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 Thai Food
ASIN: 1580084621
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: Fantastic work, a must for every cook
Comments: This book was obviously a labour of love. David writes beautifully, and, if the first two recipes I have tried are anything to go by, the book gives supurb results. As David has spent the last decade running very successful Thai restaurants, he knows what he is talking about.
I am just learning to cook Thai food. I can see this book guiding me for several years as I enjoy this new hobby.
This is a high quality book and I highly recommned its purchase.
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 True Thai: The Modern Art of Thai Cooking
ASIN: 0688099173
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: Best Thai Cooking Book Bar None
Comments: I have a small library of asian cookbooks, including several Thai cookbooks, but this is by far the best cookbook for Thai cooking that I have come across. I cannot help but to recommend it to all of my friends who (1) like Thai food, and (2) like to cook.
The recipes tend to be on the spicy side, which is almost unheard of. So many Thai cookbooks try to water the spice down, temper the curry paste, only add a splash of lime or a leaf or two of Makrut leaves. Not this book. This book gives you great, rich flavor. Some of the recipes are VERY spicy, but none of the recipes, not even the very hot ones, are without the delicious complexity of flavor that is present in Thai cooking. The flavors are always full of a wonderful mix of different tastes from the region. Wonderful use of lime, herbs, chilis, lemongrass, coconut, and more.
The book has one drawback. I will probably not use the little cheap cans of Thai curry paste again. The recipes for the curry pastes in the book are so delicious and flavorfull that the overly salty curry cans are just not worth the facility they provide [well, almost not worth the facility ;-)].
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 Thai Pure and Simple
ASIN: 0970091737
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: Great Cook Book
Comments: I've used this cook book on several occasions. The recipes are just like the name says... Pure and Simple... Sandy makes little notes and suggestions through out the book that are real helpful. I love the Pad Taray...
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 Thailand: The Beautiful Cookbook: Authentic Recipes from the Regions of Thailand
ASIN: 0002550296
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: Desert island Thai--one more vote
Comments: I first borrowed this book in 1993 from my neighbor who had lived in Thailand. I made about 4 things from the book--by the book--and invited her to dinner. She raved how perfect and authentic the flavors were. I kept the book awhile, made more recipes, and, being on a student budget but having plenty of time, copied those recipes I thought I might someday make (about three-quarters of them). The Burmese Chicken Curry was a hit from the beginning--when my wife's friend walked in the front door she remarked that it stung her NOSE just smelling the dish as it cooked!
Over the years I have made some fifty recipes from the book--soups, meat dishes, rice and noodle dishes, vegetarian dishes, seafood dishes, curry pastes, desserts--and nearly every one has been a huge hit with my wife and me. I've made so few different recipes because I've come back to many of them a dozen times or more. The Chicken Coconut Soup is my four-year-old son's favorite food, and he requests it often.
I finally bought the book for myself this year and have made several different recipes that I hadn't before. Some have hit my "frequently made" list already.
The book is visually stunning, with large appealing photographs of each dish, and with similarly beautiful photos of the countryside, divided up by region between the chapters of different foods. The recipes themselves are very easy to follow, and even those that have many ingredients usually only require a couple steps. Some require ingredients that you can only find in Asian food stores (like galangal) but even things like fish sauce and coconut milk are becoming more available in other supermarkets; and many recipes require nothing more exotic than fresh ingredients and soy sauce.
The only shortcoming I see in the book is a dearth of purely vegetarian dishes, but since Thai cooking seems to encourage improvisation, this can be remedied by substitutions. Despite this, I still consider this to be the best Thai cookbook I have (of six), the best Beautiful Cookbook I have (of six), and the best cookbook period that I have (of nearly 100).
