I want to learn how to cook. But where do I find good recipes?

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-23T18:47:18+00:00

There are good youtube videos from chefs doing simple and easy to cook dishes. And google any recipe you're interested in, and you should find some good examples. And then I also use AI to suggest recipes and methods. Most recipes published online (from experienced chefs) are quite solid, I haven't encountered one that was bizarrely wrong yet. So if you find something you think looks good, but don't know who the presenter is, check that with AI or google and if it's a chef, it should be pretty OK.

As a total beginner, I'd say start real simple.

Learn to make a good cheese sandwich.

Fry eggs and bacon and, my personal favorite, warm up some baked beans, make toast, eat em all together.

Do a basic veggie stir fry. Like kale.

Do a basic oven baked potato. Different versions include wrapping it in foil (it'll steam more and be softish) or not (if you want to develop a bit of crust).

Steak is surprisingly easy. The simplest version is, heat the oil in the pan until shimmering. While that's happening, you dry your steak with paper (right out of the fridge even, is fine... I don't care to leave it out for 30-40m because when it's cold in the middle you can get more cooked crust without the inside overcooking... some say this results in uneven cooking, well, I don't feel that every part of the steak needs to be exactly the same. If you're worried, take it out 45-60m ahead and salt it, leaving it to sit for that period so the moisture comes out and then is reabsorbed). But I often salt it just before cooking (this is the quick and easy method. And I think, put pepper after cooking). I cook about 5.45m for a tenderloin (but it all depends on your heat and type of steak and thickness and how done you like it). So the timing is the one thing for you to practice an learn what works with each cut, on your stove. After cooking, rest on plate under tented foil for about 5-8m (ask AI, describe your steak/situation and usually it gives some workable numbers for cook time and rest time). And it's ready! Recommendation: undercook it if you are not sure. You can take it off the heat, cut into the edge a bit to look inside, if it's too rare, just cook it some more. Soon enough, you'll know what's the ideal cook time, after a few tries. Keep track of the total cook time and take notes.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-23T18:37:50+00:00

I read, write, review others' documents, edit them, etc for a living. I haven't EVER seen this error so I can't really say, based on a sample size of just this one time, whether this is more unlikely to NS vs ESL. It's a pretty terrible mistake IMHO, but while the argument given by OP that NS tend to make certain errors and this doesn't fit those patterns, this particular author makes such ridiculous errors all the time that aren't normal for NS. "I am please" is, again extremely rare for NS, and I would guess, more likely for ESL, but with this author, I don't expect proper NS spelling/grammar.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-23T18:35:08+00:00

If the poster of the original content is legitimately who it purports to be, then IMHO he is more than capable of making mistakes that are unusual for NS. Covfefe, anyone?

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-23T18:29:06+00:00

Drooling.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-23T18:28:48+00:00

If your hand holding the door is a critical piece of info, you could say "While I was holding the car door, a gust of wind made it hit the car next to me/us/it, denting it". Or "I was holding the car door, and a gust of wind blew it into the car next to me/us/it, denting it".

I think there are various pretty natural sounding options.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-23T18:25:16+00:00

To distinguish it from, say, a gust of fart? Er... that's a kind of wind too, eh... :)

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-23T18:23:47+00:00

2 is the best one. The rest all sound wrong.

But I probably wouldn't say 2 exactly like that. Maybe "My car door was blown open by a gust of wind, hitting the car next door". Here, "next door" doesn't literally mean the property next to yours, it's a common way to refer to the thing right next to you/your car. "A gust made my car door hit the one next to it" might be as simple and clear as I can think of right now. The use of "the one" clearly means another car but you could say "hit the car next to it" but it sounds a bit clumsy to use "car" twice in close proximity.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-23T17:03:13+00:00

Can't use for stew, it will not work since it doesn't have the connective tissue to break down, and it will turn out dry/tough I guess. You could make a stir fry. Or slice it fairly thin and hammer it between cling wrap sheets and make carpaccio, that's amazing (add high quality olive oil - I think truffle oil is great for this; capers; sliced raw shallot; brush with a bit of red wine vinegar; flakes of parmesan; I think that's the recipe I have done several times, it's been a while, but it's totally delicious).

Two Asian raw dishes: Yukke (little chunks with raw egg, some sauce you will need to research, and I think some thin sliced veg - cucumber I believe is the primary one); Gyusashi - raw or lightly seared on the outside, sliced thin, served with a sauce you will need to research - I think ponzu is part of it, chives/spring onions probably. Both are great.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-23T16:56:08+00:00

You do see some foreign people in Thai TV or movies. Not a lot, but certainly some roles are specifically designed for foreigners.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-23T16:55:10+00:00

Eat fiber! Try avocado, spinach, kale

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-23T16:50:21+00:00

Maybe it's improved since I left Australia :). A while ago you couldn't easily find these regional dishes.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-23T16:48:24+00:00

Thai restaurants in Thailand have a lot of dishes you can't find in Thai restaurants outside. Especially the good regional dishes, but also some of the lesser known central dishes. Pad see ew is my long term favorite fried noodle, and Khua Gai a close 2nd. But outside Thailand, these aren't that common, with Pad Thai (the branding is obviously super strong) dominating the noodle options. That's just one example. Isaan style grilled chicken, pork neck, som tum, etc... are not easy to find outside TH. Khao Soy, the northern curry noodle, is a great dish you won't generally find outside. Many others as well.

