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Pok Pok: The Drinking Food of Thailand
A cookbook featuring the rich and varied drinking food of Thailand (and the drinks it's consumed with), with 50 recipes and travelogue-like essays, inspired by Whiskey Soda Lounge, Andy Ricker's Portland, Oregon, restaurant.
A celebration of the thrill and spirit of Thai drinking food, Andy Ricker's follow-up to Pok Pok brings the same level of authority, with a more laid-back approach. Just as America has salted peanuts, wings, and nachos, Thailand has its own roster of craveable snacks: spicy, salty, and/or sour, they are perfect accompaniments for a few drinks and the company of good friends. Accessible and detailed recipes like phat khii mao (drunkard's stir-fry), kai thawt (Thai-style fried chicken), and thua thawt samun phrai (fried peanuts with kaffir lime, garlic, and chiles) provide all the tools to create the food and the experience of Whiskey Soda Lounge at home.
A celebration of the thrill and spirit of Thai drinking food, Andy Ricker's follow-up to Pok Pok brings the same level of authority, with a more laid-back approach. Just as America has salted peanuts, wings, and nachos, Thailand has its own roster of craveable snacks: spicy, salty, and/or sour, they are perfect accompaniments for a few drinks and the company of good friends. Accessible and detailed recipes like phat khii mao (drunkard's stir-fry), kai thawt (Thai-style fried chicken), and thua thawt samun phrai (fried peanuts with kaffir lime, garlic, and chiles) provide all the tools to create the food and the experience of Whiskey Soda Lounge at home.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published October 31, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
November 4, 2017
I must say this book brought back the exciting sights and smells of Northern Thailand, siting at roadside stalls eating combinations of foods that were added by me pointing and hoping for the best. Downing a beer or two with a small side snack and watching the world go by. (I steered clear of the whiskey.)
Just for that tug on the memory strings, I enjoyed this book.
That was in the early 70's and my love for Thai food has never diminished.
Drinking Food is not as Ricker says, 'full-on meals.'
It is 'a subset of [Thai] cuisine ... called aahaan kap klaem, or “drinking food.” In Thailand, you almost never see people drinking without something to eat. Rocker continues, 'I have yet to enter a Thai establishment where there’s booze but no food on offer. That impromptu alley bar, for example, might have set out drinking fare at its most basic.'
I love the way the recipes are accompanied by stories about the how, when and why of them.
Some recipes I won't use, some aspects of recipes I won't use. For instance, Dancing shrimp calls for preferably live shrimp. Those I will find hard to come by. However fresh raw shrimp can be used.
Although there's only a handful of recipes I would use, this is a helpful and insightful look into Thai food and culture, accompanied by photos that made me feel that I was right there.
A NetGalley ARC
January 24, 2018
When I got this book, I thought it was going to just be another cookbook to add to my collection. I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was a lot of literature on Thai food and culture as well. There are some wonderful photographs throughout the book and a lot of different recipes that I have never seen anywhere else. While I feel like some of the recipes require more than I am willing to do (live shrimp), I can tailor them to fit my needs just fine. I will say that some of the ingredients would be hard to find in my area, and some of the recipes sound complicated/labor intensive. So I wouldn't recommend picking up this book just for the recipes. There aren't as many recipes in the book as I thought there would be.
Bottom Line: If you like travel books or Thai cuisine, this would be a great addition to your collection.
** I received a copy of Pok Pok: The Drinking Food of Thailand from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are of my own.**
Bottom Line: If you like travel books or Thai cuisine, this would be a great addition to your collection.
** I received a copy of Pok Pok: The Drinking Food of Thailand from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are of my own.**
December 31, 2017
The description of The Drinking Food of Thailand appealed to me. I like snacks and one dish meals, especially if they’re more interesting than carrot and celery sticks. These recipes certainly are. These are labor-of-love recipes that ask for the best ingredients, your time cooking, and a spirit of adventure.
It’s full of beautiful pictures of people in Thailand cooking and serving these recipes. There’s nothing upscale, the pans are blackened and worn with use, but the food is vibrant, complex, and flavorful. The photos are amazing and will whet your appetite.
The recipes are well-organized in chapters on snacks, soups, salads, grilled food, fried foods, and breakfast/late night foods. There’s an additional chapter on items that will become ingredients in your dishes, spice blends, spiced oils, and other sundries. There are also informative chapters on some of the liquors of Thailand. A bright yellow background provides visual guidance distinguishing informational sections from recipes.