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 The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking: Favorite Recipes from Lemon Grass Restaurant and Cafe
ASIN: 0761500162
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: A perfect blend of Thai, Vietnamese and Californian Cuisine
Comments: All of the recipes in this book are excellent. I have the pleasure of knowing Mai Pham and I can tell you all, she is a first rate, authentic chef. She explains that her recipes are an amalgomation of Vietnamese (she is from Viet Nam), Thai (she grew up in Thailand) and Californian cuisine (where she currently resides and cooks). Her recipes are what she serves in her restaurants and I can tell you, it's a pure taste treat to dine in her restaurants. Please do not hold her to the strict guidelines of only Vietnamese cooking for that is not what she is all about. If you are Vietnamese, and you are looking for something authentic and not adventurous or creative, this book is not for you. However, if you are artistic, creative, fun-loving, good-food-loving and adventurous, BUY THIS BOOK! You'll be glad you did!
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 Real Vegetarian Thai
ASIN: 0811811514
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: One of the Most Usefull Cookbooks in My Library
Comments: This book has so many great recepies for just about any palate. Sometimes the recepies can look a little daunting and complicated, but it assumes you're using all fresh ingredients, which you don't always have to. After all, cumin powder is in my opinion just as good as fresh cumin seeds. Or more available anyway. Basically, once you take the time to create a few of the "staple" ingredients in this book (red and green curry paste are essential), you can make just about anything in here quickly and cheaply. And it's GOOD! I'm never going to forget the look on my friends' faces when I came out with an eggplant curry that I'd made from this book. Everyone was amazed. So if you want to do something different, and you're a bit creative, this book is for you.
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 Real Thai: The Best of Thailand's Regional Cooking
ASIN: 0811800172
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: excellent source of authentic and easy to produce recipes
Comments: Like the author, I was also a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand (though it appears from her introduction to the book that she preceded me there by about 15 years).
Anyway, I was thrilled to learn of this book soon after I returned to the U.S. in the early 1990's. My sister had discovered it soon after she had visited me in Thailand, and had found the recipes to authentically replicate many of the dishes she remembered from her first-hand Thai experience. I was skeptical when my sister initially told me of the book, but was pleasantly surprised from the moment that I began to read through it -- so pleased, in fact, that my sister gave me her copy right there on the spot, and then went out the next day to replace her own copy.
What so pleased me was the genuine authenticity of the recipes captured in the book (rather than the "westernized" or "fusion" versions that are contained in so many recipe books, and on far too many a restaurant menu these days). Many of these other books are really glorified "coffee table" books, whereas McDermott has compiled here a practical working guidebook that addresses the entire breadth of Thai cuisine. The recipes contained in her book masterfully and faithfully reproduce the exact dishes that you might find in a restaurant (large or small) or in a typical Thai home, and they are generally quite easy to replicate. As a byproduct of being more authentic, the versions that she has captured in this book also have the added benefit of tasting better than many of the dishes that you are likely to encounter at many Thai restaurants here in the U.S. If you want a book to cook from (and not just to display), this is the one.
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 Dancing Shrimp: Favorite Thai Recipes for Seafood
ASIN: 0684862727
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: Authentic delicious Thai food!
Comments: I bought this book based on the reviews here and really have to thank the reviewers who gave 5 stars for this book. I am a native Thai and I have to say that Kasma's recipes really give you authentic Thai food. I have tried at least 10 recipes from her book and have enjoyed my home-made cooking with no MSG (that I would mostly get at restaurants). What I like best about her book is the ingredients and tips section where she describes properties of Thai spices and Thai ways of cooking such as steaming, 'yam' salad making, etc.. Reading through her recipes is quite enjoyable since she usually gives a bit of history about the food along the way. The trick to get delicious dishes is to make sure you can acquire all ingredients you need (some are hard to find, but she has a web site that directs you to some online Thai groceries if you can't find the spices from your local stores).
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 What's Cooking: Thai
ASIN: 1571452567
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: Every Recipe Is a Winner
Comments: I bought this cookbook this summer, more to add to my collection than to actually learn Thai cooking. But then I tried a few recipes, and I've been hooked on the cookbook ever since...
Having grown up in an Asian household, I'm already familiar with a lot of the ingredients and techniques used in Asian cooking, but I love the fact that this cookbook explains ingredients and technique without being condescending to those who aren't familiar with Asian cookery much less with the kitchen.
