What is Thai-Chinese food? The case of Olive Pork.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Hey guys, lots of notes for this one! 1. I’m a little worried that in my intro that I might’ve overstated the similarities between the food in Chaozhou and Chinatown Bangkok. Generally speaking, there’s three “schools” of Chaozhou cuisine - Chaozhou food in Chaozhou, Chaozhou food in Hong Kong, and Chaozhou food in Southeast Asia. All of these schools interact with eachother and influence eachother - in general, the most ‘historical’ of the three is the Southeast Asian school. 2. Like, that goose foot and noodle pot? To even get a visual of the thing to go along with its Chinese name I had to cheat a little bit and use a picture of the thing in Thailand. It’s such an old school dish that you can’t find restaurants in Chaozhou that serve it anymore. 3. The Thai name Nam Liab (หนำเลี๊ยบ) came from Teochew language, in which Nam stands for 榄 (olive) and Liab stands for 粒 (small round pieces). The name 橄榄 (Ganlan) in Chinese is a very confusing term when it comes to distinguishing olive from Olea family and this kind of fruit from Canarium. Because obviously, in Chinese the term ‘Ganlan’ was used to describe the Canarium fruit first, and somehow when Olea Europaea came to China it also was dubbed “ganlan”. And nowadays? It's overtaking the original Chinese term "ganlan" due to the massive promotion of olive oil, and the OG Chinese ganlan is loosing the battle re the average person’s perception. 4. Another way that the Olive Pork is fried up in Thailand is to fry the olives in oil first to make a sort of ‘sauce’, and *then* fry the pork in that. Lots of subtle variations in the dish. 5. For the observant in the room… yes, in the video that wasn’t Boston Butt that Steph was slicing up for the Chaozhou version. We wanted to use the ham cut in order to help draw a comparison to the Thailand version… but even though that slab of meat was probably from the best vendor at our local market, it was still a little soft/dry in the end. Steph tested extensively with Boston Butt before filming day, and that was what we preferred in the end - and is the safest route for international replication. We probably should have re-shot (or at the very least addressed it in the video?), but ended up being lazy. Apologies. Use Boston Butt! 6. Regarding Kalamata Olives, it’s *undeniably* a different taste - stronger, more bitter, less salty. The flavor definitely stands out a bit more in the context of this stir fry… but is still tasty nonetheless? I enjoyed it - particularly in the context of the Bangkok version (garlic and olive, how can you go wrong?). I enjoyed using olive oil as a base to really reiterate those flavors - fair warning that if you go that route, you’ll likely need to season to taste with salt at the end. 7. In all three schools of Chaozhou cuisine, this dish can be used as a base for fried rice, which is particularly delicious. 8. Rice porridge has many different forms and names in China. The plain one that’s eaten in Teochew cuisine as a staple is called “Mue” (糜) in Teochew language, which is rice cooked for about half an hour on higher heat and have obvious rice and water separation. You may find that very different from the Cantonese style creamy congee “Jok/Juk” (粥) that rice and water basically blends together into a thick soup. In Thailand these two types of rice porridge got their own name as well. The Teochew one with separated rice and liquid is called “Khao dom” (ข้าวต้ม, boiled rice) and the creamy type without separation between rice and water is called “Jok” (โจ๊ก). 9. The Chaozhou style plain porridge is definitely an acquired taste because of how aggressively… plain… it is. More than a couple of my foreign friends in Shenzhen (a city with many migrants from Chaozhou) thought they didn’t like congee, because all they were exposed to was the Chaozhou version. For a long time, it didn’t really click for me, either - that is, until a muggy night a few months back when we mistakenly ordered it at that Bangkok restaurant that we showed in the video. On a sweltering summer day, pairing alongside some food with aggressive flavors? I dunno, I finally ‘got it’. In Chaozhou, that aggressively flavored stuff to go alongside the plain congee is usually *salty* stuff - which is why I likely didn’t appreciate it at first, as my salt tolerance is, uh… not low. Strongly flavored spicy stuff was definitely my personal gateway. 10. The preserved and savory food/snacks that go with the rice porridge are called "giam zab" (咸杂) in Teochew language, literally meaning “assorted savory (food items)”. It’s a pretty fascinating area in the Chinese food world and particularly strong in the two southern provinces - Guangdong and Guangxi, where eating congee got its own strong footprint. And for anyone traveling to Thailand, the two restaurants that were featured in the video (for those in the market). - The old school Chaozhou restaurant in the introduction is right in Chinatown and is called “Yim Yim” goo.gl/maps/2jWHdk7fVZrKCQw57 . It’s *fantastic* - over 100 years old and quality wise, *probably* the best Chinese food we’ve had in Bangkok. That said? Fair warning that if you go on a random night (and not a Chinese holiday), you might actually be… the only customers there. Like many old school Chinese restaurant in Bangkok, they’re priced rather above market and tend to be quite quiet. But still, it’s a little crazy how mobbed some of those famous tourist restaurants are right along Yaowarat, and then you turn the corner and Yim Yim’s just… empty. Fair warning #2 that it seems that because of that dynamic, their bread and butter is catering gigs… so definitely call ahead and make sure they’re there (the owner speaks English too FWIW). - The ‘Bangkok food’ restaurant is here: goo.gl/maps/s8MmnRGpH4eQeqDQ9 There are many restaurants like this one that hit a similar quality, but this is a great option in the neighborhood. That’s all for now. I know that it’s been a while between uploads the last couple months - this video was a ton of work putting together. We’ll try to get back to more regular videos in the next couple months. Huge thank you again to everyone supporting us on Patreon to allow us to delve into these sorts of projects - definitely not the type of thing the algorithm smiles too hard on, so yeah :)

