Food – Page 4 – C. Buddha's Hasty Musings

Sampeenong in Yangtalat, Kalasin

This is our typical order at Sampeenong, our favorite Isan food joint in the area.

Gai Yang (grilled chicken)

Somtam Lao (Lao-style Papaya Salad)

Tap Wan (literally, “sweet liver”)

Kor Moo Yang (Grilled Pork Neck)

And here’s my homie, Aot, working on a new coffee drink in a Chemex at his coffee stand in front of the restaurant:

espresso

At my friend’s place out on the MSK bypass.

I’ve been working weekends for the past couple weeks and I’m tiiiiiired.

Food
Photos

Somtam/Somtum

AKA Spicy Papaya Salad, (unofficially) the official dish of northeast Thailand. When served on a pink plastic plate, you know it’s the real deal.

Proper Crispy Pork Pad Krapow with Star Egg

These are fried on one side and hot oil is ladled over them to achieve the crispeh… This is the de facto national lunch dish, so please stop using recipes with tofu bits and chili jam mixed in them, and I’ll try and stop Asian corpos from topping pizzas with artificial crab sticks and bacon-wrapped cheese wieners stuffed in the crusts…

Stewed Beef

I am a huge fan of stewed beef, and I love the texture of stewed meats in general. Nam’s friend from middle school opened a noodle shop near her university and we visited a while back.

It was so good. I’m also loving the camera on this used Pixel 6. I was shocked to find out that a local phone accessory shop could cut me a hydrogel screen film with their cutting machine. It had the specs for my phone in its memory, along with thousands of other models I could see.

Maps Link: Racha Stewed Beef

Lunchtime Perfection @Praewa

Pat Prik Gang Moo Krob Khai Dao – Red Curry Stir Fry with Crispy Pork Topped w/Fried Egg (AKA Star Egg) at a short order joint between my office at Rajabhat Maha Sarakham University and the National Sports University down the street. They serve the highest form of Pad Thai in the known universe, topped with crispy pork, only available at a couple restaurants I’ve ever seen.

Sous Vide

I waited for the better part of a decade for sous vide equipment to become cheap enough for me to get into.

The verdict is that sous vide with a cast iron pan sear to finish is definitely the best way to cook chicken breasts. I’m basically trying different proteins each week. Last week was chicken, and this week is pork. The main issue I have with sous vide is the plastic waste it generates. Also, the cheapo Chinese unit I bought requires a press for each tenth of a degree or minute when setting temp/time, which means I’ve already pressed the buttons about a thousand times, as the pulled pork I did the other day had to be set for twelve hours LOLOL. The unit was around forty bucks, so I guess usability testing wasn’t a high priority for the manufacturer. It does work, it’s just unnecessarily annoying.