Thai Fresh: Beloved Recipes from a South Austin Icon

by Jam Sanitchat, Kim Lane, Jody Horton (Photographs)

Found within the eclectic South Austin neighborhood of Bouldin Creek is Thai Fresh, a gluten-free bakery, coffeehouse, vegan ice cream mecca, and, most importantly, Thai restaurant and learning center. Chef Jam Sanitchat built this culinary complex and teaching space piece by piece by expanding into neighboring spaces, forging relationships with local growers and producers, and adding new facets to her culinary repertoire as time and money allowed. The result is a wildly successful amalgam of food, beverages, and services that probably shouldn’t work but somehow does. Thai Fresh is the roadmap to that success. Follow Jam from her early days of cooking for friends during graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin, to her popular farmers market stand, to her current establishment. Along the way, she taught thousands of people the art of cooking Thai cuisine, and fed eager crowds at countless cultural and community events. Discover why this collection of Jam’s top-selling and most sought-after recipes, like Thai-Style Chicken and Waffle and The ULTIMATE Sauce—all stunningly captured by James Beard award–winning photographer Jody Horton—was requested by, and 100 percent funded by, her loyal community.

Genres: Cookbooks

224 pages, Hardcover

Published September 29, 2020

Reviews

[Baal Of · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initial Thoughts

Thai Fresh has been one of my favorite local restaurants for a while now, with their blend of fresh ingredients, and creative recipes. Adding in a coffee bar and ice cream shop was brilliant, and if you've never had their Thai Basil ice Cream you are missing out on an absolutely amazing desert. When they decided to adjust their prices, and remove tipping entirely so they could just pay their employees a living wage, I became even more of an advocate and dedicated customer.

This cookbook was actually purchased by my friend Belen, but she had it delivered here so I get first crack at it. The book itself is beautifully produced with one of those slightly spongey hard-cover bindings, and the paper is thick and high-quality. The photography is of course everything you would want from food porn, with lots of full-page pictures. Jam Sanitchat gives a bit of background of her life to help explain her love of cooking, how she learned from her family, and her philosophy of cooking. I am looking forward to trying a lot of these recipes, especially when David and Belen are here.

After Reading

This is a wonderful cookbook. Jam Sanitchat gives a little background on each recipe, sometimes about how it relates to her family or to her homeland, sometimes how it came into being at Thai Fresh, sometimes it's national origins. This is a nice way to give some kind of context around each recipe. Sanitchat does explain in one of the intros that she tends to favor sweeter dishes, which is in contrast to my own preferences. I love Thai food, but some of the dishes have too much sugar; when I make the for myself I generally quarter the sugar, or just leave it out entirely. I prefer the sugar to just stay in the deserts.

I have made one of the recipes so far: Chu Chee - Pan-simmered mackerel in red curry with toasted coconut flakes and lime leaves. Of course I immediately modified the recipe using salmon cut into chunks instead of the whole mackerel, and I couldn't get the lime leaves right now, so I just used lime zest. The results were delicious. I've got a couple more I'm going to make over the next 2 weekends.

For anyone who likes Thai cuisine this book would make an excellent addition to their cookbook shelf.

[Allie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A student's mom (and also friend!) recently made me the "Mom's Chicken Rice" with the "Crisp Cucumber Relish", and I have never had a better meal that said, "I appreciate you and care for you!" I was motivated to pull my copy of this fantastic book off the shelf and start cooking it as well. I have always loved Jam's restaurant (Thai Fresh is our go-to when we travel to South Austin) and have had so many of the dishes in this wonderful book. This week I was inspired to attempt my personal favorite Thai dish, "Tom Kha". With Jam's recipe, I can now cook it at home! I also added an ice cream maker to my holiday wish list because that vegan ice cream is worth driving to in the summer!

[Katie Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, simple cookbook with recipes that turn out delicious. Really enjoyed cooking from it.