[@olivetapenade82]

I flinched every time I saw you show something from Teochew culture, I know you've had scattered references to Teochew cuisine before but to hear it actually studied is a little unnerving, especially because a lot of this fare is stuff that I eat on a day to day basis. If you ever need to speak to more Teochew people, there's a lot of online communities that we've made because of that diaspora. My online tag is actually in reference to the side of my family that emigrated to France following the Communist Revolution and famines, and to the ou nam that you use as a principal ingredient in your dishes here.

[@michaeljcdo335]

There's actually a strong Teochew community in Vietnam and I'm descended from the Teochew community in Cambodia on my mother's side of the family and needless to say, we've been Vietnamized (???) very quickly. My great-grandfather was a Cambodian-born Teochew and his son, my maternal grandfather was born in Vietnam and grew up speaking Viet, married a, for all intents and purposes, a Viet girl (she's french-vietnamese), and raised my mother and her siblings as Southern Viets.

[@gettingrailed]

With regard to olives: At least visually, the rehydrated olives look a lot like dry Moroccan olives, which are also usually saltier than normal Kalamata olives. In places where they're available, that might make for a more accurate accessible sub.

[@Pridetoons]

Can you do videos on Chifa aka Peruvian Cuisine ?

[@92huylang]

You're not wrong there. Teochiu is predominantly found in South East Asia. The cuisine and culture are well preserved across South East Asia from the Chinese new year tradition, Cheng Meng, Moon festival, etc. Some countries convert to be one of the local over time, whereas Malaysia and Singapore still identify as Chinese Malaysian or Chinese Singaporean, etc. It's amazing to learn and witness the evolution of ethnicity over time.

[@evelynminer8568]

Love hearing about all the history in this one. Honestly if you guys pivoted to a full on culinary history channel I wouldn't even be mad (though I'd miss y'alls great recipes)

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

Ha, it's *so* much work doing these historical/cultural intros (much respect to those people that make video essays), definitely can't be a habit :)

[@gingermcgingin4106]

You might like Tasting History

[@viriya24]

As a Thai-Chinese born and bred next to Yaowarat (my wife was also from that area), this content hits home on way too many levels. It’s like I’m learning about my ancestry too which is awesome. Thank you 😊

[@whatsadog2445]

Nitpick: don’t use “to breed” when talking about humans 😅 Maybe you meant “raised” or “were born in”

[@viriya24]

@@whatsadog2445 Ha thank you but I think it’s just an idiom not to be taken literally :)

[@basil7292]

@@whatsadog2445 he used it right

[@IAmTheUltimateRuler]

@@whatsadog2445 "born and bred" is a set phrase for being born and raised somewhere - it doesn't really have the dodgy connotations that just breed or bred on their own would

[@jrmint2]

@@whatsadog2445 My kids are born and bred New Yorkers.

[@Burnttoastv3]

Wow - i am chinese cambodian american and this is the first time I’ve seen codified mentions and explanations of the foods i had growing up. My dad and his side of the family were all refugees from the war and don’t really talk about life back in china and cambodia too often but it’s really cool seeing the broader cultural context for the cuisine. There’s something really bizarre and surreal about seeing the word moi used outside of my family and friends

[@vatthikorn]

Wow as a Teochew Thai, I never learned so much about my own ancestors’ history! Really love the focus on so many dishes that were staples in my own upbringing, especially Kao Tom and Nam Liam Moo Sub. I always thought that plain rice porridge is the most basic dish everybody loves, and not at all an “acquired taste” 😂 I would love to see more about some regional Thai Chinese history as my Teochew grandparents ended up settling in Krabi instead of Bangkok. The food we ended with down there is also a mixture of southern Thai food which is quite a world away from your typical Bangkok cuisine. 😄

[@rudymatheson1415]

พูดภาษาอังกฤษจัดมากครับพี่

[@mimanda]

Love this. My family is Chinese Thai and I spend so much of my time trying to explain to people this concept and the reason why I eat the foods I eat that's not "normal " thai food. Thank you!

[@Kelvin_Foo]

My mum's Teochew and she recognized a lot of the food in the video, there are also a lot of similar Teochew dishes in Singapore and Malaysia.

