain to you how to enjoy it, bitterness and all. It is an acquired taste yes, but as a Filipino, when i cooked Ginisang Ampalaya (sauteed bittermelon with eggs, quite similar to goya champuru minus the tofu),I prefer to leave the bitterness
There's another vegetable called "Chayote" (Thai: ฟักแม้ว, มะระหวาน), its texture is just like bittermelon but it isn't bitter at all. My mom always calls it kid-friendly bittermelon haha
Hello Pailin. There is a rumor that eating bitter melon helps a person deal with diabetes. Some people say their diabetes is much better after eating bitter melon on a regular basis.
Always good to see someone with the correct take on bitter melon. I had it once in a Filipino dish that included cow bile as one of the ingredients. To this day, I suspect that the bile was in there to improve the taste of the bitter melon.
Bitten melon is popular in some parts of china. We dont get rid of the bitter taste of it but lower it down so it combines well with other ingredients.
Great AMA, Pai! I especially love your demonstration on prepping multiple foods at a time. I imagine this can be for those weekly meal plan thing.
Siam Sunset is great! My dad and I dine there all the time
I found out I have Celiac and unfortunately can't eat the pad thai dishes from my local Thai restaurants anymore. I still can have some curries and salads. But if I want Pad Thai I get it from a sushi restaurant that can make it gluten free- it feels so wrong! I miss authentic Pad Thai - maybe I'll have to make it myself sometime!
Ugh shrimp paste fried rice 🤤 I would love more adventurous thai recipes like that.
We have a Thai and Laos restaurant here in OKC, Four J's, run by a husband and wife. She's from Thailand and he's from Laos. It is some of the best food I've ever eaten! I HATED curry until I had hers! She makes, green, red, yellow and massaman curries. Each is wonderfully different and so intensely flavorful! And their pad Thai is out of this world. It is so nice having authentic Thai food close by!
For legit-ness, you mentioned an interesting menu. I love finding the northern Thailand or laos restaurant. Thats when youre guarantee to have the good stuff. Its funny that its always a separate menu from the main standard options
Awesome questions and extremely helpful answers! I lived in BKK for five years and I miss the people and food every day! Your videos are extremely helpful for when I want to recreate legit Thai food in the States....kap khun ka :)
Really appreciate you, Pai! Love Thai food and learned a few from courses in Thailand, your recipes are great and one of the ones I check when experimenting . Thank you for sharing so much.
Bittermellon hater here as well! 🙌🏻 Sometimes I wonder why people even think to eat it. I tried it steamed with meat, stir fried, even my mom told me she already took the bitterness with salt. Nope, still bitter 😂 I rather have raw zuchinni lol
For the second question, I get it. But we as a nation also invented 'American Fried Rice' and 'Kanom Tokyo' among many others. 🤣
True! :)
Enjoyed this episode lots, all great questions and what fantastic answers by Pai Lin . Love your videos, Pai Lin. One of my favorite chef of all time. ❤ imagine this, I’m living in Thailand but I look for Pai Lin in Vancouver for my Thai or Chinese dish recipes 😂
Love your video! I'm from Singapore and we have lots of Thai restaurants which are standalones or stalls in food courts and hawker centres. I nearly always order a dish of Pad Thai if I'm trying out a Thai restaurant or food stall for the first time. If the dish sucks then it means that the chef may not be authentically Thai or is a Thai who doesn't know how to cook it. And I can tell you most of them are not up to standard. Which is a pity as Pad Thai is one of my favourite Thai dishes. That said, the other dishes usually taste okay so I take note not to order the Pad Thai again when visiting that particular restaurant.
