One of the silver linings of the pandemic has been reconnecting with old friends around the world and in the U.S. When I began the cooking classes a couple of months ago, my friend Gus Rancatore (who happens to be the co-founder of the best ice cream shop in the world, Toscanini’s in Cambridge, MA), joined my class and mentioned that a mutual friend of ours, Pichet Ong, was also in the metro D.C. area.
I reconnected with Pichet on Instagram and discovered that he has about 40,000 followers. He started his early career as the pastry chef at Jean Georges’ Spice Market in New York’s meatpacking district. Though I didn’t know Pichet at the time, I recall dining at Spice Market not long after it opened, in the early aughts when I was in my frivolous twenties, and feeling very hip and cool to be dining in that just-gentrifying part of New York.
Pichet and I met for the first time around 2009 when he visited Beijing. It was not long after my own dining establishment, Black Sesame Kitchen had opened. He took cooking class with my chefs and showed off his skills in our kitchen, and together we roamed the back alleys and wet markets of Beijing. Later, when I visited New York, I went to see him at P*Ong, the amazing dessert shop that he founded after leaving Spice Market.
It turns out Pichet and I have yuanfen – a Chinese word that means “shared destiny.” Nowadays, he’s living in Arlington, Virginia, the next town over from Alexandria, where my family and I are temporarily sheltering while away from Beijing. Like me, he’s got a spouse/partner whose work has dragged them to D.C.
Pichet and I are both cooking a lot at home while also managing eating establishments. (While my cooking school is halfway around the world, he’s managing a kitchen slightly closer -- Mama Chang, the best Chinese restaurant in the metro D.C. area.)
So it only seemed natural to team up for some cooking classes. He did a delicious Hainan Chicken Rice class last month, and last weekend, we made his authentic and revelatory Pad Thai. Pad Thai also happens to be one of the most ordered takeout dishes since the pandemic began, according to Uber Eats, and yet few people bother to make it at home.
And, indeed, there is interest in learning Pad Thai: before the weekend, I sent out a note about the class to our newsletter list, and received more than 100 RSVP’s — in less than a day! Normally we try to cap our guest list at around 20 but I accommodated as many as I could for this class because of the overwhelming interest.
Pichet’s recipe contains some surprising elements — pineapple, for one — along with more typical ingredients you’ll find in Pad Thai, like lime and fish sauce. Before the class, when I read over the recipe, I couldn’t help noticing it seemed to use a lot of Chinese stir-fry techniques. I asked Pichet about this. It turns out that Pad Thai is an adaptation of Chinese food in a foreign land. (How unfortunate for us Americans that we end up with lo mein, while Thailand gets delicious Pad Thai!) Chinese immigrants who moved to Thailand first began stir-frying shrimp, eggs, tofu, and rice noodles together, and adding Thai flavors to it. (And for those who wonder why Thai food has taken off in so many part of the world, here’s another secret: the Thai government has worked with overseas Thai restaurateurs to promote the country’s food.)
Pichet showed us a trick with rice noodles — there’s no need to cook the noodles in boiling water before adding them to the wok to stir-fry. Simply soak the noodles in water for about half an hour or so — he recommended cold water, so that the noodles don’t stick. Before adding them to the wok, drain them and stir-fry the noodles with rest of the ingredients. This technique might take a few times to get right — you might end up with harder noodles than you expected the first time or two — but it definitely improved the texture of my final product. One of the problems with Pad Thai I’ve had in the past was a very mushy product. This time, my noodles were nicely al dente and added great texture to the dish.
One of our youngest cooking guests shows off his final dish. (I’m in the background with my daughter.)
I also learned that the amount of rice noodles in Pad Thai can vary considerably, depending on who’s making or ordering the Pad Thai. In recent years, according to Pichet, trendy and fashionable Thais began requesting Pad Thai without the noodles to cut out the carbs and to show off how well-off they are. (A similar trend has happened in China with rice — many meals at restaurants don’t include rice.)
So for those who are calorie conscious, you too can have your Pad Thai — and eat it too! Definitely give Pichet’s Pad Thai a try and share your pictures and comments on our Facebook page.
