Watch 4 Levels | 4 Levels of Pad Thai: Amateur to Food Scientist | Epicurious Video | CNE | Epicurious.com

[egg cracks]

[glass clinks]

[food sizzles]

[upbeat music]

Hi, I’m John and I’m a level one chef.

Hi, I’m Natasha and I’m a level two chef.

Hi, I’m King.

I’m a chef instructor

at the Institute of Culinary Education.

I’ve been a professional chef for over 20 years.

[upbeat music]

I love Pad Thai and I order it all the time

when I go to Thai restaurants.

But I’m pretty new to making it,

so this is a bit of a challenge for me.

Today., I’ll be making my version of Pad Thai

which is vegetarian.

And that means that I’ll be using a vegetarian fish sauce

and a few meat alternatives.

My ideal Pad Thai is really touching on all those flavors.

Salty, sour, sweet, spicy and textures as well.

Soft, chewy, crunchy.

To me, it kind of all comes together in this noodle dish.

[suspenseful music]

First, I’m gonna make the sauce.

So I’m doing a very simplified, paired-down version.

As you can see, just a couple of ingredients, very simple.

Dump it all in, mix it up, call it a day.

Brown sugar.

I’m gonna start with the–

[Both] Palm sugar.

I try and dice this as fine as I can dice.

It’s very funny cooking up at the right height.

I’m on a box to make me the appropriate height.

[John] Soy sauce.

[Both] Fish sauce.

I love fish sauce.

It’s gonna add our saltiness and umami to the dish.

[Natasha] I’m vegetarian, so my substitute version

is a mix of vegetarian fish sauce

and golden mountain seasoning.

Here comes our sourness

from the tamarind. Tamarind paste.

Oyster sauce, more umami.

Rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce.

Beautiful. And then I’m doing the juice of a lime.

It’s already starting to smell like what you would smell

in a Pad Thai dish, so that gives me hope

that I’m getting this right.

Ooh, smellin’ like Pad Thai.

I got everything in there.

I can smell that fish sauce, I can smell the tamarind,

the palm sugar, the oyster sauce,

and they kind of all coming together.

There’s the base for our Pad Thai.

Now I’m gonna start preparing my noodles.

The main ingredient to a Pad Thai,

a stir fry noodle dish, are noodles.

Every rice noodle packet

has slightly different instructions.

You know, you can make up your own rules

or deviate from the norm.

I have trouble opening packages for some reason. [laughs]

[packages crinkle]

Okay, I was like, I’m gonna look silly.

Pop them in the bowl.

I love how these look, they’re so cool.

Completely submerge the noodles in cold water.

As they soften, you can just continue to push them in.

So I’m gonna let these soak for about 10 to 20 minutes,

then I’ll drain them and they should be ready to go.

And now, our protein

For my protein, I’m going to be using tofu.

Right now, I’m going to cut the tofu

into cubes and then I’ll add some seasoning later.

We want everything to fit kind of

in your chopstick or on your fork.

[knife thunks]

I cook it on the wok separately so it gets crispy

and it won’t break up when I mix it in with the noodles.

The tofu is all cut.

Here’s our diced tofu.

So I’m making a chicken Pad Thai.

And as you can see, I have some boneless,

skinless chicken breasts here.

I’m gonna cut them up into small bite-size pieces.

Tofu Pad Thai is okay.

I mean, if you’re vegetarian, sure, go for it.

But for me, chicken always trumps tofu any day of the week.

And then liberally season them with salt and pepper

and they’ll be ready to go.

Next up, our sausage.

We’re just gonna cut them on the bias,

meaning on a slight angle, keeping them uniform.

I wish these prawns were alive, but they’re not.

Basically, we’re gonna twist the head off.

I’m gonna take off the shell right now,

almost as if you were cleaning a shrimp.

We’re doing the same method, these are just larger.

When you wanna dive into a bowl of noodles,

you don’t want a fork, you don’t wanna peel anything.

You just want to get in there

dig into those noodles and go right into your mouth.

But we are gonna keep one.

We’re gonna keep this guy and deep fry him.

We’re gonna take this out here and now he’s clean.

Two things you could do here.

We can leave this whole, like this.

I have a big mouth, so I don’t have a problem.

I could probably eat this in one shot.

It’ll also cook well, if it stays intact.

So my preference is to leave it whole.

I’m gonna make a slice here that’ll kind of

keep it from curling up into a little ball.

The proteins are prepped and now we’re

gonna move on to our additional ingredients.

So to go with my chicken, I also have a bunch of veggies.

