let's wok - with tee

Every country we've been through so far (with the possible strange exception of Vietnam) has a bustling industry of cooking classes to teach you how to make some classic local dishes. For some reason, I didn't really feel like taking a class in China, and the food in Laos is not particularly exciting, so we had mostly overlooked these. Here in Thailand, I had a change of heart and decided to take a class because, well, the food is delicious, but mostly so I can show off for my friends and family when I make it home.

In order to understand the story of our cooking, class, a quick background on the town we are in will be necessary. We are in a small town up in the mountains of northern Thailand called Pai. This town is kind of known as a hippy refuge, but seems to be becoming more and more a center for party backpacker culture. There are tons of bars and places to "chill out", and Jack Johnson plays continuously on the town's speakers. The streets are basically all winding pedestrian walkways with the odd drunken tourist trying to navigate a motorbike through. It was down one of these winding streets that we discovered the "Let's Wok - with Tee" school of Thai cookery. We signed up the night before our class, and Tee (the cooking instructor) seemed very friendly and explained the course to us, and the people in the class that was happening seemed pleased with their experience. It sounded like we would be the only two students in the class.

We arrived at ten the next morning to find that the class was actually five students all together, with a nice British couple, and a rugged, tattoo covered Aussie grandfather joining us. We were to have a morning session culminating in lunch, and then a break before an evening session. The mood was light, all the people in the class got along well, it was going to be a good day. Tee began by giving us in-depth explanations of the ingredients used in Thai cooking. Some of these were common, familiar food products, others I had never heard of before. We covered first the herbs and spices, then vegetables and finally sauces. We moved slowly, taking plenty of breaks.

After being introduced to the ingredients we would be working with, we delved into the topic of curries, which would be what our lunch consisted of. At the basis of curry dishes is the curry paste, which we made from scratch. This consisted of pounding various roots together with chili peppers in a mortar and pestle until the desired consistency was reached. With these pastes, we all made a different curry dish ranging from red to yellow to green to Massaman. All of us being a bit wary of the deadly little Thai chilies, we went light on the spice, using only 1 or 2 chilies per dish. Tee had five cooking stations consisting of a burner, wok, and small shelf in the middle of a big open room. He demonstrated first with his dish, and then let us all loose with mild coaching and encouragement. The resulting lunch was plentiful and delicious.

We had a four hour break before we came back for the dinner session. It's usually customary to have some beer while cooking and eating, so Taylor and I picked up a couple of big Chang beers (which is is purported to be illegal in Switzerland) on our way. Tee was already enjoying some beers with a friend on his front patio when we arrived. In a moment, Barry (the Aussie) cruised up on his motorbike fresh from the tattoo shop with a huge bag of beers for everyone. We sat drinking for a while waiting for the English couple, who had been detained by an extended massage session. Once they arrived, more beer was opened, new tattoos were examined, massage stories told. It must have been close to an hour before we actually started class again. Tee, in customary relaxed fashion went over the basics of stir fry sauce preparation. Again, there were many breaks, longer than the morning breaks, always involving at least one person running to the store to buy more beer.

When Barry's girlfriend showed up at eight to eat with us, we hadn't even finished the prep work on our dishes, and everyone was merry with beer (especially Barry). She seemed slightly annoyed but not surprised. After explaining soups and stock to us, Tee again demonstrated by cooking his dish before letting us loose. His demonstration involved copious moments stopping to take a sip of your beer. We made twelve different dishes, from a classic pad thai, to fried holy basil (mine), to creamy coconut soup. Everyone was a little more bold with their chili usage (due to our relatively mild lunch, as well as beer consumption), and Chris (the British guy) ended up putting ten chilies in his soup at Tee's suggestion. In spite of the prodigious quantity of beer consumption, no one was injured in the cooking process, and the dishes were all incredibly delicious, even if served an hour later than planned.

After the meal, everyone retired to the patio for more beer while Tee tried to put his house back in order (which involved calling a friend to come pick up the 30+ large beer bottles for recycling). Ginger (Tee's dog) had first pick over the leftovers before the neighborhood dogs had to fight it out over the rest.

We returned tonight for our complimentary extra practice session, and the class today was one Kiwi couple who weren't drinking any beers at all. Needless to say, dinner was served on time. We never heard whether Barry went back for the second tattoo he started ranting about after the meal.