Throughout the world, one cannot deny the popularity of Thai dishes. This is because Thai food has always been associated with eating exotic dishes that have a distinctive quality and a taste which no other cuisine contains. The Thai make use of many ingredients native to their cuisine, what is one of the main reasons their food has such a special taste. The other reason, however, is their much more disciplined approach to cooking.
When it comes to Thai food, they are usually classified as spicy, sweet, salty, and sour. a perfect thai dish, however, is a perfect harmony of all four. Thus, these dishes are normally an infusion of various flavors that it can be hard to associated just one particular taste to the food. Thai cuisine makes use of a blend of both Eastern and Western influences in order to produce a unique flavor which makes them Thai.
Thai cooking is usually dependent on who is cooking it, for who the food is cooked for, for what particular occasion, and where it has been cooked. Originally, the main characteristic which is signified by Thai cooking is a waterborne lifestyle. The major ingredients used were herbs, plants, and aquatic animals. This can be contributed by the Buddhist background of the Thais since they shunned away from using large animals cut in big chunks. For this reason, these ingredients were usually shredded or laced with other spices and herbs.
Thai Cooking Style
The traditional style of cooking Thai food included baking, grilling or stewing. It is because of the influence by the Chinese that the country became accustomed to other cooking methods such as deep frying, stir frying, and frying. The biggest influences of the culinarians from the 17th century included that of the Dutch, Japanese, French, and the Portugese.
Ingredients
Although Thailand is best known for its chili recipes, it wasn’t until the latter part of the 1600s that they have been introduced. This is when the Portugese missionaries got an acquired taste for these spicy ingredients when they were served in South America.
Since the Thai were very adapt in using foreign cooking methods while substituting ingredients, they have been able to incorporate these into their own dishes. For example, ghee is usually used in Indian cooking. This has been replaced by coconut oil. In turn, the Thai also makes use of coconut milk as a substitute for other ingredients being used daily.
The overpowering and pure spices have also been toned down and improved with the use of local herbs like galangal and lemongrass.
A Typical Thai Meal
As compared to other cultures, the Thai serves their food all at once. This is so diners can get to enjoy several mixtures of various tastes.
A typical and proper Thai meal consists of a curry dish with condiments, soup, a dip that is accompanied by fish and vegetables. Instead of curry, a spiced salad can be used. Another option is to make the soup spicy while the curry does not contain any spiced items. This is because the Thai believes that there should be a harmony of various textures and tastes in every dish served throughout a meal.