Gonna chop my green onions.

Garlic, chives.

Scallions, nice and thin.

[All] Garlic.

[shell cracks]

[knife taps]

[Both] Shallots.

[King] Let’s cut them in half.

My eyes.

Probably should have done these last.

[All] Bean sprouts.

Ready to go, so no chopping there.

[All] Eggs.

I’m going to julienne the carrot to my best ability.

I don’t know if carrot is traditionally in Pad Thai,

but I like adding carrot because it’s a little bit sweet

so it compliments the sweetness in the sauce.

And now for some red bell pepper.

Doing just a pretty thin slice.

I want it to have a little crunch,

but I also want it to make it cook and not raw.

I’m going to chop the peanuts.

Half of the peanuts will be cooked in with the Pad Thai

and then half will be topping.

You just need to rough chop them so they’re not all whole.

[imitates trumpet] Pickled radish.

I love cooking, but for some reason,

I don’t like opening cans.

Do you want me to cook anything?

I’ll cook your shoe, I just can’t open a can.

I’m doing it.

Boom.

It’s time to cook.

First up, I’m gonna drain these noodles.

These rice noodles are so easy to work with.

[water rushes]

As you can see, they’re super pliable.

We’re about to start cooking our Pad Thai.

This is how it should be when you’re cooking.

You gotta have everything in front of you, ready to go.

Use canola oil, vegetable oil.

Do not use olive oil, that has a low smoking point,

it will burn and we don’t want that flavor

in our food, not in this dish.

Garlic. Yeah, I like that.

I like that sound. Shallots.

Our garlic and shallots are in the oil.

And you see that smoke coming out

and you can see it sautéing now.

You can’t smell it, not yet.

Soon you will, but I can smell it.

And already it smells like victory.

Drop in a little peanut oil.

Let that get nice and hot. Toss the chicken here.

[wok sizzles]

Gonna saute the chicken, three to five minutes.

Make sure it’s fully cooked through

and then add in my veggies.

I’m just gonna add this carefully to splatter.

[wok sizzles]

I’m sprinkling just a little bit of salt

over the tofu to season it.

So I’m going to crisp the tofu on all sides

and then set it aside.

And then I’ll prepare the noodles.

It’s looking good, it’s starting to get golden.

I always feel impatient during this part

because I wanna stir it, but I need to just let it crisp.

And if I over stir it, it breaks them. [laughs]

When I first started eating tofu, I didn’t like it

and that’s because I didn’t have it seasoned properly.

I really love tofu.

So the tofu is all done, it’s golden on all sides.

It’s firmed up and it’s pretty crispy.

Our sausage is in there, it’s mixed with the garlic.

As that sausage is cooking, it’s rendering out the fat.

The fat is coming out of that sausage.

And now we have oil that’s flavored with garlic,

with shallots, and with pork.

We could eat this right here.

You can see it crisping already

on the edge of the sausage, right?

That’s a very good sign.

Looking good, smelling good, feeling good.

I’m gonna go in with these prawns.

Now it’s talking to me.

Feel that oil coming out, the moisture hits the oil,

bang, bang, bang, splash, splash.

Okay, I’m gonna add fish sauce for our prawns.

[wok sizzles]

We’re gonna turn this guy to cook the other side.

Let’s get our tofu in there.

Remember our tofu’s cooked already,

it’s not really cooking we’re concerned about now.

We wanna heat that through.

We wanna get the prawns cooked

and we wanna get that tofu heated through.

Just gonna put all my veggies in

right on top of the chicken.

My bean sprouts.

Red bell pepper.

Now I’m just gonna let this cook through for a few minutes,

let the veggies get soft.

Not too soft, though. I don’t want the veggies overcooked.

Once the red bell pepper starts to wilt,

that’s the level of cook that I want.

I’m going to add the shallots and garlic,

carrots,

chili flakes.

I’m mixing it and then cooking it

until the garlic starts to brown slightly.

Now let’s talk about scallion.

Let’s get scallions in there.

Let’s get in our pickled radish in there.

Ooh, I love it. Look at this already.

Oh, look at those colors.

[wok sizzles]

Wow.

I’m loving this, look at the bean, ah,

put all the beans, ah.

We’ll get more later, right?

Okay I’m gonna scramble my eggs

and then cook them right in the center.

Beautiful.

And the egg cooks quick, so you definitely

wanna move it around quickly in there.

And now that my egg is cooked, I’m gonna go ahead

and incorporate it into the rest of the ingredients.

Wanna make sure everything’s nice and distributed,

really work that egg around the entire pan.

