6.131
16 (Sat) May 2015
Gung Grapao
0.75
by me
in my apartment
-Ermita, Manila-
solo
A total bust, this first attempt at making kra phrao. The recipe from David Thompson’s cookbook Thai Street Food*. Though 2 tablespoons of fish sauce plus a “good pinch of salt” seemed excessive for a mere 4 tablespoons of water/stock and 200 grams of meat (the recipe calls for beef, but I substituted shrimp) — not to mention the 4 additional tablespoons of fish sauce for a separate dip, which I didn’t bother to make — I followed the recipe faithfully, as I tend to do with any dish that I’ve never done before. As anticipated, it turned out mouth-puckeringly salty, and fishy. After draining away as much of the sauce as possible, I barely managed to eat the solid components
*Purchased on a recent trip to Thailand, selected because of the photos and historical explanations of dishes; TLC Asia features a cooking program of the same name hosted by the same guy**.
**I should’ve been skeptical because the guy opens the show saying : “Thailand … it’s all about the food”***.
***One of my pet peeves****, someone telling me what something is all about. Invariably, the phrase is never used when the something is actually all about that particular thing, like : “Orange juice … it’s all about the oranges.” Instead, the phrase is used only when it’s partly about the thing, like : “Wine … it’s all about the grapes.”
****I also hate someone telling me what they’re talking about, as in : “That’s what I’m talking about!”