Rick Stein does Cambodia
Chef Rick Stein paid a visit to Cambodia over a year ago(?) to film the first part of his new series Far Eastern Odyssey and he comes away impressed with the food. His crew got in touch with me almost a year beforehand, but sadly, I was on my way out of living in Phnom Penh and couldn’t help out beyond suggestions to hook up with people that I know and try to take the food seriously. He did both and as much as I’d like to claim it as a win, I think that it is a testament to Stein’s love of exploring food than any of the influence of a food blog.
The series is up at BBC iPlayer for the UK audience and the following few clips are on YouTube:
Amok, Kampot pepper, loc lac.
kroueng, Chef J-Lo.
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:15 pm
I love the videos by Rick Stein. I’ve started watching all his others videos on Youtube. Thanks for sharing.
September 26th, 2009 at 3:51 am
Now, I only spent 2-1/2 weeks in Cambodia, but the only time I saw a loose-style stir fried amok like the one Stein gets was in Otres Beach, which is not exactly where I would seek out anything authentic.
Soy sauce? C’mon!
All the other amoks I ate - and one that I made at Frizz Restaurant’s cooking school in Phnom Penh (admittedly a very touristy activity) - were basically: red-style curry, mix with beaten eggs, coconut cream, palm sugar, and shrimp paste; toss in small chunks of raw fish; put the mix in a banana leaf cup, the fish should be submerged in the curry-egg mix, then steam; comes out more like a firmed up fish custard from the eggs setting.
Phnomenon, I’d love to know what kind of amoks you had and what you consider to be most authentic or traditional.
October 30th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
He did say that i was proud of some French left over imperialism and that really pissed me off. We would be in America I would suit the production.
January 12th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
I watched the first two parts of his “Far Eastern Odyssey” the other night and just couldn’t get through them. My family’s from Cambodia, and every Amok I’ve had was more as Lauren described above - like a savoury curry-custard. My dad thinly slices kaffir lime leaves and adds them as well as a garnish.
The Vietnam section irked me a lot. It’s not chicken in the rice noodle rolls, it’s pork!! I can’t believe two experienced chefs can’t taste the difference. And lay off the fish sauce! Christ. At least taste your pho first before adding a whopping 5 teaspoons in.
Sorry but I can’t stand the guy!