Northeastern Thailand - Thailand - page 824

EATING ISAN
Isan's culinary creations are a blend of Lao and Thai cooking styles that make use of local ingredients. The holy
trinity of northeastern cuisine, gài yâhng (grilled chicken), sôm·đam (spicy papaya salad) and kôw nĕe·o (sticky
rice), is integral to the culture. Also crucial are chillies, and a fistful of potent peppers find their way into most
dishes. Outsiders, including most other Thais, are rarely fans of Ъlah ráh, a fermented fish sauce (that looks like
rotten mud), but Isan people consider it almost essential for good cooking. If your sôm·đam doesn't have this, it's
not real sôm·đam .
Fish dominates Isan menus, with Ъlah dùk (catfish), Ъlah chôrn (striped snake-head) and Ъlah boo (sand
goby) among the most popular. These are mostly caught in the Mekong and other large rivers. Fish that families
catch themselves are usually small (sometimes so tiny they're eaten bones and all) because they come from
streams and rice paddies, as do crabs, frogs and eels. The most famous fish associated with the northeast is Ъlah
bèuk (giant Mekong catfish), but it's seldom eaten here because it's expensive. Fish farming, however, is slowly
bringing it back to menus.
To both Westerners and other Thais, nothing stands out in Isan cuisine as much as insects. Even as recently as
the 1970s insects comprised a large part of the typical family's diet, though it became a fading tradition when the
government promoted chicken and pig farming, thus lowering the prices of these now popular meats. Insects are
still very common as snacks and chilli-sauce ingredients. Purple lights shining out in the countryside are for
catching giant water bugs, which, along with crickets, grasshoppers, cicadas, nŏrn mái pài (bamboo worms), and
more, are sold in most night markets. In fact, there's still enough demand that imports come from Cambodia.
Thailand has no shortage of silkworm larvae, which, after they're dropped into boiling water to remove the silk
threads from the cocoon, are popped into the mouth. If they stay in the water long enough to get crispy on the out-
side, you're in for a literal taste explosion: try one when you visit a weaving village and you'll see what we mean.
Along with the gài yâhng , sôm·đam , kôw nĕe·o and insects mentioned above, the following foods will provide
a well-rounded introduction to Isan food.
lâhp Thailand's famous minced-meat 'salad' is actually an Isan dish, and if eaten here, it's one of the spiciest
foods in Thailand. Sometimes the meat (it can be made with almost anything as a base, including mushrooms) is
raw, but this is not recommended due to bacteria and parasites.
nám đòk Essentially the same as lâhp , but with the meat sliced and grilled rather than diced and boiled.
đôm sâap The Isan version of đôm yam . Usually full of innards and tendons, the soft parts of an animal left over
after making lâhp .
súp nòr·mái Usually translated as bamboo shoot 'salad', it uses 'yanang' leaves for flavour. It's much less spicy
than sôm·đam .
gaang òrm This prototypical Isan curry is heavy on herbs and only mildly spicy. Like all Isan curries, there's no
coconut milk.
gaang hèt Another common northeastern curry, it is the tamarind that makes it a little sour. The mix is often sea-
sonal depending on what mushrooms have been just been picked in the forest.
sâi gròrk ee·săhn 'Isan sausage' uses fermented pork for a sour taste. Sticky rice, garlic and salt also go inside
the skin.
Ъlah pǒw Grilled fish (several freshwater species are used) coated in salt and its stomach stuffed with pandanus
leaves and lemongrass.