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Long before westerners started showing up in Thailand with
seductive novelties like chilies and spicy foods, the Thais had a
large and sophisticated tradition of seafood cooking.
Plaa raa (fermented fish) and nam plaa
(salty fish sauce, universally used to season food at the table) had long
been on the scene when Simon de la Loubere, an ambassador
from the French court, published memoirs of his mission to Siam in 1688.
De la Loubere reported the then-current belief that fish sauce stored in
a jar rises and falls with the tides.
Hundreds of species of edible fish inhabit Thailand's rivers and seas. In size they range from the plaa buek, the world's largest catfish that lives in the Mekong River, to tiny silver fry that are dried and used to flavor food. In between are flounders, feathergills, red snappers, meaty "black bandit" fish, and a cornucopia of others that are eaten in enormous quantities every day steamed, fried, cooked into soups, curries, and custards, and incorporated into salads. Some of the most popular Thai fish dishes are adapted from Chinese recipes: fried snapper with ginger, steamed fish with salted plums, fried fish covered with mild chili sauce. Others are borrowings from nearby countries. But almost all have been altered by the use of home-style seasonings and cooking techniques to ensure that they announce themselves with a strong Thai accent. |