The Pepper Thai Cookbook: Family Recipes from Everyone's Favorite Thai Mom

by Pepper Teigen, Garrett Snyder

A cookbook from Chrissy Tiegen’s mom, Pepper!

Pepper Teigen is the Thai mom and Yai (grandma) we all wish we had! Anyone who is a fan of Chrissy’s knows Pepper—she is prominently featured in Chrissy’s Instagram and website, CravingsbyChrissyTeigen—and often can be seen in her own feed cooking with granddaughter Luna or preparing soup for grandson Miles. Known as “Pepper Thai” for her love of spicy chiles, Pepper whips up the most delicious dishes in the Teigen-Legend household on the regular, like Roasted Lemongrass Chicken, Pad Thai Brussels Sprouts, and Nam Prik Moo Sloppy Joes, and Seafood Pad Cha.

In this debut cookbook, a kind of prequel to Cravings, Pepper shares more than 80 playful, inspiring, bold-flavored recipes for the dishes that fuel this busy household and made Chrissy fall in love with food and cooking. The chapters are quirky and fun, like “Always Snacking” (Thai Beef Jerky, Son-in-Law Jammy Eggs), Salads but not Boring (Naked Shrimp Salad), Back Home in Khorat (Turkey Grapow), and Pepper’s Pantry (Puffy Fried Eggs, Sweet Chile Jam). In addition to recipes, Pepper tells stories about her early days in the U.S., learning to cook Thai dishes with American ingredients and substitutes, and what it’s like to raise and live with a famous daughter. Creative and delicious, this cookbook will leave Chrissy and Pepper’s fans hungry for more.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Collections, Reference, Food and Drink

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 13, 2021

Reviews

[Janet Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't do Instagram, nor have I been a follower of any of Chrissy Teigan's publications, so came to this cookbook fresh, so to speak. I was very impressed by the easy recipes, most relying on ingredients easily found in most supermarkets, and techniques accessible to anyone who has done even a little Asian cooking. This is a very "accessible" cookbook, and all of the recipes I have tried have been delicious. The index is particularly useful. My fave recipe--Brussels Sprouts Pad Thai, and there are easily a dozen runners-up, including hot basil eggplant (ok, the rest of the family wasn't as in love with this one as I, but I've never encountered an eggplant recipe I didn't enjoy)! Probably more than a dozen had I cooked more recipes that I found appealing.

[Azanta (azantareads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

honestly, given how versatile and flavorful Chrissy’s first two cookbooks were, i was expecting a lot more from her mom’s books, esp since Chrissy time and time again credits her mom for her love of and skills with cooking. but Pepper’s cookbook is just chock full of pork recipes (most of which aren’t substitutable) with varying full meals far and few in between.

[Hayley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great recipes; will definitely purchase this book

[Miss Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction (or resource) for Thai cuisine. I also really enjoyed hearing about Pepper's life and experiences from which she draws so many of the recipes.


Thai Beef Jerky
Chicken Satay with Pounded Peanut Sauce
Chili-Lime Fried Cashews*
Thai Steak Salad
Larb Burgers
Thai BBQ Pork
Pad Korat*
Fried Curry Meatballs
Moo Ping
Sweet and Sour Stir-Fry
"Bow-Thai" See Ew
Roasted Veggie Green Curry
Massamen Beef Curry
Five-Spice Pork Stew
Crispy Fried Bananas

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I wasn’t impressed with the recipes and the accompanying photographs don’t help. There was only one recipe in here that I’m willing to make.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oooh yes this is a good one. I love the different categories and variety of authentic recipes! I feel like it's obvious to compare her cookbook to her daughter's - I think Chrissy has a lot of good fusion riffs on classic recipes and Pepper keeps them closer to the real deal. Chrissy also mixes in a ton more "American" food options while Pepper's cookbook is almost exclusively Thai. I love it - cannot wait to make some of these. If you don't keep things like fish sauce and oyster sauce around like we do, you will need a shopping trip!

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe being Australian I found this book very foreign. We have plenty of Thai food and this book have a lot of fusion Thai food. And reading the recipes there’s a lot of flavors going on in one dish. This one not really my taste

[Jessica Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book on impulse at a Barnes & Noble 50% off sale simply because I love the Chrissy Teigen books so much and figured it would be more of the same. Oops! When I learned that Pepper isn’t even her real name but a nickname because she loves spicy food (and then she repeated this fact over and over throughout the book) I knew I was in trouble. There weren’t many things I wanted to make but I have to admit I did like what I made for the most part. Maybe as I get more adventurous I will come back and try more things.
🌶️
Here’s what I made:
🍤 Sticky Caramelized Shrimp Lettuce Wraps- my first attempt at the caramel sauce was a dud. It seized up into rocks. I wanted caramely shrimp so bad that I actually tried again, adding the ingredients in an order that made more sense to me, and it was very good! Somehow light and healthy and decadent at the same time!
🍗 Turkey Grapow- my daughter actually got mad at me for not making more which was super unexpected! The meat had a great salty/sweet/umami thing going on and then the egg on top took it to another level.
🍜 Pad Mama- Pepper didn’t say which Mama noodle pack to buy so I hoped I could use the rice noodles… and I was wrong. They clumped up or disintegrated. The rest of the food was fine but her noodley picture looked so much more enticing than my result.
🎀 “Bow-tie” See Ew- on this day I learned that white pepper is pretty dang spicy. My kids couldn’t handle even one bite of this which meant I got to eat it for 4 days straight 🫠 Not too bad otherwise.