I usually use post-it notes to mark the recipes in a new cookbook that I want to try. When I started marking pages in this cookbook, I realized that I wanted to try everything. While I haven't had a chance to sample it all just yet, I can tell you that everything I've tried has been perfect. Even my boyfriend, who is definitely a "meat and potatoes" man loves when I prepare something from this book. I've also found that, despite the simplicity of the recipes, my dinner guests always assume that I went to elaborate lengths to prepare these wonderful foods. My favorite is an exquisite cilantro coconut chicken dish that just knocks the socks off of anyone who tries it.
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 Simply Thai Cooking
ASIN: 1896503187
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: Wow! Tasty, Healthy and Easy Thai Cooking.
Comments: Like many others, I've wanted to learn to cook Thai for some time now but have always been intimidated by what I thought was going to be complex, high energy cooking...Boy was I wrong. This book has enabled me to indulge my passion for cooking while still allowing me to make healthy food choices. Thanks Wanda! [When can we expect another book? I've made almost everything in this cookbook (some more than once).]
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 Cracking the Coconut: Classic Thai Home Cooking
ASIN: 0688165427
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: cracking the coconut
Comments: Reply to Mr. Eugene Stiles' review of my book, Cracking the Coconut. Su-Mei Yu, author
Thank you for taking time to read and review my book. Recognizing that cooking and eating is always a subjective experience, I welcome the opportunity to respond to your remarks. 1.In writing a cookbook merging traditional and modern Thai cooking, I chose to focus on recipes that combine basic techniques and staples. Once the basic techniques are mastered, cooking Thai food is less intimidating and time consuming. This is true with the staples used in Thai cooking. Without recipes on how to make these staples such as crispy fried garlic, crispy fried shallot, dried roasted chile in oil, or even coconut milk, the cook will have to repeat the preparation each time it is called for in a recipe. Organizing it in the book in the manner I did makes cooking easier. Besides, it's the way Thai cooks do it. 2. From my point of view, there is no comparison between canned coconut and fresh coconut cream and milk. This is just as true for coconuts purchased here in the United States. It also applies to canned curry paste. Thailand, is, as many nations today, striving to become westernized and has adapted the fast and busy lifestyle. That doesn't mean the food is better! Supermarkets, as well as local markets do sell pre-made chile pastes. Some are better than others. But this does not mean that Thai people have stopped cooking in the way described in my book. On the contrary, as Thai's have became aware of preservatives added to processed food, many have returned to traditional ways of cooking, which includes making coconut cream and milk, and chile paste. To know this you would have to spend time with traditional cooks, not just visiting restaurants.
3. Regarding your claims that Americans are too busy to cook. This may be true for some, but it doesn't hold true for many others who continue to believe that good eating results from good cooking. I believe that cooking and eating are inseparable and speaks for who we are and our cultural heritage. You may wish to cook from canned goods, but there are people like myself who find pleasure in cooking from fresh ingredients. Cooking and eating for me and in traditional Thai philosophy is as much a process and social ritual as a product. Cooking and the time involved for some is pleasurable and a form of relaxation and giving. I am a busy person with a couple of restaurants, writing and engaged in community services and yet I cook everyday for myself and my family. Ultimately, it is a choice of life style. My book is directed at people who seek more from both food preparation, taste and the dining experience. This requires an emotional and time investment. Life, and how we spend our time and to what end and purposes are choices we all make. I am offering an alternative.
4. I encourage you to study Thai recipes closely, or perhaps eat with a more discriminatory palate.
Observations are not the same as merging oneself into the preparation and practices of Thai dining. In almost all Thai recipes, the four ingredients: sea salt, garlic, coriander roots and Thai peppercorn, are part of the recipe, whether combined into a paste or used in combinations with the others. Fresh herbs you mentioned, including lemon grass, Thai basil, galangal, Kaffir (Makrud ) lime and leaves when used, are to add flavor and aroma. Still, without sea salt, garlic, coriander roots, and Thai peppercorn as its foundation, Thai cooking would not be what it is. Fish sauce also does not take the place of sea salt as a primary ingredient, it is added for flavor. My sources on this issue are both my experience as a Thai cook and the traditional cooks who have taught me. Many are introduced in the book.
