Stuffed Thai Chicken

[DennisLinkletter]

Stuffed Thai Chicken

Fresh Dill

Fresh Coriander leaves

Fresh Lime leaves

Fresh Lemon grass

Fresh Italian Basil - (Not in this photo)

Small onions

Garlic

Ginger

Coriander seeds

Sea salt

Thai Dark Sweet Soy Sauce and Black Soy Sauce

You can see the basil leaves in this shot

Grind up the smalls with the mortar and pedestal

Mix them up and stuff them into the chickens

Wire them closed

Put them in a zip lock bag and refrigerate overnight..

Put a chunk of apple wood in a cast iron pot with three holes drilled in the bottom and seal the lid with a flour and water gasket..

Settle the pot directly over the hottest part of the fire..

As you can see they were very moist and full of flavor..

This was soo good we made it two weekends in a row...

[Syzygies]

Week of Thai Classes

That's funny, in the morning I'm about to start a new week of intensive Thai cooking classes with Kasma Loha-unchit in Oakland, CA. I've taken everything she offered in the past, this is the first offering of a class with new recipes.

She normally gets distracted when there's cooking over charcoal outside (she can't be inside and outside at once), but relaxes if I'm there to handle the fire. Ditto for live fish, I often listen to the opening lecture from the sink, butchering live catfish.

[DennisLinkletter]

Re: Week of Thai Classes

That's funny' date=' in the morning I'm about to start a new week of intensive Thai cooking classes with Kasma Loha-unchit in Oakland, CA. I've taken everything she offered in the past, this is the first offering of a class with new recipes..

I think that eating Thai food has somewhat ruined my love for a lot of western food..

It's just not stimulating enough literally..

As most of you know, there are actually taste buds assigned to the four basic flavors.. Salty, Sweet, Acid and Spicy (heat)

In the west we try to cover two with Sweet and Sour but int he west one usually overpowers the other.. not much skill in the balancing..

With many Thai dishes they use all four in perfect balance and so with every bite you have ALL of your taste buds firing..

Much more basic stimulation regardless of the flavor..

Maximum Oral Stimulation! (let's leave that alone;-)

After living and eating with a Thai for years..

Many simple western dishes like poached this or that with creme sauce just are boring...

Where's the oomph?

In Thailand, the standard condiment tray has all four..

Fish sauce for salt, plain sugar, vinegar with chilies and dried chili for heat.. These are sprinkled over dishes to adjust or boost flavor..

Sai is great at tasting something and then adding the condiments to balance..

Sounds easy but it's an art form..

Most westerners go to Thailand and can't eat the local food because it's soo spicy.. The problem is that they don't understand how to eat it.. Most Thais can not afford to only eat meat and vegetables.. about 85% of the meal is rice..

The spice meat and vegetables need to give flavor to all this rice..

If you eat them without mixing with rice of course it blows your socks off..

Since you can't tell Americans how to eat your food the Thai restaurants they tone the food waay down so us ignorant Americans can enjoy it..

Same flavors just designed to be eaten differently..

Hotel and tourist food there is the same thing..

In fact they won't serve a westerner (farang) "real hot for Thai" food even if they ask for it.. I need to say I want the dish with let's say 8-10 chilies.. or for "real hot" I'll get one. And they will still bring it with 3-4 some of the time..

[Conodo12]

Re: Week of Thai Classes

Most westerners go to Thailand and can't eat the local food because it's soo spicy.. The problem is that they don't understand how to eat it.. Most Thais can not afford to only eat meat and vegetables.. about 85% of the meal is rice..

This is an interesting point that Dennis makes and one that I learned when I traveled to the Philippines, Korea, and Japan. We (my Navy buddies and I) would make it a point to seek out "real" food that was reflective of not only the country that we were in but also the region. Whenever we would sit down with a new guy in our mix, he would always comment on how hot, spicy, or just potent the food was. Only after we taught him how each bite should be paired with or followed by rice would he make it through the meal without tons of water or beer. For those curious, fresh cow's milk was not readily available in many of the areas we traveled. Goat's milk was around, but usually only drank during breakfast or reserved for the children. So everyone knows, I went through this learning curve too! Now I can go out to eat with many of my Indian friends while visiting San Jose (mostly engineers) and eat exactly what they have and feel just fine! Sans and afternoon burp or two!