These are recipes for someone serious about learning Thai cooking. There are many special ingredients you will have to get from an Asian market. It requires a bit of investment in the spices and staples of Thai cuisine that makes sense if you intend to cook a lot of recipes from the book, but might not if you only want to sample one or two. Ricker does not expect home cooks to invest in lots of equipment, but nearly every recipe asks for a mortar and pestle.
I love Thai food and would like to cook it at home. My favorite foods were not among the recipes, though. I think my exposure to Thai cuisine is not quite this upscale nor this adventurous. There are recipes with chicken tendons, frogs, cuttlefish, offal, and pig’s tails just to name a few. Sure, there are recipes with plain old beef, chicken, and pork, but it feels like when deciding what to include, the dice were weighted toward the unusual ingredients you won’t find at your local grocer. But it’s not Ricker and Goode’s fault my palate is not that adventurous
I wanted to like The Drinking Food of Thailand more than I did. It was not just that the food was too far beyond my comfort zone. I can enjoy that. It was the design and layout of the book that makes it a cookbook I am unlikely to use. First, the font for the ingredients is entirely too small and too narrow. When cooking, you want to have your cookbook handy and look at it while you’re cooking. You should be able to read it without bending down with your nose three inches from the page. Worse, the sidebar where the ingredients are listed is very narrow, so each ingredient takes up several lines of text since they include detailed preparation directions with the ingredients. This makes it hard to find your place when looking at the ingredients while preparing a recipe. It also makes the recipe so much more intimidating at first glance than it really should be. I glance at a recipe and the ingredients go down an entire page and half of another and I am intimidated as all hell. Some go even longer.
I do like how the narrative is labeled by groups of tasks. Marinate the chicken, Fry and Serve the Chicken. It breaks the cooking down into bits, but these can be quite long narratives and again, when cooking, you want to be able to follow along easily. These seem like recipes chosen and written to intimidate, not to invite me to cook anything. Well, maybe the fried chicken…
But consider the fried chicken recipe. There’s three pages of text, two explaining his difficulty in discovering the secret to crispy chicken and one with the narrative of how to prepare and serve the chicken. There are lists of ingredients on the sidebars of two pages. Nine for marinating the chicken prior to frying and eight on the next page for making the batter, frying, and the dip (which has multiple ingredients and recipes on other pages.) Half the ingredients must be purchased at an Asian grocery store. This is for fried chicken.
This does not mean The Drinking Food of Thailand is not a good cookbook for the right person. I just thought drinking food would be an easy gateway to Thai cooking. I was mistaken. This is a book for someone serious about Thai cooking, not a dabbler.
The Drinking Food of Thailand is a cookbook by Andy Ricker, the chef/owner of the famed Pok Pok Thai restaurants here in Portland, as well as in Los Angeles and New York City, with J. J. Goode, author of multiple cookbooks co-authored with chefs.
I received a copy of The Drinking Food of Thailand from the publisher through Blogging for Books.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
It’s full of beautiful pictures of people in Thailand cooking and serving these recipes. There’s nothing upscale, the pans are blackened and worn with use, but the food is vibrant, complex, and flavorful. The photos are amazing and will whet your appetite.
The recipes are well-organized in chapters on snacks, soups, salads, grilled food, fried foods, and breakfast/late night foods. There’s an additional chapter on items that will become ingredients in your dishes, spice blends, spiced oils, and other sundries. There are also informative chapters on some of the liquors of Thailand. A bright yellow background provides visual guidance distinguishing informational sections from recipes.
These are recipes for someone serious about learning Thai cooking. There are many special ingredients you will have to get from an Asian market. It requires a bit of investment in the spices and staples of Thai cuisine that makes sense if you intend to cook a lot of recipes from the book, but might not if you only want to sample one or two. Ricker does not expect home cooks to invest in lots of equipment, but nearly every recipe asks for a mortar and pestle.
