Thai curry paste brand

I was wondering if the quality/flavor of curry pastes varies a great deal from brand to brand. Is there a particular brand that is superior or are they all pretty good?

I've used the Maesri brand pastes which yield tasty curries. The directions for using the paste on the can I find disagreeable (pun intended).

Maesri green, red, and mussaman curries taste so close to what one might find in a basic, decent Ameri-Thai operation one wouldn't be remiss in thinking that the chefs in those kitchens merely plop a can and some fresh veg. into whatever's on offer.

by which I mean they're palatable

as opined above, ditch the instructions on the label

Also, make sure to buy Maesri at Asian grocery stores where the small cans average around 50 cents a pop. I've seen them at Fox and Obel for a buck fitty. That Fox n Obel, they crazy.

I use Aroy-D with quite good results. What I find is good for a quick Thai curry is to liven up the pre-packaged taste by adding fresh ingredients. For example, for a typical Thai curry, I'll use paste and coconut milk, and then add some fresh lemongrass, birds-eye chiles, kaffir lime leaves, cilantro, crushed garlic or shallots, grated galangal (or possibly ginger) etc...whatever Thai curry ingredients I happen to have on hand. If I happen to have all these ingredients, then I just make the curry from scratch, naturally.

Oh, and don't forget the fish sauce and a tad bit of sugar.

I may be the lone soul, here...but I just get the Thai Kitchen brand that can be found everywhere. I also find their coconut milk to be far superior to Taste of Thai. I generally get the light version, so I can't speak for the full fat cans. I follow the version on the can - brown sugar, chicken broth, fish sauce, curry paste & chicken (going from memory here). Turns out beautifully over jasmine rice. The recipe calls for fresh basil, which I rarely have on hand so I often skip it and it still tastes grand.

Everyone touts Lotus of Siam on here (in Las Vegas). When DH & I went in March, we got a curry there and we were honestly astonished that it tasted nearly exactly like what I make at home with popular 'American' brands. Go figure. I figure that Thai Kitchen is just quite authentic, and for that I am grateful.

Christine

Thanks for the recs so far. I figure there will be some experimenting to find the one that suits my taste the best. I was just hoping to weed out the bad ones (if there are any).

But speaking of coconut milk, I was watching "Chef at Home," on Discovery Home & the chef/host, Michael Smith, used the solidified coconut fat at the top of the can to begin his saute. He stated that a Thai friend of his taught him that. I thought that was pretty cool. Does anyone know if this is standard?


edited for spelling

A complete diversion, but doesn't Chef at Home irritate you sometimes? I'm not sure what it is.

I think a lot of it is his "OH NOES, I'M COOKING WITHOUT A RECIPE" behavior on camera. I have trouble believing he hasn't prepared these things a few times before it hits the air, at least with a very similar configuration. And even if he hasn't, a classically trained chef with 15 years of professional cooking under his belt kind of has more of a sense of what flavors match than the average FoodTV Canada viewer.

That and he's from the Maritimes, and I like making fun of people from the Maritimes. No offense if any of you are.

I find him much less offensive in "Chef at Large".

viaChgo wrote:Does anyone know if this is standard?

Absolutely.

Read more about it, here.

Time permitting, I will write about the process in greater detail.

E.M.

Erik M.'s link's a good start. I first encountered the "frying in coconut cream" technique a few years back in David Thompson's excellent, excellent Thai Food. If you check the sides of the different Maesri curries
you'll see instructions for frying some, simply adding others to the coconut milk, and, of course, some don't use coconut milk at all.

As for Thai Kitchen; that's the first curry paste I used going on 8 or so years ago. I like the red curry, but don't particularly care for the roasted or green varieties. A chef friend of mine exclusively uses Thai Kitchen curry pastes.

You're better off getting several different cans of Maesri(or whatever) at Thai Grocery at Broadway and Argyle for the price of one bottle of Thai Kitchen.

