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25 of 25 found the following review helpful:
Great Recipes - Little Background Feb 18, 2002
By Stephan Bullard
"sgbullard"
This book would be an excellent addition to the library of an intermediate to advanced Thai chef. Keo's Thai Cuisine is an wonderful resource and contains many excellent recipes. However, it's main draw back is that it provides little cultural context for these recipes. Thus, the book is more or less a "recipe catalog" which would make it difficult for a beginner to get this book and "run with it." I know from experience. This was the first book I bought dealing with Thai cooking. I selected Keo's Thai Cuisine because it was physically very attractive (lots of beautiful color photographs are included) and because it contained many of the recipes I was interested in making. Previously, I had extensive background in cooking Japanese and Chinese cuisine, and I expected that it would be very easy for me to learn Thai. However, although I was successfully able to copy some of the easier recipes, I found myself hard pressed to make some of the more advanced recipes. The problem was that I was unfamiliar with many of the ingredients. Although a short (5 page) glossary is included that lists most Thai ingredients, many of the ingredients go by multiple names (which were not included) which made it difficult for me to find the supplies I needed. After I had read additional books and had about 3 months experience cooking basic Thai foods, I had the background necessary to make the most of the recipes in Keo's. Now Keo's is one of my favorite cookbooks.Overall, the book contains 96 total recipes, 51 of which are entree-like, all of which are delicious. Color photographs are included for most dishes, although some are somewhat stylized. Although all of the recipes I have tried have been excellent, I have had a very hard time making my dishes look like the photographs. This is a minor point (because they taste great), but I usually don't have this trouble with other cookbooks, and it has always left me wondering if I'm doing things "right," or if the photographs were made using a different recipe.
16 of 16 found the following review helpful:
 Excellent recipes and beautiful photographs Apr 26, 1998
By jnphoto@mindspring.com
Every dish I have prepared from this cookbook was excellent. My only complaint, was I wanted more one dish recipes. A beautifully photographed coffee table book with unexpectly easy to read recipes.
16 of 16 found the following review helpful:
The best Thai food, the simplest recipes Jun 11, 2001
This is unequivocally the best Thai cookbook you could buy. While in Hawaii I ate at Keo's restaurant and had what was some of the finest Thai food I've ever eaten. I purchased his book at the restaurant as I wasn't thrilled with the other Thai cookbooks I had, which had a tendency to overcomplicate recipes. I wasn't sure this would be better because of the gorgeous photos and complexity of taste in his dishes. However, after using the book and trying a few recipes it became apparent that not only are Keo's recipes better than those in other books, but they are also far simpler to make! Better food, easier to make - a simple equation and one well worth the investment. The book itself is gorgeous with great photos and nice layout, but the real payoff is in Keo's simple and extremely delicious recipes. I find myself constantly looking back at the pages when making a dish and saying to myself "That's it? I'm not missing anything? That's too easy...."
17 of 18 found the following review helpful:
As good as Keo's Restaurant Feb 06, 2000
By Christine M Cooper
After eating at Keo's in Honolulu, we bought his cookbook and made the recipes we raved about at his restaurant. They were exactly as he prepared them--wonderful! The pictures in the book are beautiful, his recipes are easy to follow, and you'll love their delicate Thai flavor. The book, Keo's Thai Cuisine, is the next best thing to eating at his restaurant.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Good Cookbook, but some experience required Aug 10, 2010
By Shawn P. Garbett
"cybergarp"
This is my staple Thai cookbook, that I got from a friend who lived in Thailand for many years. He said that the recipes, were the best of all the books he looked at as far as duplicating Thai food. We worked our way through the book over several evenings and dinner parties as he taught me to cook Thai. That said, the first thing I learned was selection of ingredients. The cookbook covers this a bit, but not enough for someone new to Thai. Secondly, there were several typos that were misleading and several of the cooking times were absurdly short-- like potatoes going fully cooked in 7 minutes, it simply won't happen in a frying pan. So, while the cookbook has authentic recipes that are delicious (if you like Thai), it does have it's shortcomings, hence 4 stars. That said, I'm not giving up my copy. It has a special place on my cooking shelf.
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