Hot Thai Kitchen: Demystifying Thai Cuisine with Authentic Recipes to Make at Home: A Cookbook

I was really excited to finally receive my copy of Pailin's book. It's been on pre-order for months and I've long been a fan of her amazing cooking videos for awhile, so today was truly a great day when it finally arrived. What I was really pleased with to see immediately is that Pai did an excellent job at putting a substantial amount of information in the first few chapters of the book that go really far in explaining a lot of the foundation of Thai cooking. As you may know from her videos, she is an excellent teacher in that she communicates really clearly what she is doing, how to do it correctly, and most importantly, WHY she is doing it. (and all with a dose of charm!) Cooking isn't just assembling a bunch of ingredients in a bowl. Knowing how and when to add an ingredient and what that ingredient is contributing to the recipe in terms of flavor and texture is very important. I think that is why Pai can help you make good recipes great when you are actually preparing them. There is a lot of info on the various ingredients, from herbs to sweeteners to all the unique sauces that are used. And yes, we all wish we had a friendly Thai grocer down the street, but for most of us in N. America, that isn't common, so she gives some good tips on finding ingredients or when she believes "Educated substitutions" (good word choice) or even omissions are ok for the sake of the recipe. You should never let a lack of finding a key ingredient keep you from trying to learn these recipes, so she will help you overcome! There is also a section specifically on vegetarian and vegan dishes which is really great as that diet is quite common and Thai food lends itself really well to being easily offered in a veg variation. I see a lot of the great recipes I have already tried from her videos featured in this book, but was also pleased to see even more new ones as well as foundation recipes like curry pastes and stocks. You will see some nice mention of the region of dishes which is good, because I think that's one of the main missing pieces of information that many new to Thai food don't get at first. They don't often get to learn, that the cuisines in the North and South are dramatically different in style from each other and that curries don't just come in green or red. (see JUNGLE curry!) I am sure anyone new or familiar to Thai cooking will really love this book. One other cool feature of the book is that there are QR codes throughout it that allow you to quickly view a video on said topic right on your phone from the Hot Thai Kitchen site as you are reading! Ingenious! Something else that I have not seen before in a cooking book is a small table on each recipe page that shows a "breakdown" on the ingredients in terms of what their role is. (sauce, aromatic, flavor) This is a cool feature and, as Pai says, she wants to help you understand how the recipes are assembled so that you can mix and match your own components to start to make your own dishes! This table really helps to do that in my opinion. Enjoy the recipes, technique and beautiful images that fill this great book!

this is effectively the most authentic Thai cooking book you can find. if you like Thai food, there are no other book better than this one! Palin really knows her trade, and really knows how to teach! the book begins by an introductory section that depicts in detail the common food ingredients and seasonings in authentic Thai cuisine. basically gives you all the ingredients and tools you will come across useful in your cooking. followed by numerous tasty, delicious, carefully developed and tested recipes. I’ve tried several recipes already, they all came out very successfully and beautifully. the best thing I observed about this book, is how simple to follow! I think Palin, as a knowledgeable cook, really put her heart into developing these recipes, so they taste oh so yummy but sweet, short, and simple! anyone can easily make them and cook excellent Thai in under 30 minutes. This book is a must have in your Thai culinary collection! I am also following Palin on her youtube channel Hot Thai Kitchen and Patreon page!

