On 10/17/2010 3:45 PM, blake murphy wrote:
> 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

That was very interesting. I never knew of the Chinese connection.

I read somewhere that the Chinese do not like tomatoes very much, and I
think their cooking bears that out, in that its not at all common as an
ingredient in their dishes.

My garlic sauce dish was spoiled by my knowledge - I could taste the
ketchup distinctly. If I hadn't known, I think I would have liked it better.

Cheers,

Ian