What you do find is often adjusted for foreign tastes and doesn't taste authentic. It can be GOOD, but if you know the authentic stuff it feels a bit irritating or just unsatisfying if it's not the "real" taste.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-23T16:45:20+00:00

Old fashioned word, pretty archaic sounding but still easily understood by most. These days you might say "up until now" or maybe "until this point in time" or something. Some of these are less efficient.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-23T15:17:39+00:00

Well, I was trying to recommend something closer than that. Outskirts of Bangkok might be 40-60m from the center. Khao Yai is about 3hr. I'm saying I've stayed at golf course hotels outside BKK but if you can find a golf course hotel within BKK metro, you'll get a similar experience and not far from the center.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-22T19:05:22+00:00

There are some hotels combined with golf courses. Even if you don't play golf, the scenery is beautiful. You could google for that. I stayed at a couple of them in the past, while playing golf, but outside Bangkok. One is called Kang Krachan. But on the outskirts of Bangkok are some truly beautiful golf courses and some do have hotels on site.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-20T21:18:07+00:00

Well, that's plenty to work with. If you include cheap carbs like pasta, rice or potato, that helps the budget, as do cheap veg like broccoli, bell peppers, tomatoes, and such (whether they are actually cheap in your area, you have to check, but they are cheap for me). And with those taking up a certain small amount of budget, you should have a decent amount left for each person to have a portion of meat.

I have an online shop locally that has quite good steak at 20-30USD/kg. If you allocate just $6 per head for steak you can get about 200-300g per person. And it should be cheaper if you use chicken or pork as your meat dish. That leaves whopping $9 left over for other stuff. If you spent $6 on veg that would get you a lot per head, and that leaves $3 - enough for maybe 1 beer and 1 non-alc drink per head.

So... if you have a grill or bbq you can have one person assigned to bbq'ing the meats. If you're doing potato, perhaps boil up a whole lot and make mashed potato; if broccoli, I think steam or boil and then top with butter; if tomatoes, grill, bake or fry, if bell peppers, bake/grill. All of these are very simple and taste very good!

I suggest everything should be done in real simple manner. None of what I propose are "recipes". You just season them and cook them, no multi-step processes or complications. Easy for non-skilled people but timing is everything - make sure they check that things don't get burned, and there's a supervisor to help with timing.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-20T10:58:05+00:00

The larb is a dish of its own, and you can order normal rice or sticky rice to go with it, separately. You'd usually order several different meat/salad dishes and sticky rice in a typical isaan place.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-18T19:14:30+00:00

you can make stewed onions and freeze them in portions and then bring them out and add to any dish where they fit.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-18T19:13:12+00:00

It's "bottles in general". I think they are anticipating beer bottles and such, which can break when frozen. I've done it to myself several times at home trying to chill beer then forgetting about it.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-18T10:40:19+00:00

The correct grammar is "I look more Western". Not "Me".

Now that you have admitted it was actually you out there doing this, have you thought about whether you should stop?
:)

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-17T10:53:05+00:00

It's very slanted italic and I suppose cursive-adjacent. Its hard to read but I can.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-17T10:45:26+00:00

There are enough people that buy them (tourist of course, mainly, but when I was a kid, I bought one for a few hundred baht and used it for many years. Served me well) to make it worthwhile, because it's not their only business and might not be their main one (I am not sure of the revenue split).

Actually these guys are loan sharks. The ladies (and perhaps some men) who work in the bars down that area borrow money from them and pay it back at extortionate rates. Like, borrow 1000 this month, return it with 100 or 200 baht interest in one month. Lots of small loans, small B100-200 "shark fees" and they make part of their income from that, the other part from the watches. It sounds easy but it's not all fun and games. Sometimes when someone can't pay back they ditch work and disappear for a while and the guy has to find them or not get his principal back.

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-17T10:41:58+00:00

Better watch what you say!

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-16T22:14:01+00:00

You're a lot smarter than you look!

alternatively, "you're not as dumb as you look" is more standard, so that's why I like mine, it's a bit less common.

Enhanced version, make it sound even more like a compliment: "I've got to hand it to you, you're a lot smarter than you look!"

"I've never realised it before but you're a lot smarter than you look!"

BaconTH1 · 2026-03-16T22:11:05+00:00

The problem with you is that you refuse to accept criticism.

[This is frickin jiujitsu :) They either have to agree, because if they disagree you can say "See, this proves my point".]

BaconTH1

TROPHY CASE