[@ouch4360]

Yess especially the Chwee Kueh! Love it when the storeowners give a heaping helping of the chye poh

[@crashtestdolphin5884]

The painting at 3:18 " 'Cité De Chau Cheu Fu" was by Dutch artist and traveler Johannes Nieuhof. His art was a striking encapsulation of the times (at least through a Dutchman's eyes), and his depictions of Chinese architecture in particular are worth looking into. This video is well-researched and put together. Top notch food history

[@man-xy1cs]

Thai Cooking Demystified is going to happen, this is it

[@andric2008]

Chinese food is viewed a lot less positively tho

[@giuseppelogiurato5718]

Given what I know about authentic Thai food and what kinds of poisonous garbage goes in it, I'd prefer to be "re-mystified"... Better not knowing... Thai food is definitely on my "don't ask, don't tell" list.

[@puma2334]

@@giuseppelogiurato5718so you know nothing about authentic Thai food

[@sweetsourorange]

@@giuseppelogiurato5718homie scared of flavour💀

[@onalonan]

@@giuseppelogiurato5718 what are you talking about?? You drunk???

[@FaerieDust]

I love seeing the comparison and history between the "homeland" and "immigrant" versions of the same foods - as someone who grew up in a Kurdish household in Sweden I'm so used to local substitutions and adaptations, and it's always cool to see that effect on different cuisines in different circumstances around the world.

[@AntoniusTyas]

History lesson is getting longer and longer. And I genuinely enjoy the historical overview like this. Well, not like I don't enjoy all the other videos anyway. Also, Macau has their own rendition of Feijoada? That's interesting. I always want to try cooking Feijoada but carne seca and linguica isn't exctly something I can easily source in Indonesia, if at all.

[@escaloz]

Well that's more of a brazilian feijoada. A portuguese feijoada will make do with pork ears, tail, snout and chouriço. And in my family we like to had morcelça (blood sausage). But the basic one can be easier to find

[@tanapontux6242]

Worth more than entire Thai highschool history class. Have been waiting for sth this since you guys moved to BKK and this is much MUCH more than what I had wish for. Interactions between the 潮州 heritage and the locals in the provinces are also interesting though - also the yunan and the north or the hokkien and the local south (esp. Phuket). Excited for the next to come!

[@ruocaled]

One day I made Pad Kaprao and realized I was out of rice, so I added some glass noodles to make a Chinese "Ants climbing the tree" like dish but with holy basil and fish sauce, tasted pretty good. Been wondering if it's already invented by some restaurants before

[@khanitchr]

I've had glass noodles pad kraprao in Bangkok before and also pasta version.

[@KnightBaron_]

I'm a Thai born and raised in Bangkok but I didn't even know most of this piece of history! Fasinating research!

[@swozzlesticks3068]

The shoutout to hot thai kitchen was so wholesome. One of my favorite cooking channels giving props to the other :D

[@fathersonandskillet]

"Chinese technique, local ingredients" - that shows up everywhere there were Chinese immigrants. One of our favorite examples in the Peruvian dish, Lomo Saltado. It's a basic stirfry with added things like the local chile Amarillo, potatoes and tomatoes. Despite the potatoes, it's served over rice.

[@sayajinmamuang]

And French fries

[@dirtmcgirt6531]

Great video and the complete lack of mid video "here is a quick ad from our snake oil sponsor" bits is highly appreciated

[@punnboat9817]

Very solid video. As Thai, I never knew a lot of what I considered "Thai-Chinese dish" was actually OG Chinese dish (I thought it's somekind of fusion food invented 100-year ago and stuck on for so long it became Thai food). Some correction 1:28 that fried stuff is called "Hoi Jor" (หอยจ๊อ) in Thai, not "Heir Guen" (แฮ่กิ๊น). Heir Guen is quite similar to Hoi Jor, but made from shrimps. But nowadays, a lot of restaurant just skip tofu sheet. So Heir Guen now more resemble fried minced shrimp. Hoi Jor is fried minced wrap in tofu sheet. Technically it suppose to have a lot of crab meat. But crab is expensive, so lots of restaurant just sprinkle some crab in. Or just skip the crab and called Chicken Hoi Jor. Oh and "Heir Guen Tord". "Tord" (ทอด) mean Deep-fried. Usually we just say "Heir Guen". By the way, if you go to Chinatown. I would recommend the restaurant called "Kitchen Kam-Lung". Pork Knuckle with bun (ขาหมูหมั่นโถว) and Stir-fried goat meat (เนื้อแพะผัดปาท่องโก๋) is very delicious.

[@onjir]

I am Thai and I'm happy to see that our food culture diversity getting more recognition. I recommend you to try 'Curry Crab' or 'Poo Phad Phong Karee' it's a Thai-Chinese dish which is extremely delicious with rice :)

[@tarzantarzantarzantarzan]

Yet again an absolutely phenomenal video. Your content sticks out so much against almost every other food channel on youtube, you deserve a medal.

[@ronanthebadbrain]

❤ love the way you two described the liminal space as two cuisines touch and reconfigure themselves. Definitely one of my favourite things about food. Thanks for the awesome video !