I love Thai food and would like to cook it at home. My favorite foods were not among the recipes, though. I think my exposure to Thai cuisine is not quite this upscale nor this adventurous. There are recipes with chicken tendons, frogs, cuttlefish, offal, and pig’s tails just to name a few. Sure, there are recipes with plain old beef, chicken, and pork, but it feels like when deciding what to include, the dice were weighted toward the unusual ingredients you won’t find at your local grocer. But it’s not Ricker and Goode’s fault my palate is not that adventurous
I wanted to like The Drinking Food of Thailand more than I did. It was not just that the food was too far beyond my comfort zone. I can enjoy that. It was the design and layout of the book that makes it a cookbook I am unlikely to use. First, the font for the ingredients is entirely too small and too narrow. When cooking, you want to have your cookbook handy and look at it while you’re cooking. You should be able to read it without bending down with your nose three inches from the page. Worse, the sidebar where the ingredients are listed is very narrow, so each ingredient takes up several lines of text since they include detailed preparation directions with the ingredients. This makes it hard to find your place when looking at the ingredients while preparing a recipe. It also makes the recipe so much more intimidating at first glance than it really should be. I glance at a recipe and the ingredients go down an entire page and half of another and I am intimidated as all hell. Some go even longer.
I do like how the narrative is labeled by groups of tasks. Marinate the chicken, Fry and Serve the Chicken. It breaks the cooking down into bits, but these can be quite long narratives and again, when cooking, you want to be able to follow along easily. These seem like recipes chosen and written to intimidate, not to invite me to cook anything. Well, maybe the fried chicken…
But consider the fried chicken recipe. There’s three pages of text, two explaining his difficulty in discovering the secret to crispy chicken and one with the narrative of how to prepare and serve the chicken. There are lists of ingredients on the sidebars of two pages. Nine for marinating the chicken prior to frying and eight on the next page for making the batter, frying, and the dip (which has multiple ingredients and recipes on other pages.) Half the ingredients must be purchased at an Asian grocery store. This is for fried chicken.
This does not mean The Drinking Food of Thailand is not a good cookbook for the right person. I just thought drinking food would be an easy gateway to Thai cooking. I was mistaken. This is a book for someone serious about Thai cooking, not a dabbler.
The Drinking Food of Thailand is a cookbook by Andy Ricker, the chef/owner of the famed Pok Pok Thai restaurants here in Portland, as well as in Los Angeles and New York City, with J. J. Goode, author of multiple cookbooks co-authored with chefs.
I received a copy of The Drinking Food of Thailand from the publisher through Blogging for Books.
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
February 7, 2018
I received my copy of this book free from the publisher in exchange for a fair review.
I don't normally read cookbooks, but I love experimenting with non-Western ingredients and cooking techniques, and this book looked pretty readable. In fact this book was clearly intended to be read, not just used for its recipes. The recipes all use a small set of ingredients, so readers who want to try cooking the dishes in this book only need to find sources for a few unusual items to be able to try most of the book, in some form or another. And, while it may be awkward for modern apartment-dwellers to deep-fry anything at home, the instructions provided do seem to make even deep-frying seem less of a daunting task for a small, limited apartment kitchen like mine. And, whether I make any of the specific dishes in this book, I did come away with a decent shopping list of spices and other ingredients to keep an eye out for, to recreate a Northern Thai flavor, at least to augment Ramen noodles. In fact, there is a dish in this book that is essentially fancy Ramen noodles.
The only gripe I had really with this book is that it is not at all vegetarian-friendly. I could imagine while I was reading how I could adapt some of the recipes to use less meat or no meat, but not knowing what the 'authentic' foods taste like, it may take a lot of experimentation to work out how to use substitutes like tofu or particular vegetables without making the flavors no longer at all 'Northern Thai'. I am sure poor households in Thailand have developed low-meat or meatless versions of classic dishes, including drinking-food dishes, out of necessity, and I would have appreciated at least brief notes as to how such adaptations might best be worked.
Still, for what it is, this is a fun book for anyone who likes reading about food or experimenting with world cuisine.
I don't normally read cookbooks, but I love experimenting with non-Western ingredients and cooking techniques, and this book looked pretty readable. In fact this book was clearly intended to be read, not just used for its recipes. The recipes all use a small set of ingredients, so readers who want to try cooking the dishes in this book only need to find sources for a few unusual items to be able to try most of the book, in some form or another. And, while it may be awkward for modern apartment-dwellers to deep-fry anything at home, the instructions provided do seem to make even deep-frying seem less of a daunting task for a small, limited apartment kitchen like mine. And, whether I make any of the specific dishes in this book, I did come away with a decent shopping list of spices and other ingredients to keep an eye out for, to recreate a Northern Thai flavor, at least to augment Ramen noodles. In fact, there is a dish in this book that is essentially fancy Ramen noodles.
