Wednesday, September 01, 2010

rooster song


i swear i thought that rooster sauce came from thailand or vietnam or something. instead it was developed in the 1980s right here in the u.s.a. by mr. tran, a chinese viet refugee. there are even imitations that have popped up... shark sauce, for one... i can't imagine a world before rooster sauce (sriracha) and i can't imagine a world without it. (and i really can't imagine a plate of broken rice and grilled chicken or some fried egg or a bowl of pho without it.) so read this article from the new york times and then head to your favorite pho shop where you're bound to find some rooster sauce sitting on the table next to the chopstick holder.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E1D9143FF933A15756C0A96F9C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

4 comments:

somsai said...

I used to get the print edition of the NYT and read it as a religion, but I have to say their food and travel and a few other sections, well, not so great.

Sri Racha is the name of the town in Thailand where they've been making the stuff since Ban Kok was just a little town on the river. Pronounced like, well, Sri Racha.
http://www.travelfish.org/location/thailand/eastern_thailand/chonburi/sri_racha
Good seafood, many large ships standing by in the lee of the islands waiting to enter Klong Toei to load goods out of BKK.

jrm said...

i've never been there, but sounds like a good place to get some food! yeah, according to the article, the usa version of sriracha sauce is not "recognized" in sriracha as authentic. or as the sauce-maker says, "I know it's not a Thai sriracha," Tran said. "It's my sriracha."

Lauren said...

We eat this all the time (just put some in my soba noodle soup and mee grob the other day). My pinay and korean friends introduced me to it. I never know how to pronounce it though so I call it sir-ah-chee sauce :)

jrm said...

i think i've called it the same thing before!!! i would need to see the thai spelling to know how its really pronounced, (but i think i can guess) but now i've just given up on all that and just call it rooster sauce!