[@xiaxia9831]

The Nam Liab of the “Thai version” that you called is also 100% from Teochew. As I am a Thai-Teochew and was born and live there in Yaowarat for 25 years, my home cook style of olive pork is what you claim as Thai version. I know it sounds weird but, it definitely true because of where my ancestors came from there are many sub-district in Teochew such as Shantou(汕头) where each area of the cooking style is slightly different from each other. Moreover, the accents we use to speak is also different too. You might think that version is Thai style because it so popular in every restaurant that served porridge. It is popular because it hits Thai people’s taste. So, not to mention in the Thai-ization period they claim many dishes in that time. Also (拍卤) this word it more than a famous dish in Thailand too but, less of Thai nowadays (even me) didn’t know its original was from Teochew. One point that I appreciated you is the historic of Thai-Chinese. Wow! man that’s legit. When I was young my family often told me that story which you explained earlier. I thought my parents just want to psycho me to hate those Thai-Thai. However, I did a research about it and BOOM! the things you told is correct. But, that doesn’t change me how I live in Thailand, we are still living together in this beautiful country. You may notice the flavour of Teochew food are too salty if compares to Cantonese food which oily and less taste. If you combine each spoon with the boiled rice or the porridge in your mouth you will understand why porridge is so important in Teochew meal. Because the boiled rice dilutes the saltiness from the food and finally it is “好吃” P.S. thanks for review Chinatown, Thailand, and Teochew all together in 1 video. Most people know one of the most delicious Chinese food is from Thailand’s Chinatown but, less of them know that it was from Teochew people.

[@yny13xx]

There are two types of Tom Yum Gung: clear-soup type and thick/milky soup type. The clear-soup type is an original thai dish; it has only meat, herbs, and spices cooked together in boiling water, seasoned with chilli, fish sauce, and lime juice. The thick/milky soup type comes into existence much later. Diluted coconut milk (coconut milk you gets from 2nd or 3rd squeezing; we call it "tail") or cow milk are added to the original Tom Yum to make it creamier. Some herbs, such as holy basil, are omitted. For this type, sweet chilli paste are required. The taste of this type is milder, a little bit sweeter from sweet chilli paste. The original clear-soup Tom Yum only gets sweetness from onions and the meat and tastes much spicier.

[@petefitz9092]

This was the most interesting video you have made yet. The history part was fascinating. Thank you.

[@timothyreyes8608]

Can you guys cover more of these Thai-Chinese fusion dishes it is deeply fascinating how the roots of the dishes is still Chinese but introduced with South East Asian ingredients.

[@poobd]

I've been so excited for this to finally happen after you brought this up in your moving video!

[@VashGames]

Love the dried radish. It has a great sweet and salty combo with a slight crunch.

[@lerneanlion]

I love this video! The dish looked delicious and I will be looking forward for more Thai-Chinese dishes in the future!

[@bioaquarista]

I was shocked when you talked about Portuguese fusion, and showed a dish called "FEJOADA", which is actually a Brazilian food (feijoada). Here in Brazil, unfortunately, Chinese and Thai food are still being discovered, I was curious to know what Portuguese food tastes like in Asia (I am not considering the cashew, peanuts, peppers, and several others ingredients that come from south america as fusion anymore). I really loved the video, I never even thought about that Thai-China fusion and even more so about the social implications. Thanks! Def gonna try the bangcock version.

[@haileybalmer9722]

Portuguese food is very important in Asia! Tempura is one of the most famous Japanese foods, and that was originally Portuguese Japanese fusion. Max Miller over at Tasting History covered an ancient egg noodle dessert that is still popular in China that was originally introduced to them by Portugal. I'm not Brazilian, but I've studied Brazilian cuisine as well as Chinese cuisine, and I hope more Brazilians learn about Chinese cuisine. That would be explosive. That would be some of the greatest food in the world. Those are two cultures that take food very seriously, and the result could only be amazing.

[@bioaquarista]

@@haileybalmer9722 The Japanese part is quite evident, but apart from desserts and some baking and the implementation of ingredients, I never saw much Portuguese in South Asia or in countries like China (but my contact with these societies and foods comes down to the internet and being built in a self-taught way.) I am a Chinese food enthusiast and I see that little by little Brazilians are falling in love with it. That's funny, since we have a large Chinese population here, and it's incredibly easy to find the ingredients (as long as you're in São Paulo) and nice restaurants from all Asia. I have a delivery restaurant (actually selling some stuff liek Rou Jia Mo) and I've been thinking a lot about merging, but been finding it incredibly difficult to combine China with Brazil, even though I've had some success with beans and pasta.

[@notthatcreativewithnames]

In Thailand, there is a Thai version of Portuguese fios de ovos. Long story short, it was introduced by Maria Guyomar de Pinha (Thao Thong Kip Ma in Thai), a royal cook during the reign of King Narai the Great of Ayutthaya, along with many of other Thai desserts.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

I helped translate a book about Macanese cuisine earlier this year, there's still a term that bugged me, you happen to know what "Itena Podre" is? It's supposed to be a dough thing but I can't find any info on it even asking Macanese friends? So maybe some help from Brazil?