5. Prikk Thai is a Thai word for Thai pepper. "Prikk Kee Nuu" is a type of bird chile referencing its shape. I maintain, Prikk Thai, rather than Prikk Kee Nuu is the heart of Thai cooking, and revered as such. The chile pepper, as opposed to the indigenous peppercorn, is a recent import, in terms of Thai cooking, from the Americas. While the bird chile stings and burns, the peppercorn warms one's body and spirit.
6. Ancient recipes in the 16th and 17th century, indeed, contained miso, wine, and whiskey, which the Thai adapted from the Japanese, Chinese and the Europeans. To write a Thai cookbook for westerners, where ingredients may not be readily available, substitutes are regrettably a must. The so-called strange ingredients you refer to have been painstakingly tested to closely resemble the original ingredient, in order to preserve the integrity of the recipe. While we may disagree on which substitutions produce the truest authentic flavor, I place my trust in my palate and training and traditional Thai cooks.
Lastly, next time you are in San Diego you are invited to come and eat real Thai food at my home. Kubb Khun Kai.
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 It Rains Fishes: Legends, Traditions and the Joys of Thai Cooking
ASIN: 0876543565
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: Definitive.
Comments: The author of this cookbook goes out of her way to present not only traditional recipes, but enough knowledge and technique to help you achieve traditional taste. This is no mere recipe book, it's more of a guide to Thai cooking.
From the very start, Loha-Unchit explains everything about the essential components of Thai cuisine and exactly what they do to each dish. Interspersed amongst her recipes are stories related to the dishes that may seem sappy to some, but generally help explain what the cook is trying to achieve with each recipe.
This book will definitely challenge and enhance your cooking skills. After preparing a few of the selections she presents, you won't just know how to whip up several dishes by rote- you'll have a very good understanding of the essentials of Thai cooking.
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 Lonely Planet World Food Thailand (Lonely Planet World Food Guides)
ASIN: 1864500263
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: More than a Cookbook
Comments: I bought this book thinking it was just a cookbook, and was surprised to find much more. Eating is an essential part of life in Thailand, and Joe Cummings gives deep insight into Thai culture -- specifically how "being Thai" comes out in the preparation and enjoyment of food.
If you're buying the LP guide to Thailand and are going there for the first time, also buy this book. You'll get a much more in depth description of the Thai way of life, as well manners and etiquette for a foreigner. And you'll want the recipes when you return!
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 Thai Cooking Made Easy
ASIN: 0941676285
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: #1 Thai Cookbook
Comments: If you are looking for a Thai cookbook, this is the one! A few special ingredients and you are on your way. Each recipes is laid out in an simple straightforward manner, pictures of every dish, only one drawback - no recipe for 'larb gai' - but dont let that stop you. If you want to cook Thai at home - get this book.
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 The Best of Regional Thai Cuisine
ASIN: 0781808804
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: My favorite cookbook!
Comments: I couldn't have said it much better than the above reviewers have. A great book that is foolproof, even containing photos of the ingredients in the beginning. You absolutely must try the green curry paste for your next attempt at curry, and find out what you have been missing. You will find that you can easily make better Thai food than the restaurant can offer, and experience true homemade Thai, the way it is supposed to be. Thanks Chat for a wonderful cooking cass as well...you were a lot of fun and I wish you good luck!
