Sawaddee Ka 🙏🏼
When I was a culinary school student, a chef told me, “Use stock. There is no love in water.” For some reason, of all the things I learned, I remembered this so clearly.
By “love” of course he meant flavour and body. When soups taste “fine” but not “great,” it is often because the base liquid is deficient in this love.
But what if you want a great soup NOW, and you don’t have any stock? In my latest video I share a trick for creating a luxuriously rich chicken tom yum soup using just water!
To further explain:
When you need to add liquid to a dish and you choose water, all you’re adding is just that…liquid…and absolutely nothing else. But when you add a good stock (emphasis on good) you also add flavour AND a richer body.
But what makes a good stock? One made with a lot of bones and connective tissue (cartilage, tendon, etc.). So when you choose meats that are already high in bones and connective tissue, e.g. wings and spare ribs, you can combine the stock making and the soup making into one step.
This is why in Thailand, and other Asian cultures, we make SO many soups using chicken wings, pork spare ribs, fish heads, and chicken feet…because they make the most delicious broth!
BTW, store bought stocks may have flavour, but they’re often lacking in the “body” department. Also, for Thai soups, most Western stocks have a flavour that doesn’t work well in our dishes.
2 Weeks Left for the Pre-Order Bonus!
This recipe is a sneak peek from my new cookbook, which is coming out March 14 (on Pi Day no less, which is a fantastic coincidence for a nerd like me!)
If you order before the release date, you’ll get a few recipes early and be invited to a live cookalong with me!