The Noodles Grandma's Been Making for 70 Years

Pad mee korat is a dish similar to pad thai, but local to Korat, a city my mom is from. My grandfather apparently loved this dish so she made it a lot. She even shared that sometimes he'd come home late into the wee hours of the morning and asked that she made it for him. So grandma had a lot of practice!

*Note that I call it “vegan pad thai” on the website because it's very similar to pad thai but doesn’t use fish sauce or eggs. You can add meat as I did here, and typically my grandma would add sliced pork, but tofu would be also great.

[alysoffoxdale]

This is a beautiful example of learning _methods_ of cooking, rather than just recipes. Once you understand and master a method, it becomes infinitely variable and delicious without agonizing over detailed measurements.

[lindaang]

That's how I cook, no fixed recipe... just use feeling and taste as it go

[anthonyantoine]

In my experience, for people who want to cook by feel but lack the experience to do so, the best way to get started is with braised meats. Sear your meat, add water, add aromatics and spices, and then cook on low heat in the oven until tender. It's really hard to mess up, so you'll probably never have a bad batch, but that gives you more freedom to play with flavors, temps, times, etc. to see what is good and what isn't.

[-RONNIE]

That's how people learn to cook very well by trial and error 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[Bsiso_]

us thai ppl just cook without measuring 😂😂

[WhereThatLongGrassGrows]

For the most part it's always delicious? Pailin it's always delicious. Full stop.

[EarlOfRichard]

I watch or read a recipe once, and then go for it. I don’t measure or anything. I only revisit a recipe if im baking (which I hate!), or if it’s been years.

[krystofcisar]

Glad that im ignorant savant of cook - i never really learnedrecipes, i just freestyle anything :D

[catetanenbaum]

I was looking at your hands saying those aren't the hands of a 96 yo grandma! I finally caught on

[johngoudie]

What kind of woks do most traditional cooks prefer, and would you suggest one for me?😊

[murni]

...also the knowledge of how ingredients and spices taste and how it affects a dish, will it make it tastier or weird 😂 cooking took courage too.

[jonathansfavorites]

I agree.. learn a recipe, and then start winging it.

[carolineindacityphx]

The first few time I make any recipe, inevitably isn't good. It is usually by the 4th or 5th attempt that I nail the recipe! ❤️

[itskhaotic]

That is me 95% of the time. I just adjust and season to taste

[knotsripol]

Nobody is that good the first time they start doing something. Like most things, it takes a lot of practice and perseverance to become really good.

[biendereviere]

I’m so happy I picked up the food intuition my grandmother had and dad got from her, I’ve been cooking for myself and my family for nearly 20 yrs now (I’m 32) and I only use a recipe when I make something completely new, or when it requires a technique I’m unfamiliar with. It’s true, trust your instincts/intuition and gradually build your confidence and skills in the kitchen. My grandmother died 17 yrs ago and never wrote down a single recipe, I’ve recreated nearly all her signature recipes our whole extended family loved purely on taste memory, trying over and over again tasting as I went and for most of her recipes I cracked her codes. The only thing I can’t get the same are her potato croquettes, they’re good but not a perfect as hers, dad has also tried it several times ; that’s a secret she took to her grave… but thankfully I now know how to make her crunchy vanilla waffles, her beef stew, her red cabbage stew and my personal favourite her chicken soup recipe… Granny Gaby I still cry from time to time for not being able to ask the questions I wanted to but know that I beam with joy and happiness every time I cook one of your dishes for friends and they ask me to teach them how to make it, then I say “I don’t know if my granny would let me show you since I spent years cracking her code, she didn’t even write it down for us… I’ll ask her next time she visits me in my dreams” my friends know how important she was for me and basically still is ; she’s the kind of woman I aspire to be ❤

[JohnHausser]

Looks like a personal version of the Pad Thai 😊

[ernie]

Chefs cook w/o measuring. Bakers measure before cooking. 😎👍