Probably only gonna use eight ounces of noodles

but you can eyeball it, woo!

That looks like a nice amount, so almost all of it.

And last but not least, Pad Thai sauce.

Tongs are your friends, especially when working

with noodles like these.

They’re so thin.

I just wanna make sure all that goodness

that we cooked up just before gets really worked

into the noodles.

The rice noodle’s great because it’s so versatile.

It really soaks in all that great juice from the sauce.

So the garlic has cooked down a little bit.

I’m going to add the sauce.

[wok sizzles]

And then the noodles.

This part you have to watch very carefully.

You wanna make sure that the noodles

absorb all of the sauce.

And this is where I’m gonna switch to tongs

because it gets easier with the noodles.

We’re only halfway through this thing.

I love it, I love how it looks.

Look at those colors.

Everything’s in there, right?

You know who’s not in there yet? Our noodles.

Do you drain the noodles, nah,

we don’t need to drain the noodles,

they drain right in the pan.

And I need some moisture in there, put a little more.

Oh, now we’re talking. Look at that.

Temperature’s rising.

Now we’re gonna go in with our sauce.

Fish sauce. I love fish sauce.

I probably said that a couple of times.

I love fish sauce. Fish sauce, which is my favorite.

I love fish sauce, fish sauce, fish sauce, fish sauce

equals winner.

[sighs]

Crack, crack, bang.

Basically we’re gonna incorporate that egg in there.

Like how it’s coming together.

Look at that.

You know what I’m looking for also are these pickles.

I love these pickles, a little bit of sour in there, right?

We’re almost there, but we still have to cook this prawn

and we’re not gonna throw him in there.

So we’re gonna deep fry this prawn.

We have our oil hot at about 350.

I’m just gonna coat it with a little a Wondra flour.

We’re goin’ in.

Basically that prawn is being covered by that hot oil.

Look at that prawn, we are almost there.

Look at that, J for jumbo.

That’s a big ass prawn.

Another way I can tell it’s almost done,

the sizzling has reduced meaning that the moisture is out.

Not all the moisture, but most of that moisture is out.

It’s telling me, he’s like, Okay, I’m done.

Don’t forget about me, don’t over cook me.

And I do not want to over cook you, baby.

Let me get you out of there.

Now, I’m just going to season it

with a little salt and get it while it’s hot.

And that’s all it is to it.

Deep fried prawn, ready for our Pad Thai.

So I’m gonna push the noodles to the side

up onto the wall of the wok.

And then I’m gonna let the eggs fry.

Scramble them a little bit here.

Then I’m putting the noodles on top of the eggs like this.

Stir it all together.

Add in the garlic, chives, bean sprouts,

and then half of the peanuts.

The second half of peanuts will be used

as a garnish at the end.

So with the residual heat, just fold the noodles

in with the bean sprouts so that the bean sprouts can cook.

I’m going to make an omelet

and we are going to put our Pad Thai into our omelet.

I’m gonna season with our fish sauce.

Think of it as a liquid salt, with a lot more punch in it.

Oh, Pad Thai looks amazing.

[wok sizzles]

Here’s our Pad Thai, you know, wrapped

in our beautiful egg on top of a banana leaf.

There’s some oil with the omelet

so this will pick up some of that oil.

It’s just a nice backdrop to have in here.

And it reminds me of Thailand.

There’s our Pad Thai but we’re still not done yet.

So now it’s time to plate this up.

I’m sure there’s like some chef-y way to get them out.

I don’t know what it is.

Oh, maybe it’s that. Looks pretty.

Make sure to get tofu because tofu is my favorite.

Rip some fresh cilantro.

Oh my God, it smells so good.

Let’s start with some chili flakes here,

some pickled jalapenos, fresh serranos,

fresh chilies in there, right?

Scallions in there.

We’re gonna go right over the top on the–

[Both] Peanuts.

Just on the side and just to make it pretty,

I’ll nestle some tofu right on top.

And then one lime wedge on the side.

Squeeze it right over, oh my God, gorgeous.

Drizzle a little bit on this here.

And we just put this baby right there, just like that.

That’s the Pad Thai.

This is what I’m talking about, our Pad Thai is done.

This is my Pad Thai.

This is my Pad Thai.

And this is my Pad Thai.

Now it’s time to taste.

Bottoms up.

Mmm, oh my God.

Oh wow! Mmm, it is so good.

That actually tastes like Pad Thai.

It’s delicious.

For a simple, modified version of Pad Thai,

I’m very happy with how this came out.