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 Taste of Laos: Lao/Thai Recipes from Dara Restaurant
ASIN: 0943389321
Customer's Rating: 3
Summary: A Review from LAN-XANG.com
Comments: It is unfortunate that this book should be subtitled "Lao/Thai Recipes," implying that there is a general commonality between Lao and Thai (Central Thai/Siamese) cuisine, which there is not. To be sure, there are certain individual dishes that can be characterized as Lao/Siamese because they are featured in both cuisines and their origins are obscure--they probably date back many centuries if not millennia. The Siamese Tom Yum Kung for example is none other than a substitution of shrimp for chicken (or catfish) in Lao chicken (or catfish) soup (a recipe appears in Taste of Laos, p. 45), while the Siamese Ho Mok is simply Lao Mok (a recipe on p. 90) with the addition of coconut milk and curry powder.
As for examples of common desserts, both the Lao and Siamese eat mango with sweetened sticky rice (p. 119), custard in a pumpkin (p. 118), and rice and banana steamed in banana leaves (Khao Tom, p. 121). The Siamese, however, eat prepared sweets in greater frequency and quantity than the Lao, who generally prefer fresh fruit. Partly for this reason, the Siamese dessert repertory exceeds that of the Lao in terms of its variety and development.
The greater Siamese affinity for sweets is one difference in eating preferences between them and the Lao. There are quite a few. The Siamese have a predilection for heavy spices (namely curries) and herbs (particularly "Thai" basil) and rich dishes--many based on coconut milk/cream, with the result that Siamese dishes are often very fragrant, oily, and liquid. This is incompatible with the Lao palate. In general, the Lao eschew the use of coconut in savory dishes, and the curries so popular in Siam never made an impression on Lao cuisine, despite more than a century (late 18th--late19th century) of Siamese political domination. Which is also one reason why traditional French food, with its heavy dishes and creamy sauces, based on flour, cream and butter (not to mention it's complex batterie de cuisine), never took hold, despite half a century of French rule.
The Lao palate is accustomed to grilled or steamed foods--with relatively simple flavorings, and fresh, uncooked vegetables. Lao cuisine, which is very healthful, uses a relatively small variety of herbs and spices, with a particular and distinctive emphasis on garlic and galanga (not ginger, as has been asserted elsewhere).
Hence the author's suggestions that the Lao eat curries is nonsense.
Having said that the Lao like their food simple and light, lean and green, besides differences in taste, there is a more practical reason that the Lao do not eat Siamese food, despite living next door to the homeland of one of the most popular Asian cuisines in North America.
Daovone mentions the Lao preference for sticky rice--which admittedly is an issue of taste, and by now everyone should know (of course they don't) that the Lao are the one people in the entire world who eat sticky rice as a staple. All traditional Lao foods then were developed by people who knew that the dish would be accompanied by sticky rice, which is eaten out of a woven basket, with fingers. Hence to keep the fingers clean and rice out of the various dishes, the dishes could not be wet or oily.
Siamese food, because of the ubiquitous coconut milk and oily curries, is too soupy for sticky rice. Though if you're using a spoon, it is perfect for regular white rice, which absorbs the broth and picks up the flavor.
Most of the rural Lao population, which is most of the country's population, still eat sticky rice exclusively. The urban population eats both sticky rice and white rice, depending on the dishes they are to accompany. Lao dishes would call for sticky rice, while foreign dishes, such as Chinese-style stir fries (which are popular), or Thai curry dishes (which are not popular) would be accompanied by regular white rice.
While the Lao use their fingers to eat sticky rice (the consistency of the rice makes it impossible to do it any other way), they would never use their fingers, as the Siamese and Indians traditionally do, to eat white rice. Neither, however, do they use chopsticks as their Chinese and Vietnamese neighbors (some) do. Chopsticks are reserved for noodles. For white rice, the Lao use spoons.
At times, it seems the author can't decide whether she's writing a Lao cookbook or a Siamese one. Why is Tam Mak Hung (Green Papaya Salad) called Som Tum in the Siamese manner? While this offense is one in name only, the author gives a recipe for Phad Thai, but describes it as "Koa Mee[Khua My] or Pad Thai," as though they were one and the same thing. In truth, they are quite different--the most obvious differences being that Khua My generally calls for beef (rather than the shrimp or chicken typically found in Pad Thai), dark soy sauce (rather than fish sauce) and caramelized sugar (rather than sugar added directly to the noodles).