[rorkin]

how long & what temp

[Syzygies]

Re: Week of Thai Classes

That's funny' date=' in the morning I'm about to start a new week of intensive Thai cooking classes with Kasma Loha-unchit in Oakland, CA.

So there was grilling the last three days. A strong class, I probably had the least recent practice cooking Thai, but lots of recent practice on grills. By the third day people put together the pattern that it was good having me on grill duty. Friday's boneless chicken thighs marinaded in a lemongrass paste, with chili dipping sauce, was particularly good.

I was struck by how my Weber technique varied from my KK technique. Each dish was approximating Thai street food, cooked in close proximity to a small charcoal fire. My little Weber more closely fits this style than my KK. I'm reminded of cooking chicken "for the children" at a large party, on a long flat rental charcoal grill, and having it be the people's favorite. Again, very close proximity to a thin fire, lots of constant turning.

I know one can grill on the lower KK grate, but has anyone experimented instead with bringing up the charcoal, onto a wider grate at the level of the lower KK cooking grate?

I'd be interested in a charcoal grate intended to fit that level, if one can't simply fit a Weber grate into place there somehow.

[T Rex]

Re: Week of Thai Classes

That's funny' date=' in the morning I'm about to start a new week of intensive Thai cooking classes with Kasma Loha-unchit in Oakland, CA.

So there was grilling the last three days. A strong class, I probably had the least recent practice cooking Thai, but lots of recent practice on grills. By the third day people put together the pattern that it was good having me on grill duty. Friday's boneless chicken thighs marinaded in a lemongrass paste, with chili dipping sauce, was particularly good.

I was struck by how my Weber technique varied from my KK technique. Each dish was approximating Thai street food, cooked in close proximity to a small charcoal fire. My little Weber more closely fits this style than my KK. I'm reminded of cooking chicken "for the children" at a large party, on a long flat rental charcoal grill, and having it be the people's favorite. Again, very close proximity to a thin fire, lots of constant turning.

I know one can grill on the lower KK grate, but has anyone experimented instead with bringing up the charcoal, onto a wider grate at the level of the lower KK cooking grate?

I'd be interested in a charcoal grate intended to fit that level, if one can't simply fit a Weber grate into place there somehow.

I like the idea of using the bottom grill to hold a secondary charcoal pan. It would also work great for indirect given the size of the main grill.......

[ThreeDJ16]

Re: Week of Thai Classes

I know one can grill on the lower KK grate, but has anyone experimented instead with bringing up the charcoal, onto a wider grate at the level of the lower KK cooking grate?

I'd be interested in a charcoal grate intended to fit that level, if one can't simply fit a Weber grate into place there somehow.

I like the idea of using the bottom grill to hold a secondary charcoal pan. It would also work great for indirect given the size of the main grill.......

Major issue with that is you're bypassing the protective layers of the firebox area.

[Syzygies]

Re: Week of Thai Classes

Major issue with that is you're bypassing the protective layers of the firebox area.

Good catch.

For a light fire centered on a 17" charcoal grate, resting on top of the firebox, would we be ok? Cooking over the lower grate would then best approximate the low, close grilling of Thai street food.

Or I could sometimes use my Weber.

In Flushing, Queens, NYC one sees a brilliant charcoal cooker design that I'm told originates in China: The cooker looks like a metal "L" on its back. The short column acts as a chimney to start fresh charcoal. When the embers are ready, they are raked out the bottom along the back of the "L" which looks like two parallel retaining walls. Skewers fit nicely crosswise all along the back of the "L".

[DennisLinkletter]

how long & what temp

Put the meat in once the smoke cleaned up.. at about 180º before the body was heat soaked but with the dampers set to what I know is about 260-280º

ran it until the meat hit 150º and and then cranked it up to about 375º to brown things up and to try to get the skin a bit crispy...

Pulled it out when the meat hit 170º

[aavkk]

This looks fantastic Dennis, gonna have to give this a go if I can find some fresh kafir lime leaves. Traveling through Thailand is a feast for all the senses for sure.