The only gripe I had really with this book is that it is not at all vegetarian-friendly. I could imagine while I was reading how I could adapt some of the recipes to use less meat or no meat, but not knowing what the 'authentic' foods taste like, it may take a lot of experimentation to work out how to use substitutes like tofu or particular vegetables without making the flavors no longer at all 'Northern Thai'. I am sure poor households in Thailand have developed low-meat or meatless versions of classic dishes, including drinking-food dishes, out of necessity, and I would have appreciated at least brief notes as to how such adaptations might best be worked.
Still, for what it is, this is a fun book for anyone who likes reading about food or experimenting with world cuisine.
January 7, 2018
I'm confused.....or I was until I read this book. Because when I read the drinking food of Thailand, I was expecting a cookbook with only recipes for cocktails, PHO and other liquids where you make a slurping sound while partaking of something spicey and palatable, relaxing with some friends.
Well, I was partly right. (don't always judge a book by it's cover....nor title!) Andy Ricker, the brilliant author of The Drinking Food of Thailand, is passionate about food, and especially The food of Thailand. He has worked worldwide in different restaurants and has even opened his own restaurants in Portland and New York City. Ricker learned that there is an entire subset of Thai cooking called aahaan kap klaem or "drinking food". This food is the perfect accompaniment for sharing a few driynks with good friends.... so now I get the title...right?
And let me just say that the KHUA HAEM PIK KAI (stir-fried chicken wings with hot basil and chiles) is one of my favorites from this book.
JJ Goode, already familiar with Ricker's style having worked on other books together, coauthored this book with Ricker. Add in photographer Austin Bush and you have an entertaining full color 250+ page Thai cookbook full of much more than recipes, explanation of ingredients and equipment but life stories of Ricker's years on the road in Thailand.
This book is definitely coffee table worthy. I recommend it, believing everyone that likes to cook, or maybe just read cookbooks, who might not get to visit Thailand, might enjoy viewing Thailand through Mr Ricker's eyes.
I received this book from blogging with books in exchange for my honest review.
Well, I was partly right. (don't always judge a book by it's cover....nor title!) Andy Ricker, the brilliant author of The Drinking Food of Thailand, is passionate about food, and especially The food of Thailand. He has worked worldwide in different restaurants and has even opened his own restaurants in Portland and New York City. Ricker learned that there is an entire subset of Thai cooking called aahaan kap klaem or "drinking food". This food is the perfect accompaniment for sharing a few driynks with good friends.... so now I get the title...right?
And let me just say that the KHUA HAEM PIK KAI (stir-fried chicken wings with hot basil and chiles) is one of my favorites from this book.
JJ Goode, already familiar with Ricker's style having worked on other books together, coauthored this book with Ricker. Add in photographer Austin Bush and you have an entertaining full color 250+ page Thai cookbook full of much more than recipes, explanation of ingredients and equipment but life stories of Ricker's years on the road in Thailand.
This book is definitely coffee table worthy. I recommend it, believing everyone that likes to cook, or maybe just read cookbooks, who might not get to visit Thailand, might enjoy viewing Thailand through Mr Ricker's eyes.
I received this book from blogging with books in exchange for my honest review.
February 6, 2023
I tell a story often how Andy Ricker’s first cookbook Pok Pok is the reason I now borrow cookbooks from the library instead of purchasing them sight-unseen. In that book, the chef/authors rigorously held on to the most traditional of recipes - including scarce ingredients or tools - and pretty much openly taunted the reader that this food would be hard to make. Welp, here’s round two of the same. This cookbook serves better as a menu to follow if you have the pleasure of traveling to Thailand. I absolutely would want to try many of these dishes made by the experts, however they are fairly inaccessible for the home cook in America due to ingredients (cow bile?!) and specific cooking tools. Pretty pictures and some neat stories give this three stars, but it is more a travel food book than a cookbook.
And here is my counterpoint for anyone who is critics of me and my frustrations with the recipes and presentation and attitude of the author: check out Kris Yenbamroong’s incredible “Night + Market” Thai cookbook where he espouses the sentiment that these dishes are meant to be made and enjoy while drinking with friends. He happily will provide tasty substitutes for rare ingredients and explains the potential flavor changes. His cookbook IS accessible and fun and engages the home chef in a way that is opposite of how this Pok Pok alienates and nearly belittles the home chef.
