Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is probably the most detailed cookbook I've ever read. The directions for each recipe are ridiculously thorough, down to the ingredient list (for example: "1 (14 gram) piece peeled fresh or frozen (not defrosted) galangal, thinly sliced against the grain." Each recipe also has a flavor profile section that tells you what flavors to expect, and what other dishes in the book pairs with it. Besides the recipes, there are tons of pictures, some of which serve as guides to help you identify ingredients (the herb gallery on pg 16-17 for example). The only problem I might come across is how to get my hands on some of the ingredients locally (the book does offer suggestions on which websites to source the goods).Overall, really good book, definitely worth my money. edit (01/09/14): To date I have made the Stir-fried water spinach, Stir-fried brussels sprouts, Whole roasted chicken, Salty-sweet mango coconut rice, and Pad see ew. Let me tell you how they went: Stir fried water spinach: Didn't have a scale on the first try, big mistake, used too little spinach, too salty. Problem solved when I bought a kitchen scale for the second try and got the portions right, tasted delicious. Stir-fried brussels sprouts: Mis-read the measurements the first time and used too much fish sauce, ended up stinky. Followed the book to the teeth from the second try on-ward, delicious results. Whole roasted chicken: used a 1.75lb hen instead of two 1.25lb chicken because that's the only small chicken I can find at the grocery store, decided to cut all the ingredients to 70% of the amount listed in the book since that's how my chicken's mass compares to the ones in the recipe. Did not adjust cooking time due to my inexperience, the result was chewy and under-cooked, and the flavors were off. Totally my own fault. Will try again with the proper sized birds and report back. Salty-sweet mango coconut rice: Couldn't find mangoes, just made the rice and sauce. Cooked the rice with the sweet rice setting on my zojirushi instead of the steamer called for in the cook, and the result was fine (just remember to turn it off approx 5 minutes before it finishes cooking). I know it says in the recipe but I need to remind you guys again that this recipe makes A LOT of rice. I cut the recipe in half thinking it'll be a good portion for me and my hungry roommate, I was wrong. I should have cut it down to 25% to feed two people. Besides my stupid portion control the dish was super delicious....would have been even better if I could find some Ataulfo Mangoes but such is life... Pad see ew: This recipe I've cooked 6 times. I have to disagree with Andy's choice of pork sirloin in the recipe. I tried it a few times and it was way too hard and dry, no matter how I under-cook it(within reason). I found country-style ribs to be much more tender and suitable for this dish. Also, please tenderize your meat with baking soda and water, just trust me on this. Another thing is that in order to prevent the chow fun noodles from sticking to each other, you probably have to use way more oil than the recipe calls for. Hot pan and hot stoves are important, but so is a lot of oil. Avoid stainless steel pans like all-clad for cooking pad see ew because everything will stick to the pan and you will cry and your noodles will shrivel up and go to noodle heaven. Use a big non-stick pan. edit2 (09/30/14): Since my last update I have mostly stuck to the tried and true water spinach and coconut mango rice, but I did make the Pork shank stewed with five spice, and I have to say, even though I followed the recipe to a T, the flavors were pretty mild. I expected chinese five spice braised meats flavors, instead I got sweet meats that were kinda one dimensional. Meh, not motivated to try it again as it was a pain in the rear to cook. On a side note, Pok Pok NY Just got a michelin star today! Wooooooohooooooo. edit3 (01/14/2015): Made the Thai fried rice with pork and the chicken kra pow (holy basil with ground chicken). The fried rice was super easy, and the flavor was surprisingly good for a bowl of fried rice. I'm used to eating home style Chinese fried rice cooked by my dad so this is a pretty welcome change. As for the kra pow, I replaced the chicken with ground pork, and it was super tasty. I like Andy's version better than Leela's from the Simple Thai Food cookbook. It just tastes better, ya know? Also made the mango coconut rice a couple more times, and let me tell ya, the mango carries the dish. Those green-red Tommy Atkins mangoes from the supermarket are not gonna cut it (trust me, I tried). You need proper Ataulfos, or even Alphonsos (impossible to get in the US), and you gotta wait for the right season. Have cravings for this dish in the winter? Sucks to be you. Wait for late March like everybody else. Or, buy frozen durians from the Asian supermarket and sub it in, assuming you can handle it. edit4( 06/13/2015) Since my last update, I've made the Burmese Pork Curry (Kaeng Hung Leh), Chicken Chowfun (Kuaytiew Kua Gai), both versions of the Papaya salad, Khun Op Wun Sen, and the Khao Soi Kai. Burmese Pork Curry - pretty decent, but mine was too watery because I forgot to take off the lid to let the sauce boil down. Also the amount of ginger called for might be a bit much, adjust to your tastes. Kuaytiew Kua Gai - The key to this one is have a hot wok and keep the portion small so you don't overcrowd the wok. I tried to cook a double batch and the eggs didnt have room to cook on the wok so they stuck to the noodles....it was not at all pretty but it was tasty AF. Both of the Papaya Salads are good, I switch between them depends on my mood. A few things: 1. small dried shrimp is kinda expensive, $6 for a packet. 2. the crab paste called for by the Isan papaya salad is really hard to find, thank god it's optional. The salted crab is slightly easier, although it might look intimidating in the jar. They are small crabs, so dont go in expecting to use a normal sized crab. You can find it in Thai/Viet supermarkets, sometimes even in the Chinese ones. Go search in the frozen seafood isle, they come in little plastic jars with vietnamese words on them 3. The plaara fish sauce called for by the Isan salad is thick and mud like, smells even worst, but don't be afraid to use it. It tastes better than it smells. The Khun Op Wun Sen was great, but again the amount of ginger was a bit much for me. Also when you color the noodles, just use the amount specified in the book, don't listen to the part where it says "color it dark" because it will be way salty. The Khao Soi took a bit more effort than other dishes. The tumeric/curry combo stains like no tomorrow so watch out if you are using any sort of white plastic utensil/container for this dish. The puya chilies I had were leathery so they were impossible to pound into powder like Andy suggested. I say you should boil them and them pound/food process them. Also I think the amount of sugar is a bit much, 2 to 2.5oz should suffice compared to the 3 called for in the book. (I was using the malleable kind of palm sugar, maybe he was using the solid blocks kind). Also, you might want to replace some of that coconut milk with water because I found the broth way too thick, no matter if I put in the coconut cream at the end or not. I would say replace one or two cups of the coconut milk with water (that's used to rinse the coconut milk cans to extract the most out of them) Edit 5: March 2016. Haven't cooked out of this book recently, so I made Jin Hoom Neua. I don't know where I screwed up but the soup was not very tasty. The Kaeng Jeut Wun Sen was however very homey and tasty and difficult to f up.(Just use store bought Chinese pork balls) Edit 6: October 2018. Long time no speak folks. Since the last update, I've explored some other thai cookbooks, like Hot Thai Kitchen, Simple Thai Food, Bangkok, Night + Market, and True Thai. I would say every book was good except Night + Life and True Thai. True Thai was just awful since the recipes weren't tested and the amounts and cooking time was wrong. Night + Life used too much Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce that just made every dish taste the same. I know Andy wrote the foreward for Night + Market but that book just really wasn't for me. Edit 7: December 2019. I'm back with another edit. So two more Pok Pok books have came out since my last update, but this is still the best book out of the three. Didn't cook much of the drinking food one as I didn't want to deep fry or grill, and the noodle one did not excite me as much.