[@bioaquarista]

@@ChineseCookingDemystified I've never heard of it... Podre can be translated into rotten, but, in cooking, we use this term to refer to brittle things, for example 'Massa Podre', which is nothing more than patê brisée. It is called rotten because it was produced in large quantities, at a time when there were no refrigerators and the dough did not spoil. As for the term Itena, I have no idea, never heard off (feels like a woman name). I was curious to know more about this dish :)

[@norcalovenworks]

So….having some left over pork shoulder, I cut it into 1” strips, and marinated it in sugar, fish sauce, and pickled jalapeño from my garden. Tonight, I baked the pork strips and then cut some of the pork into slices, and made a Thai basil fried rice. The rice was basmati because I have found that it really stays separate in a fried rice. My dish was really fusion, Vietnamese marinated pork, Indian rice, and Thai basil from my garden. Fish sauce instead of soy sauce too.

[@maipensapparot]

เหล้าจีน aka Shaoxing wine got us cracking up, thank you.

[@sayajinmamuang]

Lao jeen is translated as chinese wine. But there are different types of chinese wines

[@shadowxp951]

Wow, this is a very well researched video, with pretty good Thai pronunciation as well. So good.

[@emeryboehnke4259]

I loved the history in this one. It's so important and useful to follow recipes through the specific restaurants and chefs who adapted them. Especially since we are still relatively close in time to them. Thanks for all your amazing hard work!!

[@JasonPramas]

you two have outdone yourselves … a tour de force!

[@MattTreg]

I absolutely love this channel. Information I’d never learn, be exposed to or ever have been made aware of if not for your amazing videos.

[@RandalGaus]

I had a feeling we'd be seeing something about chinese-thai food blending after seeing the both of you on OTR's channel in a few videos. Love seeing food youtube mix together like the foods they're talking about.

[@minwang52]

Imagine my surprise to see this episode as a born and raised chaozhou (or teochew) person! I knew that the chaozhou culture was massively influential all across Southeast Asia - even today I recognise many chaozhou loan words in many of these places e.g words like See Beh or kway teow are all teowchew in origin! Thank you so much for bringing up this part of the history, I am now super excited to learn more about it! Edit: watching all the chaozhou dishes from my childhood make me miss my hometown so much, time to book a ticket back to China!

[@eldenjim]

I’ve been eating this at my local ข้าวต้มกุ๊ย joint since I was little… never thought I’d see this level of coverage in my lifetime, let alone of this authenticity!

[@GatorAidMedical]

That comparison to italian food was the aha moment for me

[@sayajinmamuang]

Definitely. As alot of American-italian dishes aren't considered Italian at all by Italian standards. But us Americans grew up loving those dishes. Spaghetti and meatball and chicken Parmigiano. Not sure if its viewed the same way in thailand. But I too tasted alot of so called thai dishes that seemed very chinese in origin.

[@arthvrspace5452]

You speak Thai so good ❤ Old Thai dish is a simple “soup” or “paste” doesn’t have “stir fried” or “fried”

[@VoltaDoMar]

Thank you both for this content- it's so fascinating, I wasn't expecting so much great historical information

[@haileybalmer9722]

It feels like a tremendous amount of research went into this episode. Kudos!

[@moi-wn1hs]

What an interesting video! As a lover of both cuisines this has been an amazing history lesson on my favorite foods. Thank you for all the research and time you put into this video! It turned out wonderful

[@nikobatallones]

I should have watched this on my smart TV rather than on my laptop. This was really good.

[@narl9318]

This is amazing. As a Thai who cooks, this is exactly what I would do for the Thai version. Great job. Great video!

[@G-FunkDeluxe]

Really loved this video. I moved from Australia to Bangkok at the same time as you and have been fascinated by this subject. I’m always so surprised by many of the dishes that Thais refer to as being Chinese that seem quintessentially Thai to this farang!

[@polythewicked]

This is what makes food so great. The history and mixing of cultures, you get evolved food.

[@aaronsakulich4889]

I just want to say, I LOVE the extra dive into history on this one!

[@donmedwedeff]

I really liked the mixture of history, culture, and of course food. Keep up the good work!

[@VyriaDurav]

Loving the history and it's exciting that I'm getting to watch you talk about Chinese *and* Thai food since I recently moved to Thailand myself. The history element is a welcome addition too

[@kjr4404]

Thanks for making this video! As a descendant of Thaified/forced-assimilated ancestors, I’m only vaguely aware of what happened in those times. You certainly know more than I do 😂. Moo sub pad nam liab is something I discovered after growing up, I didn’t like Kao Tom Gui so much back then cos the sides at home were usually just preserved stuff. I only came to like it after going to proper places as post-work dinners with my work peeps. And hey, algo led me to this vid so who knows!

[@RorysRamblings]

Absolutely fascinating stuff! I love hearing the stories of Chinese migrating to different areas of the world and influencing the local cuisines.

[@erinhowett3630]

Does anyone else always have to pause it to read the information boxes?