And here is my counterpoint for anyone who is critics of me and my frustrations with the recipes and presentation and attitude of the author: check out Kris Yenbamroong’s incredible “Night + Market” Thai cookbook where he espouses the sentiment that these dishes are meant to be made and enjoy while drinking with friends. He happily will provide tasty substitutes for rare ingredients and explains the potential flavor changes. His cookbook IS accessible and fun and engages the home chef in a way that is opposite of how this Pok Pok alienates and nearly belittles the home chef.
February 13, 2018
There are two ways to look at The Drinking Food of Thailand by Andy Ricker, JJ Goode, and Austin Bush (photographer) - as a cookbook and as a journey into a culture. The relatively short list of recipes and the specialized ingredients means this will not be a cookbook I turn to often. However, the recipes are punctuated by images and stories from the author's travels in Thailand. For that look into culture and foods and ingredients, I truly appreciate this book.
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2018...
Reviewed for Blogging for Books
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2018...
Reviewed for Blogging for Books
April 17, 2018
While the food in this cookbook wasn't my favorite type, I was absolutely captivated by the pictures. My number one complaint about most cookbooks is their are never enough pictures but this had pictures for almost every recipe. I also loved some of the step by step pictures to help with more complicated folding. The steps were clearly laid out and easy to follow. I also liked the special equipment section of each recipe. Fans of Thailand cooking will love this book. I would say I received a copy of this book through the blogging for books program in exchange for an honest review.
September 9, 2020
Purchase Pok Pok here for just $15!
"In Thailand, you drink while eating and eat while drinking," writes Andy Ricker. Either way, sounds good to me! This fascinating cookbook is a celebration of Thai cooking called "Drinking Food" - think snacks/one meal dishes. But it's not just a cookbook. The recipes are enhanced by gorgeous photos of people preparing and serving the recipes, as well as providing insight into Thai food and culture. Irresistible.
Paul- The Book Grocer
"In Thailand, you drink while eating and eat while drinking," writes Andy Ricker. Either way, sounds good to me! This fascinating cookbook is a celebration of Thai cooking called "Drinking Food" - think snacks/one meal dishes. But it's not just a cookbook. The recipes are enhanced by gorgeous photos of people preparing and serving the recipes, as well as providing insight into Thai food and culture. Irresistible.
Paul- The Book Grocer
January 4, 2018
I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher and I chose to review it. The opinion contained herein is solely my own and I have not been compensated in any way.
I think this is an interesting title for the very adventurous cook and foodie. I did make the "Thai style fried chicken" and it was delicious. I found it a very interesting read, and loved all the background and photos. I will probably try a few more of the recipes, but most of them are pretty obscure.
I recommend this title for your cookbook library based solely on the writing and photography.
I think this is an interesting title for the very adventurous cook and foodie. I did make the "Thai style fried chicken" and it was delicious. I found it a very interesting read, and loved all the background and photos. I will probably try a few more of the recipes, but most of them are pretty obscure.
I recommend this title for your cookbook library based solely on the writing and photography.
January 6, 2018
I received a complimentary copy.
I feel like as a reader and cookbook lover this was a bit flat as far as recipes my family would enjoy. I also do not have the time to create a labor intensive dish. Most of all the foods that are included for the most part would be near impossible to find in my area. For these reasons alone I am rating this book lower. I would also include that not everyone drinks for example my children, so why would I want to give them food that only drunk people prefer?
I feel like as a reader and cookbook lover this was a bit flat as far as recipes my family would enjoy. I also do not have the time to create a labor intensive dish. Most of all the foods that are included for the most part would be near impossible to find in my area. For these reasons alone I am rating this book lower. I would also include that not everyone drinks for example my children, so why would I want to give them food that only drunk people prefer?
January 10, 2022
Great recipes, but the tone of this is similar to his others and I’m not sure if it’s him or his collaborator.
Honky this, honky that. Drunken farang this, backpacker that. It’s just so tiresome and reads like an idiotic gap year student with something to prove. Considering what Ricker is—-a fat, balding, old white guy who would 100% be assumed to be what he so desperately seeks to avoid by virtually any Thai who laid eyes on him, he should really just stick to the food.
Honky this, honky that. Drunken farang this, backpacker that. It’s just so tiresome and reads like an idiotic gap year student with something to prove. Considering what Ricker is—-a fat, balding, old white guy who would 100% be assumed to be what he so desperately seeks to avoid by virtually any Thai who laid eyes on him, he should really just stick to the food.