This book is a MUST for anyone who is seriously interested in learning and cooking Thai food at home. I can tell that a considerable amount of time went in to create the contents. I am not sure how could the author sell this book on Amazon for under $17 and make a profit. In my opinion, the book should easily be sold at $35. Not fair for the hard efforts to sell it this cheap! Comments on Part 1. Some may argue that 91 pages of introductory material is too much. Even though my wife and I are familiar with Thai ingredients, food, and culture, I have learned from this part things that I did not know before. These pages are necessary to lay the foundation and basics of Thai cooking. I like the way this part is organized in a very clear and scientific manner. In my opinion, anyone who embarks on Thai cooking should thoroughly be familiar with what the author have presented in this part. To me it is very important to understand the effects of each ingredient on the overall taste of the dish. My rating for Part 1 is 5 stars. Comments on Part 2. The seven sections in this part plus the recipes available on YouTube as well as the author’s webpages, provide a wide range of selections to satisfy any craving for Thai food. The recipes are laid out in a clear and concise manner making it very easy to follow. I like the “Breakdown” paragraph for every recipe. From this part, I made two dishes: Massaman Curry with Lamb Shoulder and Red Curry Stir Fry with Tilapia. The seven sections in Part 2 is stretching it too thin. Some authors devoted a bundle consisting of several books dedicated to Thai cooking. Nonetheless what was presented is outstanding and very easy to follow. My rating for Part 2 is 5 stars. Comments on Part 3. In my opinion, Part 3, is too thin but an excellent part highlighting basic Thai condiments and sauces. I would have liked to see that the author include more condiments in this part, however I realize that it is impossible to include all known Thai sauces in a book. My rating for Part 3 is 4.5 stars. Comments on physical aspects of the book. As I said, the book is a must addition to any person cooking Thai food. I am glad that I acquired a copy of the book. The book is very well made and I like the glossy pages. I love the pictures included. I favor this book over many other Thai cookbooks.

Let me preface this by saying that I am a fan of the hot thai kitchen website. My husband spent a year in Thailand and absolutely loves Thai cooking but what most American restaurants provide pales in comparison to his memories of what things tasted like when he was overseas. In my quest to make more flavorful and authentic Thai food at home for him I came across the website and was pleasantly surprised by the number of wonderful recipes and instructive videos. For the first time I was making dishes that truly reminded my husband of what he had actually eaten in Thailand. As to this book...a large portion of the book is about helping you understand the culture and resulting flavor profiles of thai food. Only about half of this cookbook has actual recipes. The recipes seem mostly to be for the purpose of providing an illustration for the lessons from the first half of the book instead of being in any way comprehensive of each genre of flavors and types of dishes. Don’t let this deter you. By understanding the concepts behind thai cooking you will soon be able to go without the cookbook. Think about it as the kind of tutorial you would get cooking with your grandmother who rarely uses a recipe. But until that level of intuitive cooking kicks in...you can always go to the website to print out specific recipes if they aren’t already in the cookbook. I, for one, will be printing out some of my favorite recipes from the website to tuck between the pages of this beautifully written and illustrated book.

So far, so good.. I only tried the Yellow Curry Chicken with Potatoes along with the homemade Yellow Curry Paste (as seen in photos). The dish was legit & the directions were precise. I was a little disappointed to see that 1/2 of the book is literally information on ingredients, where to find, & different foods from regions, the history of the food, etc. I guess if your totally clueless in the Asian kitchen, then I can see why this section would be helpful. For my purpose, I just wanted a book filled with recipes, & not just 1/2 the book. As for recipes- the book has all the classic Thai dishes that you order from a Thai restaurant like the Thai eggrolls, Pineapple fried rice, Pad Thai, & the different curries. Just what I was looking for.. classic Thai recipe for the clueless.. Now I only tried two recipes, so the rating can go down if majority doesn’t work out. I will be sure to update then.

I've only cooked once from this book but I thought I was making enough for leftovers for another meal. Didn't happen!! Excellent Thai cuisine depends on layering of authentic flavors, and the need to understand + locate the needed ingredients. It's far less dependent upon specialized difficult preparation techniques. This book is truly outstanding for developing your ability to cook authentic Thai, with various charts and tables organizing different types of ingredients as well as easily understood (well-written) paragraphs of explanations. The only downside (for some) will be that that many of the standard Thai dishes are not included here but they are in the author's other cookbooks or available from her website or YouTube presentations. Still, there are plenty of good recipes here. The book can serve as your intro and as well as a deeper sophisticated guide to creating amazing Thai cuisine.

Awesome book, very well written. The author clearly and thoroughly describes how to cook Thai cuisine, including a lot of thoughtful information on ingredients and how to pick the right ones to make the most authentic tasting Thai food.

