When people migrate to new parts of the world and open up restaurants they rarely give a realistic sampling of the cuisine of their home country. A few places in the hearts of large immigrant communities might stay true to their origins but the vast majority serve a new, watered-down version. Menus are designed based on what the chef thinks people will buy. They need to make a living after all. What most people want is unfortunately limited to what they are familiar with. It’s a nasty cycle that makes all of those menus look the same and the homogenized hybrid cuisine that results is relatively bland and unadventurous compared to the real thing. Thai food is no exception.
How would I know this? I love reading cookbooks. I love perusing the aisles of ethnic grocery stores. When I discover a new and intriguing ingredient or cooking technique I get on the internet and look up recipes, read food blogs, maybe try my hand at making something. And then of course there is travel. For example, when I went to Mexico I discovered wonderful foods that I’d never seen in a Mexican restaurant in the US. The point is this: I knew that the food of Thailand was going to be exciting even though I’d never actually had the opportunity to taste the real thing in a restaurant. The anticipation had been building up for quite a while when Fern and I finally made our way from Cambodia into Thailand.
Our first stop was a small town near the border called Trat. There was no reason to stop there besides the fact that it was on our path into Thailand. There isn’t much to do except walk around and look at the adorable old Thai buildings. It was hotter than hell and we had already booked a room in a guest house that looked like it had been pieced together by small children using scraps from a landfill. Initially our plan was to stay there for a few days and get acclimated to Thai culture but our place was so uncomfortable that we moved on after only one night. One night was enough, however, to give us an incredible introduction to Thai street food.
Drenched in sweat, we walked a few blocks from our room to the Trat night market. It occupied about one short block of a narrow street and sprawled out a little bit into a parking lot. Several rows of vendors were packed into that street with all of their sun shelters and awnings creating a nearly continuous canopy (which happened to be shorter than me) over the street and giving it the feel of a tunnel. We dove in and discovered a wonderful and chaotic world of incredibly flavorful and inexpensive street food.
The variety of fresh home-made curries was the first thing that grabbed our attention. Of course it was impossible for us to identify most of the dishes so we pointed at a couple and they scooped them into little plastic bags and secured them with rubber bands. They were each about 30 baht (less than $1 USD). All of the food was essentially take-away since there were no tables, chairs, or dishes so we took our first course out around the corner and devoured it. Wow. Intensely spicy and savory with bold flavors of kaffir lime leaf and fermented shrimp paste mellowed out by the coconut milk. Surprising pieces of mystery meat, sprigs of fresh young peppercorns, Thai eggplant, sweet and hot peppers, some kind of citrus. It was so flavorful – overwhelmingly delicious. Once we stopped crying and regained our composure we dove back in for round two.
This is when I discovered home-made Thai fried chicken, which pretty much changed my life. For the better. I’ve always thought that a restaurant style deep fryer was necessary to make good fried chicken but these people do it with a large wok and a basic outdoor gas burner.
I was happy to discover that they have a well rounded appreciation for pork belly. On the right we have some deep fried pork belly cutlets which they hack into thin strips with a heavy meat cleaver when they serve it. On the left is something that I have no name for but it will forever stand out in my memory as one of the most delicious foods I’ve ever had. Thin pieces of deep fried pork belly, maybe some skin too, crunchy and a little bit chewy but still succulent, and then heavily coated in a wok with a thick pasty sauce that is just bursting with flavor. A little bit sweet, lot’s of garlic, very tangy – possibly from tamarind and a small amount of fried lemon rind, some crispy fried leaves – possibly basil or curry leaves, lot’s of chili peppers, and some tropical Thai style curry spices (as opposed to a more Indian style). Imagine that General Tsao teamed up with a cook from southern Thailand and they combined all of their powers to create the best pork belly dish that they could imagine. We picked at a bag of it as we squeezed and shoved our way through culinary heaven.
This looks like a table full of sushi but it’s actually all sweets, sculpted from rice flour, coconut milk, egg, sugar, and who knows what else.
Of course there were lots of fish served in countless ways. Since we were basically eating everything on the spot with our fingers, picking through the bones of a whole fish could get especially messy so we opted for easier finger food.
With so many new and wonderful things readily available it was pointless to try to exercise any self control so we just went for it and gorged ourselves. Since then we’ve been to many night markets and street stalls in small Thai towns and they’re almost always great but Trat was our first, and one of the best. It opened my eyes to the rich world of Thai street food and it far exceeded any expectations I may have had. Fern and I frequently reminisce about the Trat night market and we both melt a little bit as the flavors awaken from our memories.
jim@snorkelbandits.com