Jean-Pierre Gabriel

First, let me say that Jean-Pierre Gabriel has done a wonderful job gathering a wide array of unusual recipes from home cooks throughout Thailand. What I say below is NOT a reflection on his work. Indeed, this book should have had much more attention paid to it by the editorial team at Phaidon.

Why do I say this? It is impossible to use many of the recipes in the book because the glossary is woefully deficient. Someone on the editorial team should have methodically gone through every single recipe, noting the esoteric ingredients, and making sure that they were explained in the glossary. At the very least, the entries should include Thai script, transliterated Thai script, and English names for the ingredients; and, in the case of plant matter, the scientific name(s). When ingredients are in Malay, they also need to be in English. It would also have been useful to have possible substitutions for ingredients that cannot be found in the West. (Note that occasionally one sees such a comment in a recipe’s list of ingredients, but this is rare.) In summary, although I was and am thrilled with the authenticity of this cookbook and accept the fact that this authenticity means I can’t make a large number of recipes in it, the editorial team could have made this book much more usable. There is really no excuse for ignoring these issues in what is otherwise a spectacular book. You can be sure that if I had worked on this cookbook, I would have noticed and pointed out its failures almost the second I started going through the recipes. It is sad that the failure to include these things vastly reduces the value of what could have been a truly spectacular cookbook. Phaidon should publish a revised edition that addresses these failures! Did NO ONE bring these issues up? Or were these issues mentioned and dismissed?

Here is a case in point. The kaeng som chili paste that features fingerroot as a major ingredient. I was thinking that fingerroot might be what I know as kencur, among other things. However, the glossary by itself offers no real illumination. Although I have other resources to consult, others may not. Plus one should not have to spend a lot of time and effort trying to figure such things out. Although some glossary entries about vegetable matter include scientific names, the entry for fingerroot does not. Unfortunately, it later becomes apparent that the fingerroot issue is the mere tip of the iceberg when it comes to figuring out the identities of ingredients.

I am thinking that in order to make this book usable, I am going to have to spend MUCH time making a list of ingredients and then figuring out what they are. The potential user should not have to do this!… (mehr)