[@dontlookeast]

Loved this, the history of the Thai Chinese was the kind of thing I was hoping someone would make when I was making a video on the Chinese of Northern Thailand. Hope you do something on their cuisine one day!

[@clochettestarz]

One of your best videos! Really love the historical bit!

[@nonameronin1]

The quoted poem's line about "Chinese cut off their queues and quietly become Thais" is mildly ironic when you consider the queue was a Manchu hairstyle imposed on Han Chinese during the Qing Dynasty.

[@CoolChris2080]

Really loved the history!

[@gewreid5946]

Those rice dumplings(?) with a sweet dried radish topping sound amazing! Any chance you'll cover it on the channel at any point? Or do you have any good recipe recommendations you could point me towards?

[@chongli297]

Love the shout-out to Hot Thai Kitchen! I am also a big fan of Pailin!

[@iwatchedthevideo7115]

Had a couple of days in Bangkok recently, and spent all of them in Chinatown. What an amazing place and incredible food!

[@paul_j_b]

Made the Thai version with some leftover lamb mince and half a jar of Hojiblanca olives, and it was still great. Really robust and forgiving recipe - cooking the mince for as long as you do builds tons of flavour, and then together with all the condiments it's texturally very fun to eat. Thanks for the recipe!

[@WantonSoup192]

Fantastic. One cuisine that would love to see you cover would be indocantonese cooking. Obviously from Chinese presence in India for decades as well as Indian presence in HK and the melting in Singapore/Indonesia/Malaysia.

[@joshvon8495]

Super cool, loved learning this history, Also that lockdown 😂

[@kritibansal740]

Hey guys I've been watching your channel for quite some time and really love how your channel makes "authentic" Chinese food relatable for rest of of the world. I wish you guys would also travel to India and see how you like the Indo - Chinese food, both the trashy orange coloured kind and the actually good kind. Steph in particular. Thanks and keep up the good work

[@Duiker36]

Guess it depends on the quality you want, right? This video's quality comes after a year of research. Not sure they could do more than play tourist in the Indo-Chinese space at first.

[@kritibansal740]

@@Duiker36 I do agree with you on the research but I'd still love for them to try it out.

[@emptyemptiness8372]

I live in Thailand and that history lesson was so good my kids will watch it... Because they wont learn that at school

[@clairemccaff]

Love this! More Thai Chinese recipes please

[@hassovonfritzeflink9148]

Hi Steph and Chris, I was really looking forward to you starting to investigate the Thai Chinese food world. Looks very very very much as if my expectations are going to be over-fulfilled. Thank you for your great work. And in case Bangkok turns boring someday in the future there is still the Singaporian food crucible (e.g. Peranakan, Eurasian, Malay-Indian) to explore or the influence of US support (Spam, Kimchi, Sausage, Spam and Spam) on Korean contemporary food. 😊

[@IdeaStudioBKK]

There is a resturant down a soi behind the grand palace in Bangkok, the sign just says "Thai Shophouse Food" A lot of the dishes you would recognize as Thai street food. But they have a dish on the menu called "Chinese Style Pad Thai" It is a very similar dish to what we would consider a classic pad Thai, but this has no meat in it and a lot of cabbage. It's one of those things I had never seen in Thailand, nor had my wife who grew up here. This video made me think back to this dish, it was a pleasantly light surprise on a hot day we were out shooting at the palace. Thanks for a great video.

[@maimee1]

I really like this video, can't even explain why. My likes on KZbin are pretty rare and mostly reserved for certain kinds of social justice pieces, but this video deserves one simply for being so good. I hope you can do more of these. The history and how food develops and changes in each region is really interesting. Though maybe I'm really biased in this case as it relates to my home and tells the story of a part of it that've I never seen before. Kind of like listening to an elder narrating their experiences. Now that I've got stable income maybe I can start thinking about Patreon and who I can support.

[@VarongTangkitphithakphon]

Kudos for the content. This is surprisingly educational in a good way.

[@frankunderbush]

Thai Chinese cooking (dishes, ingredients, or techniques) makes for a fascinating academic topic

[@hloc]

You should come over to Singapore and Malaysia try the local version of Chinese food...

[@bartoscar]

There are Mediterranean dry-cured olives (more of a specialty item)-they could be a closer match

[@jrmint2]

Oh I love seeing Chinese influences on the cooking of other countries. This would make an awesome series! This video is excellent, helps many descendants of Chinese Diaspora learn the origins of what they grew up with.

[@FindingGreenOS]

My mother in law is Thai Chinese so I have been lucky enough to try a number of these delicious fusion dishes. (She is an amazing cook). Albeit with some western ingredient substitutions and vegetarianisation.

[@cileft011]

wow, that history portion was fascinating and makes me curious to find/try more chaozhou food. my grandpa was from chaozhou originally but settled in guangzhou at a young age, so all i've ever known of my family's cuisine is cantonese food. one of my favorite dishes that he made was a braised duck with potatoes in chuhou sauce. i really loved this dish growing up but never actually found out where it came from. i've never heard of other cantonese families making this, so maybe it could be from chaozhou..?