Also, fyi The Spice House makes a citrusy, astringent DRY nam prik krung kaeng ped.

viaChgo wrote:I was wondering if the quality/flavor of curry pastes varies a great deal from brand to brand. Is there a particular brand that is superior or are they all pretty good?

viaChgo,

I typically use Maesri, as I like both the flavor and the picture of the 'Thai Betty Crocker' on the can. My two most frequent uses are as an ingredient in Thai curries, I particularly like Green Chicken curry from Jennifer Brennan's The Original Thai Cookbook which comes together quickly, with good depth of flavor from her use of additional fresh ingredients, and with BBQ, both low & slow and grilled.

Actually, Thai curry paste is one of my little BBQ secrets. I mix a can of Maesri with an equal amount of yellow mustard. The mustard/curry mix is really nice as a wet rub for grilled or smoked meat, it lends a little front heat with a nice lingering spicy heat, but is not overpowering. No one can ever tell what the heck's on the meat, they just think that it's a really complex and slightly spicy rub. I typically use green for chicken and pork, red for beef, but experiment with other curry types as well. If you have heat sensitive guests go 2 or 3/1 on the mustard/curry paste.

The curry/mustard slather works equally as well for grilling as smoking and helps promote a nice spicy bark. If I am in the mood for lots of spicy bark, I butterfly a pork butt and smoke it on the hot side with a heavy slather of green curry and mustard. Chicken pieces that have been marinated for a few hours in the slather grill up particularly nicely, as do pork chops.

Enjoy,
Gary

viaChgo wrote:
But speaking of coconut milk, I was watching "Chef at Home," on Discovery Home & the chef/host, Michael Smith, used the solidified coconut fat at the top of the can to begin his saute. He stated that a Thai friend of his taught him that. I thought that was pretty cool. Does anyone know if this is standard?


edited for spelling

I say an episode of Capriel & John's Kitchen on PBS yesterday where they used this same technique, so I suppose that makes it mainstream

GWiv, thanks for the bbq tip. I'm definitely going to incorporate curry the next time I smoke up a batch of ribs. That sounds really tasty!

I've seen Maesri recommended in multiple places so I've picked some up and have been using it. It's great, although a tad too spicy for us. Any recos on how to cut down on the heat without cutting back the flavor?

papua2001mk wrote:I've seen Maesri recommended in multiple places so I've picked some up and have been using it. It's great, although a tad too spicy for us. Any recos on how to cut down on the heat without cutting back the flavor?

You could try biting into a serrano about 30 minutes before dinner. After that your curry won't seem so spicy.

Flip

Not sure which one(s) you've tried so far, but the ingredients are listed in percentages on the can. Maybe try one where the Chilies % is lower?
I'm always adding extra fresh/dried chilies, and fortifying with chili garlic paste, so I don't have any other suggestions for you other than to cut down on the amt of paste you use, and then fortify with what you deem appropriate to your taste, minus the 'spicy' ingredients. Start with salt or fish sauce. From there, ginger, garlic, shallots, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galangal - all could be CONSIDERED spicy depending on your palate. You have some testing to do. Probably take a few tries, you'll get it right. If ALL of the maesri flavors are too spicy, then you can make your own in a food processor after a trip to a decent asian grocery.
May sound like too much work to some, but it's a fun (and tasty) 1/2 day for me.

All -

I made some red curry earlier this week using the "Curry Sauce" from Jewel. It seemed a bit much (around $4-5 a bottle) and the flavor was fine. Saw this thread and am now curious as to where I can find coconut milk and paste at a better price.

I live in Wicker Park, do I need to head up north to pick up some paste and coconut milk at a cheaper price? Or is there somewhere around here or would Chinatown be the closest?

Thanks!

A trip to Li'l Chinatown is in the cards. Find deeply discounted coconut milk and curry pastes of superior quality at the plethora of Southeast Asian markets thereabouts.

From Wicker Park, you're probably at least as close to the Argyle/Broadway area as Chinatown. My favorite place for Thai ingredients is Golden Pacific on the 5300 block of Broadway. They reliably have a large variety of Maesri pastes, Kaffir lime leaves,Chaokoh coconut milk and the proprietor is very helpful. Broadway market and Tai Nam (both Vietnamese grocery stores just south of Argyle on Broadway) also have a good selection of Thai ingredients.

edited for grammar that would make my grandmother roll over in her grave...

I'll second the Golden Pacific rec, clean, organized, affordable and has a parking lot. It never seems all too busy in there though.