Taste of Laos is written by a cook--and proprietor of a Lao/Thai restaurant, not a gastronome or sociologist, and hence everything said about Lao cuisine or culture must be taken with plenty of salt, or padaek, for which unfortunately there is no recipe or discussion, except by food guru and one-time ambassador to Laos Alan Davidson in the book's preface.
Neither is there a discussion of Lao cooking methods or equipment. The author's instructions for steaming sticky rice are not likely to lead to good results, because they are very vague and steaming sticky rice requires a little more effort than making white rice. To make the process easier, the Lao invented a special steaming basket and pot, but there is no mention of this apparatus in the cookbook. Nor is there a mention of the deep Lao-style mortar and pestle that is required for a proper Green Papaya Salad (Tam Mak Hung in Lao/ Som Tum in Siamese). The Lao mortar and pestle is indispensable in the Lao kitchen, and can be had for $10 at most Lao, Thai or Vietnamese grocery stores.
Throughout the book, Daovone tries to suggest that Lao and Siamese eat the same food, which is not true. I have already mentioned how much Siamese food the Lao eat. How much Lao food the Siamese eat is another question. Let it suffice to say that there are a lot more Isan (Lao) restaurants in Bangkok than there are Siamese restaurants in Isan (the ethnic Lao region of Thailand), and that "Som Tum" and "Larb" have become standards on Thai menus everywhere
The author's assertion that the Lao have ever been vegetarian ("In the past, most Lao became vegetarians purely for religious reasons.") is ridiculous. Buddhism has rarely exerted a didactic influence on the Lao, and certainly never in this regard. Historical records show that monks themselves in particular consumed all kinds of meats, sweets and delicacies with gusto.
Taste of Laos should have more accurately been subtitled, "Lao and Thai Recipes," because it contains both Lao and Thai recipes from the proprietor of the popular Dara Restaurant in Berkeley, which as a disclaimer I have to say that I have never been to. As one of only three cookbooks in the English language devoted to Lao cuisine, it is obviously of great worth. It is, however, far from comprehensive and not representative of what most Lao people eat. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that in Laos, the cuisine of Vietnam is twenty times as popular as that of Siam/Central Thailand. Light and fresh Southern Vietnamese cuisine, which presumably descended from the people known as Cham, is much more in tune with the Lao palate.
Daovone would have done better justice by including those Vietnamese and Vietnamese-inspired dishes that are so popular in Laos. Though since Dara is a Lao/Thai restaurant, I can understand why Vietnamese recipes have been excluded. Nevertheless, I was disappointed to not find even one Khao Poun dish, and even more disappointed that there is no recipe for Lao Sausage (Sai Oua).
That Daovone is from Xieng Khouang (famous for its Plain of Jars) contributes to the book's value. Lao cuisine often has many regional variations, and Taste of Laos has recorded permanently the Xieng Khouang variations of certain dishes. Also, though Daovone neglects many classic Lao dishes, she introduces a number of new dishes and new sauces, many of which are her own creation. The Vientiane Mango Fool (p.123), for example, is nothing I have ever even heard of, and the Catfish Salad ("Laap Pa Duk," p. 57) is nothing like your typical Goy/Laap.
This book is a keeper. Don't be put off by its ugly cover or the unorthodox Romanization of Lao dish names; get a copy of this cookbook. Who knows when you might find yourself far from a Lao grocery store and having to make your own Sour Pork Sausages (Som Mou, p.30)?
Taste of Laos: Lao/Thai Recipes from Dara Restaurant by Daovone Xayavong ($15.95) is publish
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 The Best of Gourmet 2000: Featuring the Flavors of Thailand (Best of Gourmet, 2000)
ASIN: 0375504311
Customer's Rating: 4
Summary: Easy Gourmet!
Comments: I love this book for several reasons.
First, the menu suggestions are great. They range from two servings to around fifty, there are meals suitable for each season (some are grill-oriented, some are Thanksgiving feasts, etc.), and you can choose from light and healthy to downright sinful meals.