[@geneard639]

Your videos always make me hungry!

[@KkK-kl4tq]

wow I'm impressed with you research regarding our history and our food.

[@misubi]

As a Chinese American living in Chiang Mai, I've been surprised to learn much of what I love and thought was quintesentially Thai food such as Pad See Ew and Roast Pork with stir fried Gai Lan are really Chinese dishes. Especially here in the north, that popular style of food is more is the curries and papaya salads and less the Thai Chinese food found in Bangkok.

[@onalonan]

Yes, That Thai-chinese chili jam is very popular in Thailand, it's also because of the price of this brand is really cheap too. And I think this is the only famous Thai-Chinese brand because most of them are Thai brands.

[@onalonan]

We Thai started to eat the Thai chili paste(nam-prik-pao) since Ayutthaya Era I have to say Thai chili paste because it's different from the chinese Chili jam. For me I'm still not sure it's a Thai-Chinese or not.

[@chasedoe2594]

Thai (Chinese Teochew) here. Teochew might have arrived in Thailand for a very long time ago but there are a lot of them that arrive just around the cold wars like my family. My grandfather and grandmother are the first generation settling in Thailand from China. Thier parents couldn't make it in time, so they stuck behind the bamboo curtain. There was an exodus from Shantou around that time due to the mass starvation in Southern China during that time. (I have no citation to provide, this is the story from my grandmother.) No matter how hard they worked, they cannot earn enough to live another day, so my grandpa and grandma decided to immigrate to Thailand which at that time open for immigrants. All of our family eventually got Thai citizenship, but we had to go through Thai-ization + Red Scare which they have to abandon their Chinese name and last name, Lin. Their Chinese name became their Thai Nickname instead (most Thai have nickname since Thai first name is usually way too long). My dad still pissed regarding the racism toward Chinese people... forced changing name, closing Chinese primary school...etc. When I was a kid, my dad told me that when filling any forms, if they asked for ethic, do no filled as Chinese but filled as Thai instead, eventho I have like 90+% (if not 100%) of Chinese blood, since they were fear of racism from authorities. One thing I found weird is during the cold war, there was a red scare sentiment from Thai Authorities, fearing us Chinese immigrant becoming communist rebels/spy. The truth is we, people from Shantou, have first-hand experience of revolution back in Shantou. Our family back in Shantou were starving to death. We have to work hard and send back money to our family in Shantou through Hong Kong / Singapore. At that time eventho my family were still broke AF, they all applied for Thai Passport. They feared that Thailand might got a domino effect and turned into communist state, so they can leave Thailand as soon as Thailand falls under communism. LOL.

[@Platonic_fish]

Im thai and this video is great. Keep it coming!

[@navsan4227]

There is no right or wrong but whenever I make a stir-fry dish (Or any soup that not curry). I always use a mixture of garlic-coriander root-Black or white pepper ground together and you will get a paste call 3เกลอ (3 friend) in thailand (mirepoix or soffritto equivalent for thai dish). Stir-fry it first until fragrant then add other ingredient. And you won't forget to add that coriander root paste again.

[@Alan-gj5xe]

LOVED THE HISTORICAL PART

[@VasuAmpaipan]

Many thanks, Damm impressive for the indepth. 🎉🎉🎉 ขอบคุณทีมงานทุกท่านที่ช่วยหาข้อมูลด้วยครับ ลึ้กซึ้งมาก❤

[@IAmTheUltimateRuler]

Really loved the in-depth historical context in this video - like the red-braised beef noodle soup video, I'm sure it's one that I'll be rewatching a lot. Diaspora cuisines are so fascinating in how uniquely they develop based on different social/political/economic contexts - I'm still cringing at the memory of a glut of truly terrible discourse about British Chinese food a few weeks ago. I'm guessing that Chinese olives are similar enough to European olives that those who dislike the latter are unlikely to enjoy the former? But I might well use this as a template to experiment with other strongly flavoured preserved veg.

[@Miiabooish]

Thanks for the history lesson! :3 I feel while the origins of certain techniques and dishes may have originated from China, I still see these as Thai food, if they are made and served in Thailand with local twists and such. But I find it nonetheless fascinating how these foods have found their way to Thailand! c: ...Also, I like the idea of fusion food in general, so seeing intermingling between cuisines warms my heart :D

[@Violinoknight]

I like your pronunciation! Good job sir. 🎉

[@Zachary_Sweis]

I love Thainese food.

[@lisacastano1064]

That type of congee is pretty common in Taiwan as well. It's what I grew up eating for breakfast most of the time. Use a decent brand of sushi rice and it tastes great. I usually use botan kohuko rose is a little better but out of my budget lol.

[@oyiv1]

Good video! Btw I think Padthai itself is kind of fusion food already. I'm not sure how it originated but it was heavily promoted by the dictator you mentioned in the video to represent the "Thai value" for people in the city especially the middle class which was growing during the revolution period. Before that we had something like noble food and peasant food Both mostly consisted of steamed or fresh veggie and fish together with various types of dipping paste. And after the modernization of government and military, we started to have a group of middle class together with all foreign traders and Chinese restaurants (and also western style restuarant) that were considered to be exotic luxury food for these new middle class. Padthai came after that and it was the fast food for these middle class lunch break.

