Book
Kroeung: Cambodian Cooking with Chef T
Kroeung: Cambodian Cooking with Chef T is a 2022 cookbook and memoir by Visoth Tarak Ouk, known as Chef T, and Christine Su.[1][2] Through his favorite Cambodian recipes, it tells Ouk's journey from Cambodian refugee to gang member to chef in Long Beach.[2][3]
About the book
The title word, kroeung, is Khmer for "ingredients." Ouk says the word defines him too: his family, his upbringing and his years in a gang are the ingredients that made him who he is.[2]
Each recipe opens with a story from Ouk's life and unfolds into cooking instructions.[2][4] One is somlor machu, a sour soup Ouk loved as a child, made with tamarind paste, celery stalks, dwarf Chinese eggplants, fish sauce, and beef tripe and lungs. Ouk calls the food "Cambodian soul food."[4] Its themes include family, resilience, Cambodian American identity, cultural memory and the preservation of Khmer cuisine.[1]
The book opens with an introduction by Su and "A Note from Chef T." Su gives a wider view of the Cambodian diaspora, drawing on her work on Cambodian history and identity.[1][2] Her background section runs from the Khmer Empire, which built its temples at Angkor, through French rule, from 1863 to 1953, to the arrival of Cambodian refugees in the United States from the late 1970s.[1] The book holds that Khmer food and flavors stand on their own, apart from Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese food, while taking influences from neighbors and the wider world.[1]
Contents
The six chapters are:[1]
- Cambodian Flavors: Kroeung, with a basic yellow kroeung recipe; Prahok and skar thnout; ampil and mric Kampot (Kampot pepper)
- Sour: somlor machu, including somlor machu kroeung sach koh and Chef T's own versions
- Savory: amok, Chef T's amok "King," kaw sach chrouk and Chef T's kaw sach chrouk
- Sweet: nom plae ai and Chef T's nom plae ai
- Inspirations: family, food and family, and community
- Table Talk with Chef T
The book also includes Chef T's loup de mer with ginger and scallions, and octopus in a yuzu and wasabi aioli with radishes.[5]
Chef T
Ouk re-enrolled at Long Beach City College in 2010 and earned an associate's degree in culinary arts in 2011. He then worked his way up through entry-level jobs in food service.[2] In 2019 he became executive chef at Gladstone's in Long Beach. As of 2023 he was also appearing on local television.[2] The book is dedicated to his sister, Chomvorttei "Chom" Ouk (1984 to 2010).[1] It was his first cookbook.[3]
Publication and editions
The Southeast Asia Research and Cultural Heritage Center in San Francisco published the first edition in 2022, with the paper ISBN 979-8-218-08123-2.[1]
Reception
Letters from Laos, Cambodia and beyond reviewed it in 2023 as a short story about Chef T by Su with five recipes, rather than a cookbook or treatise on kroeung.[6]
Access
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Historical Society of Long Beach, Kroeung: Cambodian Cooking with Chef T (full text)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 The Hi-Lo, Gangster turned chef is putting Cambodian cooking 'back on the map' with new cookbook (March 20, 2023)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Eat. See. Do., Cambodian Restaurant Week sold to Chef T (October 16, 2023)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Eat. See. Do., Gangster turned chef is putting Cambodian cooking 'back on the map' (February 5, 2023)
- ↑ KCRW Good Food, How chef Visoth Tarak Ouk became a leader of Long Beach's Khmer community (March 17, 2023)
- ↑ Letters from Laos, Cambodia and beyond, Khmer cookbooks, our review (January 30, 2023)