The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

New theme, and a new book - The Bread Bible. This one is, not surprisingly, all about breads.

It's a huge brick of a book (640 pages). I've owned my copy for years and I haven't really gotten around to using it until this spring, when I went on a major bread baking spree.

There are 7 chapters :

• Essential steps of making bread
• Quick breads (muffins, corn bread and scones)
• Flatbreads (pizza, pita, focaccia etc)
• Soft Sandwich loaves (think Wondabread)
• Hearth breads (=Artisan breads)
• Sourdough bread
• Brioche breads

All the recipes are very detailed and scientifically written with measurements in both grams, ounces and in volume. There is also a little table in the end of every recipe names "Dough percentage" stating the ratio between flour, water, yeast, salt etc in the bread. In other words, a great resource for all bread baking nerds out there!

Btw, the author has a blog: http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/ and she's also on Twitter: http://twitter.com/FlourRose

Summary - Thai Food by David Thompson

So, what do I think about the book Thai Food by David Thompson?

Pros:

• Lots of recipes, far outside the standard Thai restaurant scope here in Sweden.
• Good quality recipes. As long as you can get the ingredients, the recipes work!
• Great pictures.
• Lots of bonus info on Thai culture and history.
• This its the book if you're serious about Thai food!

Cons:

• Bad index, inconsistent mix of English and transliterated Thai.
• If you don't have a Thai grocery nearby there are hardly any recipes you can cook.
• Strange organization of chapters.
• Might feel a bit intimidating to beginner cooks.

Pla Hoi Shenn - sour and salty marinated scallpos

This is labelled a salad, but I'd rather describe it as scallops in a sour and salty marinade.

So, what went in? The base was fish sauce and lime, then kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, chilli, mint and coriander. A great starter.

I made a kiddie version as well, that actually went down well with my 3 years old. Probably because he thought the scallops were "fiskbullar" - a cheap Swedish type of fish patty, usually sold in cans. It's served a lot in kindergartens and schools because it's so unexpensive, but most adults (me too) hate it. Well, whatever works works.

Pla Hoi Shenn - kiddie version

Some scallops (or fiskbullar)
1 tablespooon lime juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce

Fry the scallops (if not using sushi grade scallops)
Mix up the lime juice and fish sauce.
Let the scallops (or fiskbullar) marinate for a while.

Nam Prik Tua - Peanut Relish

The type of food I miss the most from staying in Thailand is "nam prik", literally "chilli water". That's a group of dishes that can be described as thick sauces or relishes, usually eaten as dips with sticky rice and veggies. They are typical home-cooking comfort food, made with staples that are cheap and generally on hand in a Thai household. That means lots of chillies, garlic, dried fish, fish sauce, palm sugar, tamarind and gapi. Gapi is fermented shrimp paste, if you think fish sauce is hard core, you haven't come across gapi yet. I keep my jar enclosed in two plastic bags in the fridge because the smell can wake the dead.

I haven't ever seen nam prik in a Thai restaurant here is Sweden, but fortunately Mr. Thopmsons book delivers, there is a whole chapter on different nam priks in there! The nam prik I chose to make yesterday was nam prik tua, peanut relish, containing the exact ingredients mentioned above plus peanuts. Put everything in the mixer and mix it up good, then fry it in lots of oil and it's done. Takes at most 10 minutes.

The taste of these things usually make me sit and giggle uncontrollable by my self, it's amazing how they can pack such an insane amount of flavours into such a small volume of dip. Balancing that strong flavours together, making the result taste good, is nothing short of an art form. However, it's really not advisable to go breathe on anyone for a while after eating it. And there is no picture today, I gobbled up all the nam prik before I thought of taking one :)

Panaeng curry with beef

An feature I've noted when cooking Thai curries at home is that no matter if the name in the title says that the curry should be red, yellow or green, they always turn out brown.

The curry I chose to cook, panaeng curry, is supposed to brown though. Maybe with some red oil flecks on top, but basically brown. The curry paste, that is the base of the curry, contains a lot of peanuts, shallots, garlic, lemongrass, galangal, chillies and coriander root. For a quicker version ready made panaeng paste can be used. In Thailand this curry is mostly done with beef, but I suppose you could really put in any kind of meat and veggies, anyway, I used beef.


The recipe in the book is kind of involved, saying you should boil the beef in coconut milk for 2 hours. The beef I had would probably be turned into porridge by that time, so I skipped that step and just used my standard Thai curry algorithm.

1) Fry some coconut cream until the oil separates from whatever else is in there.
2) Fry the curry paste in the coconut cream
3) Add the meat, other spices and/or veggies
4) Add chilli, fish sauce, sugar and lime juice until everything tastes right.

And, voilá, it turned out really good :)

The Thai cookbook that ends all other Thai cookbooks.

I love Thailand, I spent a year there as an exchange student in high school, trying to cram as many cooking classes as possible into my schedule. Therefore, the first cookbook I'll review here will be "Thai Food" by David Thompson.

Quick data:
Title: Thai Food
Author: David Thompson
Length: 674 pages
Recipe quality: 5 out of 5
Recipe complexity: 4 out of 5 
Organization: 2 out of 5
Index quality: 3 out of 5
Food Porn Vale: 5 out of 5
Notes: All recipes need more lime juice! (I think the limes we get here in Sweden  just aren't as sour as the ones mr. Thompson is using wherever he lives)

This book is HUGE and contains a lot more than recipes. There is a lot of info on Thai culture, history and beliefs. Thai ingredients and cooking methods are explained in detail, with both Thai and English names which might come in very handy at the Thai supermarket.

The recipes are mostly organized by type, one chapter for soups, one for curries etc. Then there is one chapter for "special menus" and one for "food outside the meal" containing recipes for all types of food. This I find rather confusing, I like to find the "Som Tam" recipe in the salad chapter, not among the "outside meal" stuff. Also I'd like the menu chapter to contain just references to the recipes, not recipes themselves.

That said, this is the best Thai cookbook I know of. There are A LOT of recipes. Everything I've made has turned out as expected or better. I'm planning on reviewing some of them here over the next few days.