Khanom jiin naam yaa at TAC [Pic]

In contrast with that served at Sticky Rice, here is the khanm jiin nam yaa served at TAC.


khanm jiin nam yaa

As you can clearly see from the photo, TAC's version of the dish is made with the inclusion of luk chn plaa, or fish balls*.

While it is perhaps not clear from the photo, the accoutrements for TAC's version of the dish include blanched/chopped long beans, chopped pickled cabbage, bean sprouts, ground chiles, basil leaves and deep-fried dried chiles.

The curry sauce itself is both lighter in body and higher in heat than that served at Sticky Rice.

Lastly, as with the dish at Sticky Rice, this item is clearly indicated on my Thai Menu translation at the restaurant.

Regards,
Erik M.

* Just as it is the practice of Sticky Rice, the curry sauce at TAC is further enriched with the addition of tinned tuna.

I always think of Diana Fuss when it comes to fish balls. Kristeva's more deep dish.

Erik, the sauce in the TAC version looks amazingly different from that of the Sticky Rice dish, not only in being apparently lighter in body, as you say, but also in the color. Can you say more about how the two versions of the sauce are prepared?

Amata wrote:Erik, the sauce in the TAC version looks amazingly different from that of the Sticky Rice dish, not only in being apparently lighter in body, as you say, but also in the color. Can you say more about how the two versions of the sauce are prepared?

I can say a bit more, yes. But, I should first say that I keep an awful lot of the Thai restaurants' recipes, secrets and tricks in confidence.

The curry paste at both establishments includes the list of ingredients that I furnished here, expressly: galangal, krachai, lemongrass, garlic, fresh chile, and dried fish*. Above and beyond the relative proportions of those ingredients, differences between the two curry sauces can greatly be attributed to the amounts of tuna, fish sauce, sugar, coconut milk, and dried chile used by each establishment. The visible differences that you noted are due to the fact that Sticky Rice uses more tuna and coconut milk, and less dried chile.

And, don't tell Penpoint, but neither establishment follows a written recipe... for anything.


You might find this photo-illustrated recipe for khanm jiin nam yaa to be of some interest.

FWIW, and as I have been asked about it a few times, the dish shown above was not styled by me in any way. That is how it comes. Here is another view:



Regards,
Erik M.

* Usu. k-p, or shrimp paste.

The only time I've had the dish was at a special meal here at a Portland Thai restaurant, Sukhothai (best khao soi in town). It's not on their normal menu, I don't believe. We ate family style and they gave us the dish in two parts:





Not surprisingly, yours looks better. But I did enjoy this one quite a bit.

And, don't tell Penpoint, but neither establishment follows a written recipe... for anything.

Thanks, Erik, this explains a lot. Doesn't solve the problem of inconsistency, but at least now I know a reason for it.

Penpoint wrote:Thanks, Erik, this explains a lot. Doesn't solve the problem of inconsistency, but at least now I know a reason for it.

I am curious to know how you would explain the relative consistency of shops like Yum Thai, Thai Avenue, Aroy Thai and TAC Quick, when I know for a fact that none of them follow written recipes on any consistent basis.

I think that you insult the intelligence and skill of the vast majority of people that have ever cooked on this blue and green sphere, Penpoint. And, to this day, I would bet you that less than 30% of the world's cooks have ever followed written recipes on any consistent basis.

Erik M.

Erik M. wrote:I am curious to know how you would explain the relative consistency of shops like Yum Thai, Thai Avenue, Aroy Thai and TAC Quick, when I know for a fact that none of them follow written recipes on any consistent basis.

I think that you insult the intelligence and skill of the vast majority of people that have ever cooked on this blue and green sphere, Penpoint. And, to this day, I would bet you that less than 30% of the world's cooks have ever followed written recipes on any consistent basis.

Of the four places you mentioned, I can respond to two of them: once the Panang at Thai Avenue was delicious, the next time it was very different, and both times I've been to TAC Quick, the dishes were excellent, no complaint.

The first time I went to Sticky Rice, I had one of the best meals I can remember; the second time, the meal was near inedible. Over several visits to Thai Pastry and to Always Thai, I have found the same dish can be just right, extremely greasy, too dry. or differently spiced.

Now please don't tell me that each of these restaurants has only one cook. The only explanation for the inconsistency I have found is that different cooks were responsible. Your confirmation that they don't follow written recipes means that there is bound to be variation (sometimes significant) amongst the cooks in a restaurant. Each cook is going to put his or her own spin on a dish. If written recipes were followed by all the cooks in a restaurant, there is a chance--though not a guarantee--that a dish would be more consistent from one time to the next.

In no way were my comments meant as an insult to the cooks' intelligence or skill, Erik. And I certainly agree with you that many cooks--perhaps most in this world--do not follow written recipes but produce consistent results. We probably all come from families where someone made the same dishes for years and never consulted a recipe. My mother was like that and so was her sister--they would each make the same dish, using what they learned from their father, and you could easily tell the difference. They each put their own imprint on the dish. And the same thing happens with different cooks in a restaurant.

--Penpoint

I imagine the cooks have a template, just like an apprentice baker will be told to start with flour, starter, water, and salt, even with some proportions. But unless that apprentice has some skill and experience and sense of what the dough should feel like before it's left to rise, what it should look like before it goes in the oven, what it should feel and look like before it comes out, etc, any "recipe" won't do much.

There are just too many variables in cooking. It's a craft that relies on an experience person constantly tasting and adjusting. And with something like Thai food, which relies so much on a balance of certain flavors, that necessity is amplified. Each can or batch of coconut milk is not the same viscosity. Each spoonful of shrimp paste does not have the same intensity. Every lime can range in sweetness, bitterness, and sourness. Fish sauce can range in salinity and fragrance. Etc.

When making stir-fried noodles, eg, the biggest pain for me is the water content, which changes every time you make a batch. A seemingly small change in water content can have a massive impact. And these problems are amplified if you're making two servings instead of one, or three servings instead of two, etc.

I think this is why so many cooking school students suck. Sure they've been taught professional techniques and have CIA recipes. But do they have a palate?

If I remember correctly, Andy at TAC touches every dish. Maybe actually cooks every dish. I'm sure Erik can correct me.

So I don't think the issue is so much the recipe as much as getting quality cooks in there. A place like Charlie Trotter's can afford to hire sous chefs that are good enough in their own right to own and run a restaurant. Among Thai restaurants, I imagine all but Arun's can't.

Afterall, if it was just the recipe, that wouldn't suggest that the dish would be good one time and bad the next so much as tasting one way the first and different the next, right? If you had three good cooks and no recipe whatsoever, you'd expect three different but good versions of a dish.