Chef Gorn’s Rose Garden
Chef Thapakorn Lertviriyavit (Gorn) brings us a rare perfumed and colorful starter [salad] dish that was rediscovered in a cookbook written by a former governor of Nakhon Ratchasima (พระยานครราชเสนี – สหัด สิงหเสนี), which contained a recipe that called for rose petals, called ‘Yum Gularb’ or ‘Rose Petal Salad’. But I’d prefer to rename it, ‘Yum Gleep Kuppatchka’. You will soon understand why….
This salad is made from rose petals mixed with pork belly, chicken and shrimp, seasoned with chilies, fish sauce, lime juice, palm sugar, and mixed with roasted peanuts, deep-fried shallots and deep-fried-garlic.
Section A – Intro
This morning I got up really late. I stayed up all night last night, almost until the break of dawn, rushing to finish those dessert orders again. As I was coming downstairs, I heard a love song playing that hadn’t heard in years.
The last time I heard that song, I was still single. It was my youngest daughter who had put on the song. Wow, and she’ll be 18 this year! And I still haven’t seen her go out on a date once. She was sitting on the floor in front of an old cassette player and piles of old cassettes. She had a couple of old books out, and a vase of red roses in front of her.
“I found these cassettes in the storeroom, and thought I’d give them a listen. This one is excellent!”
I was still listening to the song as she started turning it down.
“Roses are red, my love. Violets are blue. Sugar is sweet, my love. But not as sweet as you.”
Section A – Intro Cont.
In fact, I don’t think I’d heard that song since back when I first started flirting with her mother! Obviously, that was quite a while ago.
“So, what are you doing here?’ I asked her! And then I noticed that she had a book of mine, MADANABADHA (or THE ROMANCE OF A ROSE). “And why do you have that? Are you reading it?”
This ball-shaped dessert has a sweet coconut filling (gracheek), surrounded by a thin crust of pounded unripe rice crumbs, along with a tempting fragrance enriched with a Thai dessert candle or fresh flowers.
Demonstrating brilliant creativity and attention to detail, this classical Thai dessert uses only three basic ingredients. In this article, we have elected to follow the traditional recipe published in 1908 by Thanpuying Plean Passakornrawong.
I love my food very spicy and I’m very generous with all things chili. People like me who also enjoy spicy food, in part, love it because It’s a truly a food & mood issue. Chilies are known to boost endorphin levels in the body and that makes us feel better. Maybe that’s the reason why marketers get my immediate attention simply with red packaging and the naughty smile of the devil holding to the brand name logo of their products.
Tom Yam is a type of soup with distinct sharp hot and sour flavors, scented with pleasant citrusy aroma.
Tom Yam is known to seduce many westerners to fall in love with Thailand, its people and food. Many trips memories to Thailand were written in diaries, others are etched on film but all are stained by the Tom Yam charm.
I still remember with vivid colors my first bowl of Tom Yam, in the night market of the old neighborhood on a hot night in a ragged, unfashionable part of Bangkok. Where the smell of cooking and the glare of florescent lights decorated the alley where JeMoi used to own a restaurant, a very simple and very good one, decorated with cheap bamboo chairs and peeling orange walls. I would enjoy watching the streets of the early night turning into mornings, eating, drinking and sweating. It was hard to say if I was sweating from the hot and humid weather, the cheap whiskey or JeMoi’s spicy food. I still smile when I think of her, standing by my table with a winning smile, as if she knew how much I enjoy the food.
Our ancestors, the early humans, had to base their food selection only on their senses. Sweet was energy, umami indicated the presence of proteins and saltiness was the sign for the much needed minerals. Generally, they avoided sour taste because it represented rotten or spoiled food, and bitter was the taste tonics and remedies were made of, and yes, it is now confirmed that bitter gourds are good for you.
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