Second, the recipes require a great variety of skill levels. A novice can start with the easier recipes and work up to the more difficult ones without needing to buy a new book! This is also great because even those who are experienced and passionate cooks (who, like myself, would usually revel in the four-hour mushroom lasagne prep time) have days when they want a simple, toned-down meal. It's all here.
The recipes are also very easy to follow. They list at the outset any special equipment you will need, and the preparation instructions are clear and concise.
Those without access to specialty grocery stores might have trouble coming up with some ingredients (creme fraiche, figs, radish sprouts, or Israeli couscous come to mind), but there are many recipes whose ingredients are easily found at the most common of groceries.
I have to say that I dislike the way the "Unusual Pastas and Grains" section is separated from the "Pastas and Grains" section. It's also disappointing that Thai recipes are stuck in their own "Cuisines of the World" section without references in other more specific sections (for example, Ai-Teem Ga-Ti, aka Coconut Ice Cream, is not mentioned in the "Desserts" section earlier - so if you choose to page through the desserts section, you will not be aware that there are other dessert recipes elsewhere in the book).
All in all, I'd say that this book offers great recipes and menu suggestions for cooks at all levels, but it could be organized more efficiently.
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 The Elegant Taste of Thailand: Cha Am Cuisine
ASIN: 0943389232
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: Very Good Thai cookbook, One of the Best
Comments: I have a copy of 1995 printing of this book. I grew up in Thailand and have tried many popular Thai dishes. This book covers most of the popular dishes. It's got clear photo and step-by-step instruction for every single dish. The dishes taste exactly like the ones from restaurants in Thailand. I'm very happy with this book.
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 Simple Thai and Chinese: Step-By-Step
ASIN: 1571457453
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: Beautiful photographs, useful recipes.
Comments: This book is nicely done. It is well-balanced to suit the needs of those who are less experienced with Thai and Chinese cooking, but at the same time offering something for those who are comfortable with the basics. The recipes are not complicated nor do they require hard-to-find ingredients. Many of the recipes come with a side-bar that includes "Helpful Hints", "Tasty Tips", and "Food Facts." These are a nice addition and I found nearly all of them to be useful. This book is chock full of beautiful, full-page photographs of the finished dish, as well as smaller photos of the various stages of preparation. If you had to have only one Thai/Chinese cookbook in your kitchen, this would be the perfect candidate.
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 Thai Cooking from the Siam Cuisine Restaurant
ASIN: 1556430744
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: Best Thai cookbook ever, one of my favorites
Comments: I bought this book when I was 18 and working my way through college as a cook. I loved Asian food, but did't have much experience cooking Thai food. The fact that this cookbook makes you (lets you) make all the curries from scratch is wonderful. It took some searching to get all the ingredients exactly right, but the first few meals I made with this book were just amazing. I continued to cook, and became a professional chef with a giant bookshelf full of cookbooks, well over 200. Now, 14 years later, I rarely use cookbooks, but whenever I do, or if a friend wants to borrow a book for something new, this is the one I give them. I love all of the Charlie Trotter books for the pics and ideas, but this book is the best for recipes. (I know I'm crossing cultural barriers, but I hope you get the point.) After I made my first meal from this book, for a girlfriend, I vowed that I'd go to this restaurant if I ever "made it to San Francisco." Well, now every time I'm there, I make sure I hit Berkeley to go there. The restaurant lives up to all of the recipes, and, this might surprise some, the dishes in the restaurant taste JUST LIKE the ones made from the book. It's one of my favorite restaurants, definitely the best Thai restaurant I've ever been to, and without a doubt, if we're judging cookbooks by the number of times they've been opened, this is the best among my collection. If you're in a smaller city, you might have some trouble getting some ingredients, but if you can't improvise you can always get something from the net. Even if you DO have do substitute some ingredients, I would recommend this cookbook above any other Thai cookbook I've seen, and above any other Asian cookbook as well.
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