The best Southeast Asian Cooking, Food & Wine books: Reddit reviews

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Asian food can really be quite complex and challenging to make as far as I am concerned. The only reason I have succeeded with some recipes was because I found a fantastic cook book with a superb author who knows how to write a recipe.

For Thai food, I can't recommend this one highly enough. Genius author who can make complex food understandable. None of her recipes have let me down and I learn a lot about the ingredients. It was the fist time I understood a recipe, not just followed it.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1607745232/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

A few years ago I had a similar experience at a local place. I started making Thai food just with going to an Asian grocery store, getting some pastes and coconut milk, and following the recipes on the cans. What I made was okay, but not nearly close.

I did that every so often until a few months ago and I came across this book and followed her guidance (she also has a blog called “shesimmers”): Simple Thai Food: Classic Recipes... https://www.amazon.com/dp/1607745232?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share. What I appreciate about the book is it provides alternative ingredients when possible and says when you’re better off leaving the called for ingredient out if you can’t find it. It also gives a few different explanations on methods, equipment, etc.

I also like the Hot Thai Kitchen youtube. I’ve only watched a handful of the videos so she may well also include similar suggestions regarding methods, ingredients, etc.

I think they provide similar knowledge and having made a few of the same dishes from both sources I was pretty happy and you couldn’t go wrong with either. For example, I made the yellow curries from both and both were definitely better than what I had made when simply following the can’s instructions. They were definitely not restaurant quality (because of me) but a noticeable improvement on my previous efforts.

I worked in a very, very good Thai restaurant for a good deal of time, and a chef told me <em>Pok Pok</em> was the best Thai cookbook available in English. Never read it myself, but I had a chance to skim through his copy and it certainly seemed like high-quality, authentic stuff. That said, being authentic, it doesn't shy away from ingredients you'll have trouble finding 10,000 km from Thailand.

No, fish-free versions are available and most vegetarians are used to reading the small print.

I found Real Vegetarian Thai by Nancie McDermott to be useful if you like making recipes from scratch.

I have mentioned this cookbook and cookbook author a couple times. I like the the recipes and the fact that alternatives/options are offered. https://www.amazon.ca/Banh-Handbook-Crazy-Delicious-Vietnamese-Sandwiches/dp/160774533X

I have tried several recipes from the book. Sometimes I use baloney and liverwurst as replacements for the Vietnamese cold cuts and pate. For me the condiments and the pickles makes the sandwich banh mi like, different than a standard sandwich.

Uhm, you mean this cookbook? That literally has a blurb “from the editor” with it about how it contains 500 easy-to-follow recipes? Which, sure, technically not a comment on how easy the ingredients might be to obtain, but there really is little indication on the Amazon page that you basically need to specifically live near an authentic Thai grocery store to be able to use it, or anything to that effect. And scrolling through some of the other comments, even the people giving it higher ratings remark on that it is in various ways not a particularly easy book to use.

You’re kinda taking the piss here, frankly. That comment is hardly as unreasonable as you’re trying to paint it.

This cookbook just came out. She's a well known chef. My Filipino partner just bought it and we love it.

I saw one at Barnes and Noble called Pok Pok that looked amazingly detailed.

https://www.amazon.com/Pok-Stories-Roadside-Restaurants-Thailand/dp/1607742888 , heres the amazon link but probably better to check it out in person first anyways.

My wife and I have been cooking thai food for years based on recipes from this book. To us it tastes really like the Thai food we eat in Thailand. https://www.amazon.com/Thailand-Cookbook-Jean-Pierre-Gabriel/dp/071486529X

Recipe

A symphony of vinegar, garlic, soy sauce, and whole black peppercorns.

Garlic fried recipe was from Nicole Ponseca’s book I Am A Filipino

This is a great book but definitely not what OP is looking for. It's one of the most intimidating cookbooks ever written, and missing/less strong on a lot of simple classics.

Hot Thai Kitchen and Simple Thai Food are both excellent books, and are my recommendations.

This books has some of the BEST Indian food recipes I've ever experienced.

I love my local Indian restaurant, but I'd honestly rather have food from this book.

Pok Pok. I'm crazy about Thai food and most Thai food on the internet is Americanized. This book is a collection of recipes from Andy Ricker who spent years in Thailand sitting down with local chefs, learning great dishes, and copying their recipes and techniques (with their permission). He opened a successful Thai restaurant of the same name in Portland, Pok Pok. You will need a scale, a mortar and pestle, and access to the ingredients. Most asian markets in a decent sized city will have most of it. Amazon is a pricier but serviceable option. Here is his green curry recipe which is extraordinary.

For most other stuff I use google or Seriouseats.com.

For ideas that aren't bland, try getting some vegetarian cookbooks that focus on ethnic/world foods. One of my favorites is Real Vegetarian Thai. Don't be afraid to adapt the recipes for what you can find there. There are some good ones for Spanish recipes, although I can't seem to find one for Portuguese food specifically.

Of course! I use the recipe in The Banh Mi Handbook. I got it for Christmas a few years ago and every recipe I’ve tried has been fantastic! I highly recommend.

> Been wanting to branch out to thai food.

Check this out. I have this and have made several things from it. Fairly easy and even my success rate has been pretty good.

There's a great bahn mi cookbook that, among other things, has this recipe and you can preview it on Amazon. It's on page 47.

They also recommend just using store-bought liverwurst and doctoring it up a bit. I'd add the cognac, shallot, garlic and five spice powder and call it good.

Proper Thai sweet & sour sauce. Made some out of Pok Pok and I must say that the western stuff doesn't hold a candle to the spiciness or complexity of the recipe in here.

Sorry for the late reply.

Many Thai dishes do use sugar. Generally palm sugar, but never more than a tablespoon per recipe, which can serve anywhere from 6-8 people. So that's really not a lot of sugar. (I feel like American Thai restaurants use a tablespoon per serving!) It should be a part of the flavor ensemble. So it's just a matter of quantity. My mother learned in Thailand but she had a bevy of Thai language cookbooks. She did use one cookbook in English that she said was very authentic: The Beautiful Cookbook: Thailand.

Whenever I use this cookbook the dishes turn out very good and not too sweet.

I just came across this new one at Costco - beautiful photography and stories -- recipes seem legit:

My Vietnam: Stories and Recipes by Luke Nguyen