[DC · Rating 3 out of 5]

This seems pretty practical and charming - I am not familiar with the author's online presence and didn't realize how famous her family is until after I got the book from the library, but the recipes seem approachable and there are photos for every one (yes!). I may end up revising my rating after we try a couple of the recipes.
Pepper seems more flexible / forgiving with regard to substitutions (like ginger and galangal) comapred to other Thai / Asian cook books I've read. I think what she suggests makes sense, especially if ingredients are hard to find (like... would it really be better to just omit the galangal instead of substituting ginger?? I have my doubts, but I'm not an expert). I was also unfamiliar with any debate around nomenclature for makrut vs kaffir lime (kaffir has derogatory origins, according to the book), so I will try to learn a bit more.

[Nisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cookbooks, I love browsing through them.  I rarely follow a recipe exactly as it's written but use them to incorporate new ingredients and flavors.
I had to mention this one because #nonfictionnovember, I love Thai food and there a bunch if great recipes in this one .  
Recipes I tried and loved: Crispy shrimp toast--super yummy and easyChicken satay with peanut sauce-- many of the ingredients are similar to Indian foodHot basil eggplant -- eggplant is a staple in my home and I'm always looking for new ways to serve itFridge cleaning fried rice -- my fried rice never turns out as well as I hope, this one worked well for me!

[Lynzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always loved Pepper, her IG page is a delight. And she of course features heavily in Chrissy's cookbooks.

I love her anecdotes about cooking Thai food when there were no Asian markets nearby, of cooking wings for the bar they owned in WA state, of growing up in Isaan and learning to cook as a little girl.

And I want to eat everything in here. I've been to Thailand, I've eaten at many Thai restaurants, but Thailand is huge, and every province has their own cuisine and I want to eat ALL OF IT. Gonna go buy this!

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christy Tiegen’s mother’s Thai cookbook. I like how there are short and sweet stories to every recipe. Every recipe had pictures and some cute family photos thrown in there. And substitutions if we can’t find the exact ingredients. I also love how the recipes are unique and not the same Thai recipes from other cookbooks. I skimmed this cookbook but will revisit when I want to be inspired to cook something new

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Thai cuisine! What this book impressed me is that this is not just a cookbook for your favorite Thai dishes but also a memoir of a woman, who immigrated to the States which was also her very first time to board on an airplane when she was in her early twenties, her journey to explore her hometown dishes in a new country and her fond memories about preparing her children and supporting her husband's pub with these dishes decades ago. It's really sweet to read her stories beside the recipes.

[Sher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just read this from cover-to-cover and I am completely drooling. Every recipe in the book is one I want to make and the only one missing from my childhood is Saku Sai Moo - definitely my favorite dessert of all time. I was delighted to learn that she is from Korat, where I was born.

I will update this with favorite recipes and let you know how easy the recipes are to follow.

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[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice cookbook. Easy to read, nice photos, and helpful ingredient lists including substitutions. I'm a big fan of the entire family, I make the miso fettuccini dish with bok choy from Cravings often. I'm looking forward to trying the coconut pancakes here :)

[Adrienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gorgeous pictures, easy to understand recipes, all in all it is a very professional and beautiful cookbook. I found the ingredients to be difficult to obtain and the recipes too time consuming. for me. I'll continue to get my Thai food at a restaurant.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy, vibrant, delicious recipes - I think I will add this to my home library. The recipes were easy to follow and make you believe you can make thai food! The sauce recipes in particular look fabulous and loved the pantry section.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would love to taste so many recipes from this book. Not sure if I'll actually cook any of them though, since it's very different from how I cook normally. I guess I'll have to find a good Thai restaurant :)

[Karan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this cookbook. I do cook Thai food and yet found some recipes and tips that I wanted to use. Lovely pictures, though a few less self-promotional ones would have been better. Still, the pictures of the food were just as good, and as numerous, so I still recommend it.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

All my favorite Thai dishes in one book! Now I can finally try my hand at cooking them!

[Kristen Valera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great cookbook!

[Alyssa]

There are so many wonderful recipes in this book. I can’t wait to try them. I just wish I had an Asian market nearby!

[Aisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great cookbook!
So many easy to make and delicious thai recipes.

[Andrianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute stories, great recipes! I'm looking forward to cooking several things from this book.

[Aasinathena · Rating 5 out of 5]

studded with beautiful festive style photography,recipes looks so delicious !

[Michelle]

I think I'm gonna stick with take-out.

[Jenn Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. I love Thai food and Pepper makes everything sound not just delicious, but attainable for the home cook. Genuinely feels like she's sharing her own homestyle Thai faves with us.

[Karrie Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love Thai food then the book is totally your jam!