I like having this dish

when I know I’m going to be drinking

and I like having it when I’m hung over as well. [laughs]

Everything is in there.

I get sweetness from the sausage,

I get the heat from the fresh chilies,

the pickled jalapenos, that tofu is in there.

Really, that’s what the magic of Pad Thai is,

just so many flavors and elements and textures going on.

And I didn’t even get to the crispy fried prawn.

Look, here we go.

I’m gonna cut this bad boy up, woo!

Oh, look at that. Get some of that.

Oh my goodness, Pad Thai, baby.

Pad Thai is a plate of everything

that’s delicious and satisfying.

It’s carbohydrate-rich with proteins

and vegetables and has layers and layers of flavor.

Sweet, salty, sour, and savory.

[suspenseful music]

All of our chefs used rice noodles,

which are traditional for Pad Thai.

Rice noodles are made by soaking rice in water,

grinding it to a paste and partially cooking it

so that some gelatinization or starch swelling, takes place.

It’s kneaded to form a dough

and then stretched and extruded to form long noodles.

These noodles are steamed, cooled,

and dried for at least 12 hours in hot air

or quickly flash fried in hot oil.

The steaming and drying process

causes partial retro gradation, which means

that the amylose and other starches connect

and realign to form a matrix

that can withstand reconstitution in hot water.

Noodle size is an important choice when making Pad Thai.

John used very thin vermicelli noodles in his dish,

much thinner than the flat rice noodles

in Kings and Natasha’s.

John’s noodles rehydrated and cooked more quickly

because of their smaller diameter.

But Natasha and King’s thicker noodles

were able to absorb more sauce while cooking

thanks to their increased surface area.

It’s pretty darn close.

[suspenseful music]

Natasha made a vegetarian Pad Thai

and her main protein was tofu.

Tofu is made by soaking, grinding, and cooking soybeans.

Soybeans contain trypsin inhibitors.

These are naturally occurring compounds

that interfere with gastric digestion.

By briefly cooking tofu during processing,

trypsin inhibitors become inactive.

Natasha used firm tofu, which is further processed

by pressing to remove excess water

and holds up well to frying.

King used tofu in his dish as well,

but also added large shrimp, or prawns, and Chinese sausage.

Chinese sausage is a hard sausage that varies

from region to region, but is often pork based,

smoked, and seasoned with soy sauce, chili powder,

and sodium nitrites.

The sodium nitrates give the sausage a reddish color,

which is persistent even after it’s cooked

because the nitrate forms nitrosyl hemochrome,

a pinkish pigment that is heat stable.

If you don’t love sausage, I don’t love you.

All three of our chefs added scrambled eggs

to their Pad Thai.

The eggs, not only add protein and richness to the dish,

they also help thicken the sauce.

This is thanks to phosphatidylcholine,

a phospholipid emulsifier found in the yolk.

[suspenseful music]

John’s sauce included fish sauce and rice vinegar.

Fish sauce is full of umami,

that savory mouth-filling quality associated

with glutamic acid and glutamate in foods.

It’s full of complex flavor with fruity, buttery,

roasted, malty, and meaty notes.

To make fish sauce, fish are gutted, highly salted

and left to ferment for six to 12 months.

The enzymes in the fish that helped create flavor compounds

also start browning reactions.

This is why fish sauces tend to be so dark.

The fish disintegrate and become liquid during fermentation.

Rice vinegar is made with mold, yeast,

and bacterial cultures that convert substrates

to amino acids and other organic acids,

adding flavor to the vinegar.

Natasha’s sauce included palm sugar for sweetness

and vegetarian fish sauce for savory umami.

Palm sugar is from the Asian sugar palm tree.

The sap is collected and boiled down

to a sugar syrup or crystallized.

It has a distinctive taste with some flavor compounds

in common with wine.

Vegetarian fish sauce obviously doesn’t include fish.

Instead, it’s made from ingredients like mushrooms,

fermented coconut, soy, date, or palm sap.

The ingredients are boiled in an acid solution to hydrolyze

or break apart proteins through chemical reactions

with water into free amino acids,

which impart a savory quality to the sauce.

King’s sauce included tamarind and oyster sauce.

Tamarind is a brown fruit pod

with an intensely sour-sweet flavor profile.

Tamarind paste is made from a sticky, fibrous, sour pulp

that surrounds the seeds in the pod.

Tartaric acid is one of the main components

that contributes to the sour flavor.

Next time you’re in the mood for some delicious

and satisfying Pad Thai,

we hope you’ll use some of these tips

from our three inspired chefs.