Today’s featured recipe gives us a chance to touch several issues in a single swoop. It’s like a master class in Thai techniques! But the dish itself stands out as a truly authentic Pad Thai that will make anyone a fan even if they weren’t before….
Soak it to me!
We’ve already looked at the alternative method for prepping lasagne (or any other casserole-bound pasta). It’s simply soaking the stuff in warm water until it becomes semi-soft and pliable. Without making it ouchy-hot and slippery. That makes assembling your Lasagne much easier and faster, and helps avoid what used to be inevitable breaking or tearing of the big pasta sheets!
Today, Chef Nick is going to show us exactly how to prep and use soaked rice noodles in any Asian dish.
But wait! There’s more!
As I hinted above, this jam-packed video also demonstrates how to prep and use a number of other ubiquitous Asian ingredients not usually encountered in Western cuisine…
Thrill to Nick’s virtuosity with the chef’s knife as he explains how to handle Palm Sugar, Tofu, Fish Sauce, Dried Shrimp, and Garlic Chives!
The key to authenticity…
… Nick says, is to avoid the many and varied shortcuts and substitutions many restaurants – even famous ones! – employ when making their Pad Thai. That’s where his ingredient mini-workshops come in…
DO mise en place!
My overall observation was, this recipe is a good example of how important it can be to practice the French prep method known as mise en place. That just means, do all your cutting, dicing and meas-uring before you actually start to cook. Mise en place saves time during cooking, reduces the chance of errors, keeps the workspace clean and uncluttered. And – ultimately – reduces chef stress, and improves food quality and consistency.
This dish involves a fair number of ingredients which require prep and measurement – and some must be added one right after the other to ensure all are optimally cooked at the end.
The recipe, itself…
… Is a true Thai classic. In fact, Pad Thai is considered by some to be the country’s national dish. Which is fitting, because it combines all of Thai cuisine’s most prominent traditional ingredients
In a larger sense, it’s a great way to hone all your Asian cooking skills in one admittedly major undertaking.
The video demonstrates everything you need to to know about making it!
My take
I love recipes like today’s because they shine on so many levels. And at the end of it all, you get to eat something exquisitely exotic, and oh, so satisfying for both body and soul…
Maggie J.