Loved this so much I got 2 more as gifts for my little Brother and best friend. Pailin's YouTube Video's got me through some tough days over 3 months in the hospital for treatment in 2015. was waiting on this book to come out. Have been cooking Thai food since 1990, took about 30 classes over a 3 year period, and while I am pretty proficient, I really liked some of her takes on dishes, as well as new ones. I also liked her opening 60 pages, which give you some of the origins and underpinnings of Thai cuisine, which I got in my classes in the back room of the Royal Thai restaurant in Newport Beach, but are good for others learning and deeper understanding of why Thai food has layers of tastes in it. Like other Asian cuisines, too many Americans get used to the way the dishes have been altered to our tastes. Pailin's book gives you the authentic way to make things, while also letting you leverage some of the pastes, sauces and ingredients that are now more readily available today. And gives you substitutions for availability, tastes and items you may need to avoid. But also tells you when to avoid those, VERY important in my eyes. And the easy Scan Codes to leap to her YouTube Video on a particular method or Recipe really makes this a great gift for your friends and family. Because while I truly love to be told I will be cooking for a big group when I visit, it is time to Pay it Forward, and this book gives you that ability, while keeping it fun and easy, even for the nieces and nephews. Brian OC

I use it for cooking!

Bought as a birthday gift for my partner who has recently become obsessed with her youtube channel and has been attempting recipes every few days. They absolutely adore it! The pictures are beautiful, there's soooo much information and it's clearly written with a lot of care and passion. I particularly like all the background information, only half of the book is recipes, and there are plenty of those, but the other half is vitally inportant info on the culture, ingredients, terms, prep methods, all the complicated stuff you need to be able to really get the most out of the recipes. This is very valuable and makes it absolutely worth the money to have all this in one beautifully laid out book, with clear text, and gorgeous photography. Sure you can google some recipes, but this book provides much more than that. I'm sure we will be eating even more Thai food from now on.

Must buy an learn about Thai kitchen it's good for chef

I have been following "Hot Thai Kitchen" for two years, so I decided to get the cookbook, and it is awesome! I was expecting it to be a list of recipes but it is much more than that. In the first part, an introduction to Thai cuisine is made, setting up the whole schema needed for understanding how this cuisine works and for being able to cook dishes properly. The second part is about knowing the ingredients and the last part about the recipes. I have been reading the book for two weeks and it has supposed a thrilling experience, an authentic journey through Thailand and its cuisine. It is not only the fact that the photographs included are amazing, but also that Pailing knows how to reach the reader. The accessible lenguage, together with the tips and recommendations of an authentic thai chef are the perfect combination to get a deep insight into Thai cuisine. I rate it with 5 stars and I firmly believe that this cookbook is worth all the effort and time that Pailing has invested on it. Highly recommedable.

Ich bin schon seit Jahren ein Abonnent von Pailins You Tube Kanal Hot Thai Kitchen, in dem sie auf eine sehr charmante Art die Thai Küche erklärt und Rezepte näher bringt. Bisher dachte ich, das würde mir reichen... ich bin so froh, dass ich das Buch gekauft habe: es ist großformatig und macht optisch wirklich was her. Durch die vielen Hochglanzfotos macht es sehr viel Spaß, darin zu Blättern. Dazu ist es sehr umfangreich. Im ersten Kapitel werden die thailändische (Ess)Kultur sowie die Zutaten ausführlich vorgestellt. Dies hilft für ein tieferes Verständnis der Thai-Küche ungemein, sollte also unbedingt gelesen werden. Im zweiten Teil finden sich viele wirklich authentische Rezepte. Wie ihre Videos, so hat auch das Buch einen sehr lehrreichen Charakter: es ist keine bloße Ansammlung von Rezepten, sondern ein echtes Kochbuch, das lehrt, richtig zu kochen und WARUM etwas auf die eine oder andere Art gemacht wird. Genial ist die Idee, das Kochbuch mittels QR-Code mit ihren Videos zu verlinken. Ich kann es nicht erwarten, damit zu kochen anzufangen :-) Für Liebhaber der Thaiküche, die des Englischen mächtig sind, ein absolutes must-have!