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Behind the international takeout fixture, there’s a seriously special Thai dish
BY KAT CRADDOCK
NOODLE SCHOOL
The Real Pad Thai
pad thai might just be
Thailand’s most famous
export. The lightly sweet,
peanut-topped noodle dish
can be found in nearly every
Thai restaurant around
the world. And while it has
been endlessly adapted
(some might say bastard-
ized) to appeal to the global
masses, the real Thai street-
food version—a wok-fried
tangle of rice noodles, salty-
sweet sauce, and crunchy
toppings—has undeniable
appeal.
Andy Ricker, the chef of
Pok Pok, the beloved Thai
restaurant in Portland, Ore-
gon, argues that the original
recipe “might be the most
Thai dish there is.” It was
invented in the 1940s, under
the administration of nation-
alist prime minister Plaek
Phibunsongkhram, who
organized a competition to
create a dish that could rep-
resent the nation. As Ricker
points out, the wok-frying
and noodles ref lect the dish’s
Chinese influence, but the
components that define its
distinct f lavor—sweet-and-
sour tamarind, funky fish
sauce, and palm sugar—are
characteristically Thai.
Contemporary ver-
sions, particularly in the
U.S., tend toward big f la-
vor—more heat, more salt,
more acidity, and, above all,
more sweetness than Phi-
bunsongkhram’s elegant
diplomatic dish. Funky or
fermented ingredients like
dried shrimp and salted rad-
ish are often dialed back or
replaced with soy sauce or
table salt. But even in Thai-
land, regional and religious
dietary preferences mean nosingle “authentic” pad thai
recipe exists. The more car-
nivorous north adds ground
pork, while Buddhist Thais
prepare a light, vegan ver-
sion, omitting alliums and
chiles too.
Ricker, who spent a decade
traveling and eating in Thai-
land before opening his
restaurants, is famously
obsessed with honoring the
culinary tradition, so he took
a shot at writing down the
platonic ideal of pad thai. It
is close in style to the under-
stated, early versions of the
dish, which makes a perfect
jumping-off point: You can
customize your own using
khruang phrung—a trio of
traditional seasonings to
adjust the heat, saltiness,
and sweetness. It is, after all,
a dish that can stand up to
customization.PHOTOGRAPHS BY EVA KOLENKO/FOOD STYLING BY STACY ADIMANDO AND KAT CRADDOCKRANGE Pad Thai“It might be the most
Thai dish there is.”
Portland chef
Andy Ricker’s
take on Thailand’s
most famous dish.