I am often looking for the Thai select stamp of approval. I am a fussy eater too when it comes to Thai food. Another fact is that only a few Thai items actually use peanuts in them. Thailand is not the peanut hell many people think it is. I go to places where local Thais eat themselves, and where the food is prepared with love. Actually, I often cooked way better Thai food at home using authentic Thai products, and authentic recipes. Thai food is a delicious mix of Indian and Chinese influences made into their own unique Thai cuisine. I only have a few thai places I go in my home town, and one of them has a Thai select stamp. I always tell the Danish guy who owns it to make sure big boss is cooking my food (his Thai wife).
OK... so I just discovered and subscribed to your channel and have been sort of binging your content over the past week or so. I have to say this is one of my favorite of your videos. The bitter melon rant is hilarious, especially the way you deliver "How about a zucchini???".
Hilarious. You are always so sweet and "Thai' and "sabai" in all your vids, and suddenly, you go off on hard butter. Loved it. Going to BKK on Wednesday, can't wait for some chicken rice with lots of ginger. yum. (maybe your grandma's? )
As a Thai I do agree with Pai when it comes to Pad Thai, I only eat Pad Thai in Thailand! It's too good to be served in a restaurant with multiple dishes.
HAHAHA... Pailin, your rants got me laughing. I can relate to the things you said. Yeah, finding food purportedly from a country when I'm in a restaurant serving other stuff makes me mad. That part about cold butter too. Lol. 🤣
Melting butter over the candle - now that’s creative.
as a thai person, i eat PadThai once a year ... (on a holiday in some tourist town)
Bitter melon is sooooo good when it’s not too bitter not too bland
Glad to hear your opinion on bitter melon. I thought it was just me.
Being served a “plate of stereotype” is the PERFECT description! ❤ I am officially stealing that phrase ❤
After being a visitor for more than 20 years in Thailand a "plate of stereotype" is exactly what you get when trying to order a non- thai dish (on the menu) at a restaurant unless it is owned by a falang. Not that I don't somewhat agree with the video on thai food in thewest, but to be honest there are more "fake" western food in thailand than "fake" thai food in the west according to my experience. But my experience is limited to 15-20 european countries and 6-7 us states, so my perception might be skewed.
My college served "Thai Chicken Noodle Soup" once.
All they did was put basil (not Thai basil) in Chicken noodle soup and have limes on the side
hahaha 100% agree with the cold butter thing, also used the table candle method to melt the butter countless times!
What a great video, like all your other videos! So glad I discovered your channel recently 😊
I also dislike bitter melon. Loved your answers, so helpful.
For the "Do Thai people eat Pad Thai" question, I think it makes perfect sense they totally do, but maybe not every day, and also what you said about restaurants specializing in Pad Thai.
I have made Pad Thai myself, from your recipes by the way Pailin! And it's quite a lot of work, especially making the sauce. It makes sense that you'd want to make giant batches of sauces so you don't have to constantly make it. If you're gonna do that, you should probably specialize in it!!
Restaurants here buy cheap ready-made pad thai sauce... which works on most people... until you've made you own. Then the restaurant ones are disgusting XD
When you said green and red curry was the same I believed you for a second because that’s how credible you are 😂.
I have watched you for years and am still learning new stuff! Pad kaprao is more to my liking
Here's the thing about cold butter from a food service worker. Since butter is made from cream, in the US the same health code laws that apply to milk and other dairy products apply to butter. If a health inspector finds room temprature butter, the restaurant will get a fine. The same problem comes up with cheese plates because most fancy cheese is meant to be eaten at room temprature. From my experience, cheese is left out at room temp with the odds of an inspection that late in the day extremely low. But I've worked at a place that got inspected during thanksgiving dinner, so anything is possible and that's what they get for being open on thanksgiving.
So funny, my wife and I have the same pet peevees with butter. When we go to the diner for breakfast, they will serve you indivual butter chips from the fridge and there is no way you can spread this on a bread or pancake. What I would normally do is to hold a hand full of butter in my palm to start softening them while waiting for my breakfast to arrive. I use to put it in my pocket for some body heat until my wife told me that the waiter might thing that I am stealing the butter. LOL