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Story by Benay Bernstein
Photography courtesy of Benay Bernstein
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I pushed the envelope one step farther on my latest cooking adventure and hit pay dirt. Taking the plunge, I enrolled in the premier cooking school in Thailand, the internationally respected, award winning Mandarin Oriental Cooking School located at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. While becoming a first class Thai cook I lived in total luxury. The five day, four class cooking program which included a welcome dinner in the Sala Rim N'aam restaurant complete with Thai dance, music and martial arts demonstrations, a jet-lag reduction massage and accommodations fit for a queen was cooking school heaven. Classes were held in the morning allowing me ample time to enjoy my stay at the hotel. Piyathep Yordkorn, the floor butler saw to my every need, bringing delicious tidbits to eat in the late afternoon and greeting me with interest and warmth. Best of all, the hotel, accommodations, school, and city were comfortable for the enjoyment and safety of a woman journeying alone.
Yes, alone. Those readers who happen to be male and those readers who are women already familiar with traveling alone, please excuse my enthusiasm in sharing my solo travel experience. In fact, just skip this paragraph and move on to the next, which begins the description of an exciting cooking experience and wonderful meals both cooked at school and eaten elsewhere. For those of you who react to my words with great curiosity, having never taken such a trip but wished to do so, I have a few encouraging words. Don't wait. You can have the time of your life. It is an easy plunge. Sign on to a program of your liking, cooking, writing, hiking, art, offered by a luxury hotel or in conjunction with a luxury hotel in a safe but exotic place and go; go on your own if you wish or with a friend, if one will come. I promise you, once you have had such a great experience, you will have no trouble convincing a fellow adventurer to accompany you. If "exotic" is too daring for your first journey, select a city in your country of origin to practice. As a New Orleanean, I recommend New Orleans. We have excellent cooking schools, art programs, volunteer opportunities, etc. to appeal to all interests. The concierge in your hotel will locate or arrange a program to your liking. Choose from our splendid first-rate hotels such as the Ritz Carlton, Windsor Court, and JW Marriott, recipients of many gold stars.
Thai cooking is a great education in flavors. Tastes are combined, the way colors are mixed in art. Salty, sweet, spicy, and bitter ingredients balance to create a perfect marriage. Salt comes from sea salt and fish sauce, sweet from palm sugar, coconut and sweet tamarind, spice from chili, ginger, galangal, and garlic, and bitter from lime and bitter tamarind. These and other exotic ingredients are frequently available in the Asian market in your city or online. A typical Thai meal contains many dishes, soup, such as Tom Kha Gai, Chicken in Coconut Milk Soup, salad, like Yam Woon Sen, Jelly Noodle Salad combining fruit and vegetables, an appetizer, often fried as Khao Phoad Thod, Sweet Corn Patties, a protein dish or two such a Gaeng Mussaman Nua, Southern Style Curry of Beef, served with rice and followed by dessert and fruit. Each day in cooking class, we cooked four items. We started with dessert since it often had to be steamed or given time to set. We prepared the appetizer, soup and one main dish. Each class lasted from nine A.M, to one P.M. The Chef demonstrated one dish at a time explaining each ingredient, it's history and how to slice, chop and combine the separate elements. We all watched closely and tasted the final result. Then each student, individually or in small groups, stepped over to one of the cooking stations and repeated the process of preparing the dish under the supervision of the chef and his staff. We learned how to handle, slice, and pound chilies remembering the basic rule of peppers, the smaller the pepper the greater the potency.
White linens and vases overflowing with orchids awaited us at the luncheon table and the food we cooked was presented with great beauty embellished by exquisitely carved fruits and vegetables. At a Thai meal, all dishes except dessert are served at once, family style. For educational purposes, we were served individually. Faced simultaneously with my soup, appetizer, salad, main dish and a plate of rice, I did not know the proper way to go about eating. I learned to spoon the food onto the rice and eat haphazardly, first a bite of one dish, then a bite of another. Eating in this manner allows seasonings to be very strong. Just as the individual dishes contain a balance of flavors, the foods comprising the meal complement and buffer each other. If lunch was served western style, each course in succession, a reduction in the strength of the spices would have been necessary. The proper way to eat a Thai meal is to us a spoon and fork, not chopsticks. The fork pushes the food onto the spoon, which is then used to place it in the mouth.
I learned to appreciate fish sauce despite it's objectionable name. In my mind it is a close relative to soy sauce. Several years ago I took a Thai cooking class at the Sompet Thai Cooking School in Chang Mai. We made Pad Thai (noodles). It was different from the Mandarin Oriental Version, not as subtle and complex in flavor but it was delicious. I remember our instructor standing over the wok, jar of soy sauce in one hand, jar of fish sauce in the other, pouring simultaneously, not a big drink of either, but a taste of both. We made Sankya Faak Thong, steamed pumpkin filled with coconut custard, as beautiful as it is delicious and a wonderful dish for lactose intolerant lovers of sweets. It calls for lots of palm sugar, which is akin to brown sugar but not as strong. Palm sugar occupies a proud place in my pantry and calls me when I need something just a bit different to sweeten iced tea.
I messed up my arrival date and stumbled into a great adventure in Bangkok. Instead of arriving too early at my hotel, I wound up visiting with my friend's cousin who has lived in Bangkok three years. He introduced me to eating street food! I  would never have had the nerve. So often we are warned away from foods that may contain foreign germs. We are unwilling to eat delicacies that are easily accessible, safe, well cooked, clean, and delicious just because four walls do not surround the space. Ben, my host, said street food is good under the following conditions: The vendor should be doing a brisk business and the food and preparation should not be exposed to heavy traffic fumes. Look for a place off the main street, perhaps in a grouping of eateries or in an open, accessible set back or alleyway. The servers and cleaners should be clean, prompt, and careful. Bottled water and drinks are always available and you can stick to fruit and vegetables that have been peeled, although that is really not necessary in Thailand. Considering the fact that 40 per cent of all food eaten in emerging cities such as Bangkok is provided by street vendors, it generally has to be nutritious and germ free.
Chinatown in Bangkok is a wealth of tastes and smells. You can't beat the crabs in pepper sauce I ate there. Korean food exists in a nest of restaurants and shops on Sukamvit near the Sheraton Grande Sukamvit. The food was so good I went back twice. My favorite restaurant experience was in Hua Hin, a resort town on the coast, just a few hours south of Bangkok. Each bite of every dish at "Let's Sea" was exquisite.
Finally, I must say, one massage a day in Thailand is not too much. Thai massages are unique in that they are given on a low platform where the masseuses work with you using their body for leverage. Prices are less than one fourth of the cost of a massage in the U. S. (approximately 400 baht, $13.50) for a basic one-hour session. Massage parlors are absolutely everywhere, from shopping malls to beach side tables.
Am I glowing with satisfaction? You bet.
© March 2008 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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