This old-fashioned Siamese pork skin salad is adapted from an 1889 rhino skin salad recipe. It features thin glossy slices of cooked pork skin, simmered in rich coconut cream, and mixed with dried shrimp, roasted coconut, sour fruits; it is seasoned with chili jam-based dressing.
Believe it or not, ancient Siamese recipes from the Ayutthaya period up to the 1930s used rhino organs for food and medicine.
Faux frog salad is a rich, elegant dish featuring tender chicken braised in coconut cream and young coconut flesh with a chili-jam based dressing. Utilizing an old-fashioned salad assembly technique – the ‘mix and layer’ – this is a visually striking salad with alternating layers of reds and whites.
The name of this vintage dish – Faux Frog Salad – could be a reflection of the swinging social norms in Siam during the roaring twenties, a period of significant social change; as the country sought to navigate the challenges of modernization, Siamese society was shifting its dietary preferences away from the frog, once a common, versatile and popular ingredient. Thus, through the desire for distinction, chicken, an ingredient often compared to the taste of everything, was preferable to frog.
The name of this dish, yam naang faa yiiam haawng (ยำนางฟ้าเยี่ยมห้อง), translates to ‘Angel Visiting the Chamber Salad’ in English. This celestial salad, which originated in the 1920s, is a playful chili jam-based salad that combines the textural gradients of pomelo, with its citrusy bursts, chewy cooked pork skin, and the sweet and slightly resilient cooked shrimp meat. The pomelo’s citrusy notes are further amplified with thinly sliced lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves sliced into hair-thin juliennes. I like to adjust the sourness and sweetness of the chili jam-based dressing based on the acidity of the pomelo. As our aim is to achieve a final sour-salty and sweet flavor profile, a sour-salty dressing is suggested if the pomelo is sweet, while a salty-sweet dressing pairs better with a sour pomelo.
Seasoned rice dishes have been a staple of rice-consuming societies almost since the first grains were cultivated. Adapted according to local resources, traditions and individual preferences, seasoned rice dishes are relished and savored across all walks of life. Within Siamese society, these dishes offer insight into the flavor instincts and eating habits across all demographics, revealing which food items were locally available and valued.
In this delicious seasoned rice recipe from the kitchens of the daughter of King Chulalongkorn, Princess Yaovabha Bongsanid (พระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธอ พระองค์เจ้าเยาวภาพงศ์สนิท) (1884-1934), the Princess uses a variety of common preserved and inexpensive ingredients, clearly drawing inspiration from the cuisine of the Central Plains with nods to the rural and coastal living atmosphere.
Multiple ingredients in a […]
A pla (พล่า) style salad […]
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