|
Dining Guide
/ Seafood Restaurant
Seafood is
a fabulous deal in Thailand, and Bangkok has a true seafood culture.
A seafood outing is something a foreign visitor definitely should
not miss when in the Thai capital. Many restaurants in Bangkok specialize
in seafood, and one gets it expertly prepared in two styles:
Thai/Chinese or European/American.
In Thai/Chinese
cuisine, fish and seafood may be fried in oil over fierce heat,
breaded and deep-fried, cooked with a sweet and sour or chilli sauce,
prepared as soup, or steamed. When simply steamed, fish and seafood
maintain their natural flavor best. In steaming freshness
is of utmost importance.
When frying
fish there may not be a difference in taste between one killed just
before cooking and another killed but kept fresh for approximately
a day; but when merely steamed, a fish killed just before preparation
certainly has a finer taste than one just kept fresh for many hours.
The difference is an underlying mysterious sweetness in taste
which is unknown in European fish and seafood preparation.
As it is much
easier to catch and keep lobsters, crab, prawns and shrimp alive,
these are only killed before cooking both in Thai/Chinese and European-style
seafood restaurants.
When it comes
to lobster, large seafood restaurants have an often not thought
of advantage over smaller ones. Lobsters shouldn't be kept in aquariums
for too long a time not because it harms the quality but rather
the quantity. A lobster loses quite a bit of weight if kept
in an aquarium. This may result from the stress it suffers during
transport and the keeping time in the aquarium.
The lobster,
however, doesn't lose the weight of its shell and innards but only
of its meat. And as the proportion between meat and other parts
of the lobster declines the longer a lobster is kept in an aquarium,
it's a loss to keep the lobster too long; and it's a loss the guest
in a restaurant pays for as lobster is commonly priced according
to weight. A lobster of 1.5 kilos (3.3 lbs) in weight yields
different amounts of meat, depending on whether it was stored in
the aquarium for two days or two weeks.
French
cuisine (and European cuisine in general) prepares fish decisively
differently from Thai or Chinese cuisine. French cuisine has a very
gentle way of handling fish. It is not fried too hot, and
not for too long, and then served with a sauce. One very specific
French fish sauce, for example, gets its taste from almonds;
but cheese based sauces are also common.
Seafood in
Bangkok is perfectly fresh. Particularly Chinese seafood restaurants
keep a lot of fish and seafood alive in aquariums to secure the
ultimate in freshness.
A number of
restaurants show the fish to the guest before preparing it. Those
who want to check the freshness can apply two methods: look at the
eyes of the fish - the clearer the eye the fresher the fish;
or press the fish body - the more elastic the meat the fresher.
Those fish
which contain fat (tuna, mackerel, grouper, sardines) have reddish
colored meat while those that do not (milkfish, catfish, mudfish)
have white meat.
Grouper
fish is one of the most delicious Thai fish, and even it is
not rare it is more expensive than the other fish commonly found;
therefore it is seldom eaten in homes but mostly served in restaurants.
There are three kinds of grouper, the red, the spotted, and the
black. The black is the best, being softer and juicier than the
others. It's also the most expensive of the three. Some grouper
can grow to an amazing size, to a weight of more than 50 kilos
(110 lbs). Those served in restaurants, however, are of a size
that makes one fish one serving.
Blue Marlin
is common in Thai waters, and it is liked not only by game anglers
but gourmets as well. As the Blue Marlin is a big fish it's served
cut into steaks. Of course it is milder than meat but as in the
case of meat, a serving of Blue Marlin gets its taste mainly from
the sauce going with it. Contrary to what is the case for pork and
beef, the belly is the best part of the Blue Marlin, not the back;
whereas the belly is soft, the back is slightly tough. Those who
don't mind the bones may order the fin of the Blue Marlin;
it's taste is somehow sweeter than that of the belly.
Large mackerel
are common in Thai waters. With its high fat content it has a meaty
taste. Seafood restaurants commonly serve it fried.
Various kinds
of sardines are the most common fish prepared in homes but
less often served in restaurants, particularly not the classy ones.
They are usually fried or grilled.
European cuisine
considers sole one of the best fish; sole is occasionally
available in Thailand.
Squid
is most often grilled or fried. Eel is more common in Chinese
than Thai restaurants.
Shrimp
are very affordable in Thailand and therefore also commonly eaten
in homes. They may be steamed or fried, and they are an ingredient
to many Thai soups.
Prawns
are much more expensive and therefore only found in better restaurants
where they commonly are served grilled.
The lobsters
caught in Thai waters are of a Pacific species, also called rock
lobster; they do not have the large claws typical of the so-called
Maine lobsters caught in the Northern Atlantic.
Crabs
with large pincers are commonly steamed or simmered in coconut milk.
Better restaurants only serve the female animal as it always carries
the spawn. The spawn is the most delicious part of the crab;
it is red colored, tastes stronger than the rest of the crab, and
has a slightly crisp texture. As restaurants, when purchasing
crabs from dealers, often specify that they only want female animals,
that sold in markets is often the male.
Crab crackers
are not common in Thai homes and simple restaurants. The alternative
way of cracking crabs is by banging on them with a spoon.
Coconut
Crab is much rarer in restaurants than the kind mentioned above.
It's meat has a higher fat content than that of other crabs; it's
not surprising as it feeds mainly on coconuts. By the way, coconut
crabs are interesting animals not only as a dish but also alive.
They make their living climbing coconut trees where they
bore holes in coconuts and scrape them out with their long pincers.
Three kinds
of shellfish are common in Thai cuisine: oysters, mussels,
and clams.
In Thai and
Chinese cuisine, oysters are usually steamed or grilled on
the half shell after being marinated in various spices. Oysters
are comparatively cheap in Thailand.
Mussels
are served steamed or in soups. Clams are more expensive.
As anywhere in the world, they are most commonly served in soups.
The French
way of preparing seafood is more elaborate than the Thai and
Chinese styles; in French cuisine seafood is accompanied by fine,
sometimes even mysterious sauces which often contain wine
as well as cheese.
Oysters, mussels,
and clams all can be prepared with a cheese and wine
sauce. However, as oysters have the mildest and clams the strongest
taste of the three, the sauce for oysters has to be milder, too.
Clams can also be served in a combination with little bits of bacon
without completely concealing the seafood taste.
The most famous
French combination of seafood and cheese sauce is lobster a la
Thermidor. If prepared in this style the meat is taken out of
the lobster, cooked and served in a cheese sauce. The dish may or
may not be served in the lobster shell; serving in the shell adds
eye appeal but doesn't influence the taste.
Prawns,
and even crabs, can be prepared and served Thermidor style.
For crabs, however, a slight variation is more common: the preparation
a la Newburg.
The meat of
lobster, prawns, and crab tastes fairly similar, particularly if
prepared Thermidor or Newburg style. As a rule of thumb, lobster
has a stronger flavor than prawns or crabs, and crab meat
is softer in texture than lobster or prawns.
Other descriptions:
|
