Sag Harbor Chef Shares Flavors Of Thailand

When chef and Springs native Douglas Barker visited Thailand for the first time, he realized he had no intention of coming back home to the East End.

But after navigating through the country communicating in broken Thai, first for a three-month stint and then an 18-month stay, he finally returned to his hometown. And recently, Mr. Barker joined forces with the team at Phao Thai restaurant in Sag Harbor. The chef shared some of the cooking tidbits he picked up during his adventures with an eager audience on Thursday, May 19, at Old Whalers’ Church in Sag Harbor.

On Thursday night, with the help of Jesse Matsuoka, general manager of Phao and Japanese restaurant Sen, and a few church volunteers, Mr. Barker plated and served summer rolls, shrimp and lemongrass soup, pad Thai, green curry and coconut ice cream to 19 hungry participants.

“These are dishes that kind of give a broad overview of Thai food,” Mr. Barker said. “No Thai restaurant would ever try to sustain without these dishes.”

Mr. Matsuoka agreed.

“We’re trying our best to pass on that Phao is here, and this is a reintroduction to the cuisine, especially because some people are a little scared of Asian cuisine in general,” he said. “So we want people to understand what the cuisine is, how they can relate to it and get to know it.”

This month’s food demonstration marked the one-year anniversary of the “East End Chefs Program” at Old Whalers’ Church, run by Lillian Woudsma. The participating restaurants volunteer their food and time, she explained, and all proceeds from the $30 tickets benefit the restoration of the church.

“It’s a success, it’s just blossomed,” Ms. Woudsma said. “People love to eat, people love to drink wine and people don’t like spending a lot of money.”

Mr. Barker and Mr. Matsuoka arrived at the church on Thursday evening with the food already prepared. While several church volunteers plated, Mr. Barker explained that Thai cuisine is never eaten in courses like American meals. The flavor-intensive, small dishes are designed to accompany one another.

“Each Thai dish is naturally a sweet, salty, spicy and sour combination,” Mr. Barker said as his audience chomped into the summer rolls. “It’s the intense combination of them that seems to be that powerful, strange flavor that no one’s ever had.”

Many lemon flavors come from lemongrass, rather than the fruit, Mr. Barker said as volunteers distributed the soup. It’s mild and clean, he said, and more of a water soup than a stew.

“It’s not too spicy,” he reported.

A minute later, almost all of the diners were fanning their mouths with their hands, some exhaling heavily to cool down their mouths.

“Who said this wasn’t spicy?” groaned MaryAnn Semple, her husband, Bob, chuckling. “It’s delicious, though,” she said, prepping for another spoonful.

Next on the menu: pad Thai, a simple noodle dish served all over Thailand, where it is eaten all day, not just as a lunch or dinner dish. Its texture is marked by bean sprouts, egg and peanuts, but it’s spiced differently throughout the country, Mr. Barker said.

“It is the noodle dish of Thailand as pasta is to Italy,” he explained.

As forks twirled through the noodles, Mr. Barker pointed out that the utensil is rarely seen in Thailand. Chopsticks and large, plastic soup spoons are the norm.

“For those who get really aggravated eating rice with chopsticks, you’ll find they will have their own plastic spoon, which most people do carry with them,” he said.

Luckily, the participants had the luxury of eating jasmine rice and green curry with Western utensils. Curries are the standard in southeast Asia, he said, adding that there is a color code for measuring the heat in a curry.

“It’s like a traffic light: green, mild, then yellow and red, hot,” Mr. Barker said. “We’re going with green tonight. We don’t want to burn anyone, like with the soup,” he joked as the diners took their first bites.

But still, some hands were fanning in just a matter of moments anyway.

Polishing off the evening’s sampling was a small dish of coconut ice cream, which is not one of the more popular dishes in Thailand, Mr. Barker said.

“But about 99 percent of all Thai dishes are based around the coconut,” he explained. “It’s one of the naturally available ingredients that is just in abundance. Everything works with it and it’s easily sweetened by its own reduction.”

North Sea resident Wes Bradley passed a bowl of ice cream to his wife, Lynda, before helping himself.

“Oh, it’s so great,” Mr. Bradley said after one scoop.

“Love it, fabulous,” Ms. Bradley added. “We went to Thailand so we’re thrilled with the similar food and wonderful flavors. We can’t wait to go back to the restaurant.”