Andy Ricker

Editor's Note:Use this broth to make Andy Ricker'sHet Paa Naam Tok (Isaan-style Forest Mushroom Salad).Flavor Profile: Spicy, slightly bitter and smoky Slowly toasted dried chiles—seeds and all—become a smoky, spicy ingredient that's essential to many recipes in [Pok Pok]. The key is to toast them over low heat until they're thoroughly dry and very dark, coaxing out a deep, tobacco-like flavor that has a bitter edge, but stopping before the pleasant bitterness turns acrid.

通常人们在北方,北方的最后一件事east of Thailand do before bed is put raw grains of sticky rice in a pot, cover them with water, and leave them to soak. This is sticky rice country, and a day without sticky rice is almost unthinkable. Also called glutinous rice, it has a different starch composition than varieties like jasmine. I'm not qualified to explain the world of amylopectin and amylose starches, so suffice it to say that the glossy cooked grains of sticky rice are particularly chewy and stick to one another in clumps, yet still remain distinct. It's a magical thing. Served in baskets, either one per person or as a mountainous mound to be passed around, the grains of sticky rice form moldable masses. Practiced diners snatch off a gumball-size piece, reflexively fashion it into a sort of spoon shape, and use it to grab a taste of whatever else is on the table. In these baskets or in bamboo tubes, workers carry this rice with them into the fields and forests, a portable, edible eating implement. While you could argue that so-called "steamed jasmine rice" isn't steamed at all but rather boiled, sticky rice is actually steamed. In the Northeast, it typically goes into a bamboo basket; in the North, it's traditionally prepared in a clay pot with a perforated bottom, though today the pot is often aluminum. The basket or pot is set over a pot-bellied vessel filled with boiling water and the steam cooks the grains, already swollen from soaking, in just 15 minutes or so. The process is easy enough for uninitiated cooks. It just takes a little practice to get right.

Editor's Note:Use this broth to make Andy Ricker'sHet Paa Naam Tok (Isaan-style Forest Mushroom Salad).Flavor Profile: Aromatic This powder, made from toasted uncooked sticky rice, is used primarily in Northeastern food to add a toasty quality and subtle texture to salads, and occasionally in Northern food as a thickening agent. Its contribution is initially hard to pin down, but it's one you'd actively miss if it weren't there. Making it at home is beyond simple: it just takes patience and stirring. The only way to screw it up is to try to rush the process with high heat so the outside burns before inside fully toasts. The truly committed will toast over a low charcoal fire so the rice picks up a little smokiness.Flavor Profile:Aromatic

Flavor Profile: Spicy, tart, aromatic, salty, umami-rich Try it with: Any Som Tam (Papaya salad and family) and/or Phat Khanaeng (Stir-fried Brussels sprouts). NeedsKhao Niaw (Sticky rice). The recipe for steak salad is a classic, but naam tok made with mushrooms is less common. Yet mushrooms are everywhere in Thailand and echo the texture and even the umami-rich flavor of animal flesh. Thailand has a long history of vegetarian food, for strict Buddhists and those celebrating Buddhist holidays. And while I rarely spend time considering the needs of vegetarians, I figured that if I swapped out the fish sauce in the original for thin soy sauce, then they'd have something to eat at Pok Pok.

If you can only find regular coconut milk, buy 2 cans and use the thick cream that's floating at the top. The coconut cream will caramelize during cooking, leaving sweet brown flecks in the rice.

The simplest of all Thai dishes, stir-fries are a great way to showcase fresh green vegetables. You can increase the spiciness of your stir-fry by adding more chiles. The key to this dish's success? Controlling the heat on the pan from beginning to end.

All Thai curries start with a handful of aromatic ingredients (chiles, galangal, lemongrass, turmeric, etc.) pounded into a paste with a granite mortar and pestle. The paste is then stirred into soups or stews (often with coconut milk) or used as the basis of sautéed dishes. Use a mini-processor to make the curry paste if you'd like, although this incendiary stew will take on a deeper flavor if you use a granite mortar and pestle.

Thai salads are full of crisp vegetables and fruits mixed with intense condiments. "It's not about just tossing the ingredients together," says Ricker. "It's about working them into the dressing," which can also be used to dress green-papaya and cabbage slaws.

This is the definition of minimalist Thai cooking. The steam not only gently cooks the fish until just tender but also creates an instant, complex sauce from a handful of basic ingredients. Scoring the fish's flesh allows more of the flavor to season the fish and facilitates faster steaming. The fish is cooked on a plate that fits inside the steamer, to catch the juices.

There are two categories of entrée in Thailand: dishes served with rice, and noodle dishes, which are presented as one-pot meals and often eaten on the go. Rice noodles cook more quickly than wheat pasta and are the perfect neutral vehicle for intense Thai flavors. This Pad Thai is not the dish from the neighborhood take-out joint. "It ain't made with chicken," says Ricker, whose traditional take—pleasantly funky with fish sauce and preserved radish and a touch sour from tamarind—is meant to be eaten in the evening as a stand-alone dish.