August 8, 2017
A delicious read In Thailand when they drink there is always food.Drinking food small bites .This book introduces us Tom this tradition &shared with us the delicious side dishes &the spirit of the tradition of Thai drinking.Thanks to Net Galley& Ten Speed pres for providing me a galley for an honest review,
May 5, 2019
Solid book with plenty of good information and realistic photography. Many of these dishes would be difficult to duplicate at home in, say, a Scandinavian kitchen, but the book is about true recipes, not convenience. In Thailand all this stuff is ready as rain, and as such this is a great read about the Thai food culture, albeit as experienced with loving eyes by an outsider.
December 1, 2020
Great book for advanced Asian cooks.
My favorite food is Asian most of the time. I've been immersed in Asian food since 1977. This book was An epiphany to me. I'd never heard of many cooking equipment that make these recipes so much easier. Fun book for REALLY authentic adventurous recipes
My favorite food is Asian most of the time. I've been immersed in Asian food since 1977. This book was An epiphany to me. I'd never heard of many cooking equipment that make these recipes so much easier. Fun book for REALLY authentic adventurous recipes
February 11, 2018
Follows in the same vein as Bourdain’s new cookbook. Gorgeous photos, very informative, but mostly impractical for finding ingredients in my area. This is a cookbook for dreaming and escaping.
March 27, 2018
A thoroughly enjoyable book
March 13, 2022
Interesting food options, but the stories felt repetitive and really boring after a while. Ingredients might be hard to find as well.
August 16, 2017
Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The book isn't bad by any means, but it did not grab my attention the way I thought it would. The writer received quite a bit of praise for his previous book, so I had high hopes for this one. I'm not sure if it was the way he writes or something else that left me a bit disinterested.
Don't get me wrong, the recipes he writes about sound good and look great from the pictures included. There are even some fun anecdotes to go along with the various recipes and sections that he covers. I wasn't really inspired to try to recreate any of the dishes though. Maybe experiencing them elsewhere like he has would prompt more enthusiasm to cook them. He certainly knows his stuff about the recipes presented in the book and the regions of Thailand that they come from.
It felt like he was trying to capture some of the edginess that you might find in an Anthony Bourdain book. He even mentions an encounter with Bourdain that reinforced that feeling. The problem is it feels more forced coming from Ricker and it got in the way of me really enjoying the book. Coupled with the style of recipes, think more appetizer or small plates, the book missed the mark for me. For the right audience it could be superb, but I would recommend seeking out other Thai cookbooks first.
The book isn't bad by any means, but it did not grab my attention the way I thought it would. The writer received quite a bit of praise for his previous book, so I had high hopes for this one. I'm not sure if it was the way he writes or something else that left me a bit disinterested.
Don't get me wrong, the recipes he writes about sound good and look great from the pictures included. There are even some fun anecdotes to go along with the various recipes and sections that he covers. I wasn't really inspired to try to recreate any of the dishes though. Maybe experiencing them elsewhere like he has would prompt more enthusiasm to cook them. He certainly knows his stuff about the recipes presented in the book and the regions of Thailand that they come from.
It felt like he was trying to capture some of the edginess that you might find in an Anthony Bourdain book. He even mentions an encounter with Bourdain that reinforced that feeling. The problem is it feels more forced coming from Ricker and it got in the way of me really enjoying the book. Coupled with the style of recipes, think more appetizer or small plates, the book missed the mark for me. For the right audience it could be superb, but I would recommend seeking out other Thai cookbooks first.
December 27, 2017
Long before I opened Pok Pok, before I even knew there was such a thing as "Northern Thai food," I learned a lesson about drinking in Thailand. In Thailand, you almost never see people drinking without something to eat. I have yet to enter a Thai establishment where there's booze but no food on offer.
December 21, 2017
This book was so much fun to read. A great exploration of true, unsung, Thai cuisine and the drinking that accompanies it. The stories are outrageous and entertaining and the recipes are fascinating and adventurous, some are must try delicious and others are simply shocking! As an Honorary Thai-Through-Marriage, it was wonderful to share this story with my in-laws. My Thai mother-in-law was thrilled to discuss culinary traditions of her culture and upbringing, while my Canadian father-in-law, previous member of the Canadian Peace Corps and stationed in Thailand, laughed heartily at stories of "whiskey" drunken falung(white foreigners).
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews