On Sun, 17 Oct 2010 13:09:08 -0400, Ian wrote:

> Hi -
>
> I found a nice little book called "Healthy and Easy Thai Cooking:
> Healthy Thai Dishes You Can Make at Home (Healthy & Easy)" (isbn
> 9781901268430) at Borders for the bargain price of $3.99. Since it
> originated in Thailand, I thought it might have some unusual and
> interesting recipes, and at that price it was not much of a gamble.
>
> Well, I got past the 'whiskered sheat fish' reference, thanks to google
> (its a catfish), but the 'all-purpose sauce' is unexplained, except for
> an indecipherable photograph. My local Thai grocery thinks they might
> mean soy sauce, or perhaps Golden Mountain or Maggi Sauce, but I though
> I'd throw the question open to the resident experts here. Anyone got a
> definitive answer?
>
> A second question relates to ketchup - do Thais use ketchup in any
> recipe at all? This book gives a sweet & sour recipe using it. My
> suspicion is that it has crept into the culture, while being deplored.
>
> I could ask the same question about Chinese people too. A recent recipe
> I used for "shrimp in garlic sauce" used ketchup as its base. The book
> was giving American Chinese recipes in the main, to defend it (it was
> "Potsticker Chronicles", fyi). I made the dish his way the first time,
> but in future I'd use either tomato paste or tamarind concentrate, and
> compensate the sugar. But do Chinese people use ketchup when they cook?"
>
> Thanks for any knowledge any of you may have,
>
> Ian

my understanding is that the chinese began using ketchup (mostly as an
ingredient in cooking, not as a condiment) pretty much as soon as it was
available to them.

some say that the word ketchup itself come from cantonese chinese:

<http://www.nickyee.com/ponder/ketchup.html>

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchup#History>

you do see tomato ketchup from time to time as an ingredient for various
dishes in chinese cookbooks.

your pal,
blake