[@czeshirecat6278]

I wish that you two produce some dvds/ mixed media albums with text interspersed with videos discussing everything you've created on you tube. I'd be first in the queue.

[@3LLT33]

I can’t help noting that the title of the video says Thailand but it’s entirely about Bangkok. Having said that, it would be interesting to see you go up North to see what Chinese influences are there, in light of the later Chinese influx. Bangkok cuisine can really only be nailed down by neighbourhood/restaurant. I eat almost pure Isaan when I’m there.

[@ChineseCookingDemystified]

True, it's a big topic. I wanted to specifically zero in on the cuisine of the group that people usually associate with "Thai-Chinese" - i.e. the urban class descended from the dialect groups I mentioned in the video (which are centered around Central Thailand and specifically Bangkok). Discussing Bangkok specifically is also the topic that we're most prepared to cover at this stage, because we've only traveled other places & never really delved in :) Besides that, there's three other Chinese groups in Thailand: - Chinese Muslims, i.e. Chin Haw - Peranakan, in the far south and Penang - Yunnanese - specifically, Han Chinese from Yunnan that either fled or were part of the KMT - in Mae Sai and Mae Salong Specifically in the North, I feel as though the cuisine is a lot more 'balkanized', ala food in Yunnan. Like, while there's definitely connections with Yunnan, I feel the Tai Yai share more similarities with the Yunnan Dai, the Haw with the Yunnan Hui, the Yunnanese with Yunnan Han than they do with eachother?

[@3LLT33]

Fun fact: there are some Hakka up in Chiang Mai and the north! Like, “I don’t speak Mandarin, just Hakka and Thai” Hakka folks.

[@mxd-1990asn]

@@3LLT33north thailand ALSO has a Chinese village. However some ignorant westerners claimed them as not chinese JUST bcs they have brown skin (i guess ppl are not aware that chinese can be naturally brown too especially those who from places in southern parts of china, not all ,but many). They also speak mostly theyr ntive language besides thai. Btw a LOT of chinese who are in thailand for generations already actually often times identify as THAI ONLY and many do NOT SPEAK theyr native language anymore , only thai. I come from a thai and chinese mixed fam. ( most are mixed with thai and only very few in our fam are full chinese , we also are culturally more thai even for all the half thai half chinese ethnics in our fam.) however NONE in our fam. Who are either full, half or quarter chinese do not speak chinese at all (since generations already) tho my fam is also not from bkk or closeby (neither north thailand) were from the northeast part (also called isan region where the dialect is mainly same to lao language) so here ppl anyways speak any chinese dialect less than compared to those who are still able to speak in bkk or around bkk.

[@simplebudd]

Excellent presentation. However, the original Tom Yum does not use cream of chili paste. It's a clear spicy soup accented with aroma of lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves. To add cream (or milk) is a modern version which (from my growing up) started to be popular in the late 70s. Addition of chili paste is certainly a Chinese influence started by Thai-cum-Chinese restaurants. In rural areas, the milk and chili paste version is not popular among locals. The 'hot' flavor comes from crushed fresh chili.

[@jim.pearsall]

Fantastic content… so interesting! 🙏🏻😃

[@alifaan595]

I was wondering who the Chaozhou people were until you mentioned Teochew, that's a much more common spelling here in SEA

[@LeoHenr]

1:29 in Thai we've called it Hoy Jor (蟹枣) in Cantonese called Haai jou translante into English will be Crab dates. 粿肉 is different one we've called it Guay Neg. the different between those two is 蟹枣 stuff with seasoned-minced pork & crab meat then wrapped with tofu skin while 粿肉 stuff with seasoned-minced pork then wrapped with pork fat. I've been told by my ancestors that 蟹枣 is fisher man fast food tho.

[@sodomitosakaka]

Is that just me or does that plate at the end looks like a pretty amazing taco filling?

[@feizaijohn9125]

My Dad and his side of the family is Hokkien (Xiamen) Chinese-Filipino and some of these foods are so familiar, especially that grainy rice porridge. Put some pork floss and preserved duck egg in there and we're good!

[@mxd-1990asn]

The rice porridge youll find in many SEA countries (including laos, vietnam etc) so that has spread seemingly in all of east and southeast asia (not sure about japan tho) but also korea has something similar.

[@ameliaong6783]

The plain rice porridge with salty and preserved foods, even fatty ones are what I immediately associate as Teochew food (in Malaysia). Definitely an acquired style of eating that I'm fortunate to have learnt from my mom albiet us being Hokkein and Hainan. It's nice to still be able to identify a bunch of Chinese dishes by the Chinese regions from where I'm from. It would be so lovely if you guys came to Malaysia to find out about Chinese Muslim food since it's probably still quite intact, mee tarik and the likes (but be wary if the localised and chain restaurants ones).