Sukhothai Noodles--Wingin' it

This may be another thread about making the simple ultra-complicated....
I'm not sure how I got this idea into my head, but recently I decided I wanted to try making a Thai dish (go figure) referred to as Sukhothai noodles (wet/soup version). I think it's because we tried the version at Jin Thai, and while I liked their version, I thought it lacked something (compared to the version I remember from Thailand about 12 years ago). I actually sampled the dish in Bangkok--I've never been to Sukhothai--so, besides the fact that it was ages ago, the version I had may not have been typical/authentic.

There are lots of references to Sukhothai noodles but I could only find a couple recipes, none of which seemed exactly right to me (but what do I know). The dish generally contains pork, long beans, scallions and rice noodles and can be served with or without broth. Kasma Loha-Unchit has a nice picture on her website.

I riffed off of a couple of David Thompson's recipes for the roast pork and pork stock.

Pork stock:
Stock ingredients: dark soy sauce, white pepper, shallots, garlic, dried shrimp and one random dried little fish that came in the package, coriander root, ginger, scallions lemongrass, palm sugar, star anise (not shown: pork bones, Daikon radish cut into chunks)





Roast pork
Marinade: sugar, rice wine, light and dark soy, pinch of 5 spice, dried tangerine peel, ginger, shallots, scallions, star anise, cloves







Roasted, basted with sugar/honey/dark soy


Toppings/mix-ins: fish sauce, lime, dark soy, grated palm sugar, garlic oil, nam prik pao, pickled radish, scallions, bean sprouts, blanched long beans, peanuts, ground chiles



Finished product:



Overall, I thought it turned out great although it didn't quite match the flavor profile I remembered.
Maybe that's because the star anise in both the marinade and stock was a little much--next time, I'll just put it in the marinade and omit the 5 spice. Still, a very satisfying dish.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to make Sukhothai noodles, please post!!

I love the baleful glare on Mr. Fish's mug. . .

In your marinade, you shouldn't use the star anise and gloves because they are already included in the 5-spice powder (cinnamon, sichuan pepper, star anise, gloves, fennel) . Perhaps that's why the flavor was overpowered. Even the 5-spice poweder needs to be used sparingly.
From this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylh3dCgcGyQ, I think the steps are:
- cook noodle and blanch the long bean together
- add fried garlic chips, hoisin sauce or fish sauce (?), soy sauce, palm sugar, lime
- mix everything together
- topping off with more garlic chips, bbq roasted pork, peanuts, scallions, chili, bean sprouts.

You may also try recipes for these noodle dishes:
http://thuyancom.blogspot.com/search/label/Noodle

Bon Appetit!