Don't Burn Your Meat

Yesterday we had spoken to 2 brothers and one of the brother's girlfriends who were staying at our guesthouse. They were from New York City and one of the brothers was a chef. We told him that we wanted to take a cooking class, and he recommended the Siam Rice Thai Cookery School (www.siamricethaicoookery.com). They had taken a class there the day before and really enjoyed it. We had asked Emma to call and make a reservation for us, and we were scheduled to take the 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm class. The cost for the evening class was 800 Baht (about $25.00 USD/each) and we would learn to cook 5 dishes.

We were sitting on the chaises, not yet ready to go, when Pot, the co-owner of the school arrived. He was 45 minutes early, an astonishing thing considering most Thais are late for everything. We were shocked and jumped up and ran to our room to get ready. He seemed unconcerned and chatted with the NY Chef who he recognized from the class 2 days before. When we were ready to go, he told us to relax and sit and we'd leave shortly. When he completed his discussion with the chef, we left.

He was accompanied by Mae, a trainee, and was driving a pick up truck with a fold down back seat, a cover over the bed, and bench seats on either side of the bed. This is typical for Thai transportation, a truck with an enclosed bed and bench seats on either side. All red taxis are built like this and it is quite convenient. We went to 2 more hotels. First we picked up Maria & Niel from Australia, then Chris & Lucy from England.

After all students were in the back of the truck, all except for Phyl who sat in the front passenger seat, we proceeded to the Ton Pa Yom fresh market. Pot showed us where he purchased coconut juice and milk (not the same things) and how they pressed it from the coconut meat. He advised us that curry pastes could be purchased at the market, but were much better made before cooking each dish. He then explained the differences between the peppers, basils & gingers. He selected the whitest person in the group..............Lucy from England.............and rubbed a vegetable/root/tuber on her arm. It turned her white arm bright orange. We were supposed to guess what it was. No one knew. It was turmeric. After our vegetable lesson, we were allowed to walk around the market on our own for 15 minutes.

P- OMG! Look at that sausage. It looks like boudin.

G- It sure does. I think it has rice in it.

P- I know we're going to cook and eat, but I'm starving now and I must taste that.

We purchased a link of the sausage and thoroughly enjoyed it. The major difference in the taste between it and boudin is one seasoning, but we never could determine what the seasoning was and no one could tell us.

G- Look at all the stand frying pork rinds! What a great thing to eat while we drink beer, let's buy a little bag.

P- Sounds good.

We walked around looking at all of the things that could be purchased at the market...........every manner of green vegetable, all kinds of very fresh meat at the butcher stand, fishes in all ways (raw, dried, large, small, whole, in pieces, fried, steamed, grilled). There were many dried fruits and bags of nuts. Different kinds of noodles, grilled meats on skewers, fried chicken heads and feet, soups, fried worms, and fresh fruit. It was a Utopia for someone who loves to cook and we wished that we had a place like it at home. The closest thing was the California farmer's markets, but even they did not have all of the things in this fresh market.

G- Steve would go insane here!!!  He'd have to buy 2 more refrigerators to hold all the stuff he'd buy.

P- Yeah, then Kim would divorce him.

After the market we drove to Pot's home/cooking school, where we met his wife, and primary teacher, Nancy. We sat at a table reviewing options and selected the 5 dishes we would each learn to cook.

Phyl chose:
hot and creamy soup
spring rolls
stir fry chicken with cashews
yellow curry paste
pumpkin curry




Gina chose:
chicken & coconut soup
papaya salad

stir fry ginger with chicken
red curry paste
eggplant curry

We were each set up at a station with a chopping block, a cleaver, and a mortar & pistol. After we would chop our ingredients, we would put them on the plate in cooking order, then we'd go to our individual woks and cook them. We learned that when you stir fry, you should never use olive oil because it burns off too quickly. The delectable aromas permeated the air and our stomachs growled with anticipation.

Nancy - Let your oil heat and when it is hot, add your meat.  Stand back from the wok as you add it.

G- Stand back?  (As I dropped in my meat, a flame shot up into the air.) Ahhhh!  (I looked at Phyl with wide eyes!) Holy crap!  If you value your eyebrows, toss your meat from 2' away.

P- I'm glad you did that first so I'd know what happens.

Nancy - Continue to stir so your meat won't burn.

G- Can I have a spoon with a longer handle?  Not that it matters now, the hair on my arms has been singed off.

P- You are stupid!  Cook your damn food!  This is why I don't let you in the kitchen.

G- I believe that you have burned yourself, while cooking, far more times than I have.

P- That's because I cook more than you.  The odds are against me.

G- Oh, I thought it was just because you're spastic.

Nancy continued to called out the times that we added the next ingredient.  I continued to stand arms length away from my wok.  Mae came around and added coconut juice to everyones' wok.

Nancy - Now add a scoop of oyster sauce.  Then a scoop of sugar.  Last, a scoop of soy sauce.  Now taste.  If you want more salt, add oyster sauce or more sweet, more sugar.

After we cooked everything but our curry dishes, we sat down to eat. The food was so delicious, and the flavors so wonderful, that we couldn't believe we had actually cook them and that it was so simple and took so little time. After this round of dinner, we returned to the prep table and learned to pound the spices for our curry paste in the mortar, with the pistol. After cooking these dishes, we were so full, we could not eat them, so Nancy put them into go containers, aka plastic bags, and we took them home.

We were each given cooking diplomas, cookbooks, and sent on our way in a red taxi. A wonderful time was had by all and we really learned, in that short of time, a lot about Thai cooking. We would highly recommend this cooking school!