Lessons
Jet Tila translates Thai cuisine for everyone by tara q. thomas 52 real food spring 2022
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ever be daunted. That’s what Jet Tila’s right arm says—in thick black tattoo ink—something I remember while flipping through his newest book, “101 Thai Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die.” The last time I had a good pad thai was in Thailand. A woman who made only pad thai prepared it in her little open-air restaurant. The dish came out steaming hot, the tender, bouncy rice noodles punctuated with juicy shrimp, tender chicken, crisp bean sprouts, meaty tofu, crunchy peanuts and a showering of bright herbs—everything heightened by a sauce that was at once sweet, tangy, funky and spicy. Watching her toss it in the wok, it appeared as simple as making a salad. Yet the image of my past sticky gloppy attempts was paralyzing. How not to be daunted? Taking a deep breath, I call Tila to ask him himself. His answers, delivered with the combination of calmness, compassion and capability of an exceptional 911 operator, make it clear why he has been a Food Network favorite since his first appearance in 2011, when he went up against Masaharu Morimoto on “Iron Chef.” He has since appeared on everything from “Chopped” to “Cutthroat Kitchen,” “Beat Bobby Flay,” “Guy’s Grocery Games” and “Tournament of Champions,” as well as on NPR, CBS’ “The Early Show” and NBC’s “Today Show.” It also speaks to why he has 360,000 followers on Instagram and a popular YouTube channel dedicated to cooking videos. “You’re not alone,” he reassures me. “A lot of good cooks are intimidated by Thai cooking.” It’s simply unfamiliarity, he says. “No one teaches you how to buy dry rice sticks from Thailand; you have no natural familiarity with the ingredients.” Tila, whose full last name is Tilakamonkul, knows this well, as he has watched Westerners wrestle with Thai food since he was a kid. His family is largely credited with the founding of L.A.’s Thai Town, the largest Thai community outside of Thailand, spawned by the grocery store they founded in 1972. Back then, no one was importing Thai products, or growing the herbs and vegetables Thai cooks relied on back home. Tila’s family created a magnet for Thai families by bringing in essentials like Thai soy sauce, real sriracha sauce, and contracting with farmers in Mexico to grow ingredients such as galanga, an integral ingredient in many curry pastes. Tila was born in 1975, and essentially grew
PHOTOS KEN GOODMAN
Thai
