Thai Meats & Seafood

Meats in Thai cooking are rarely the loud, center-of-the-plate star you might expect. Walk through our kitchen in central Chiang Mai and you’ll notice it right away: a handful of thinly sliced pork sizzling in the wok, a little chicken torn into a salad, a few prawns curling pink in a fragrant curry.

The meats in Thai cooking are used to flavor and balance a dish, not to dominate it. Beef is uncommon here, partly because of our Buddhist culture, so pork and chicken lead the meats in Thai cooking in most home kitchens, while eggs and soft tofu quietly carry protein too.

Down south, the sea gives generously, and seafood appears in almost everything; up here in the north, we lean on freshwater fish pulled from rivers and ponds. Once you taste how these meats in Thai cooking lift a plate rather than crowd it, you start to cook differently. That gentle, savory restraint is one of the first things we love teaching you.

Cooking with Meats in Chiang Mai

In our morning and evening classes you learn how the meats in Thai cooking are handled – thin slices for the wok, gentle simmering for curries, high heat for that smoky edge. You will see how a little protein goes a long way, and how to balance it with vegetables, herbs and rice the way it is done in Thai home kitchens.

Beef

TH – เนื้อวัว – Neua Wua

Beef is the culinary name for cattle meat. Humans have been eating beef since prehistoric times, as it is a source of protein and essential nutrients. Thai people don’t like to eat much beef, and you will rarely find dishes that have beef in them. However, Northeastern Thailand consumes more beef, but it is raised for personal consumption.

Chicken

TH – เนื้อไก่ – Neua Gai

Chicken is a type of poultry meat. Because of its relatively low cost, it is one of the most used meats in Thai cooking and in the world, and the most widely consumed one in Thailand. Nearly all parts of the bird can be eaten, all of them cooked in many different ways.

Egg

TH – ไข่ – Khai

Eggs are laid by female animals of many different species. The mass production of chicken eggs is a global industry. Bird’s eggs are a common food and one of the most versatile ingredients used in cooking. They are important in many branches of the modern food industry. The most commonly used egg in Thailand is the chicken egg and quail egg. You might also find duck eggs.

Fish

TH – เนื้อปลา – Neua Plaa

Fish is consumed as food by many species, including humans (about 85% of the fish caught is used for human consumption). It is an important source of protein and other nutrients. The fish that are most commonly used in Thai cuisine are Tilapia, Clarias or Cat Fish, Tuna and Tullibee. They can be prepared in a variety of ways. The Thai way of cooking fish is by simply deep-frying, BBQing or steaming the whole body, with bone and head. Boneless fish is not part of Thai traditional cuisine.

Pork

TH – เนื้อหมู – Neua Moo

Pork is the culinary name for meat from a domestic pig. It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide and one of the main meats in Thai cooking. The pig is one of the oldest forms of livestock, having been domesticated as early as 5000 BC. It is highly prized in Asian cuisines for its fat content and pleasant texture. Consumption of pork is forbidden by Jewish and Muslim dietary law, a taboo that is deeply rooted in tradition. The Southern part of Thailand doesn’t consume much pork. In other parts of Thailand, however, pork is in all kinds of dishes. Wild pork meat is the most expensive.

Pork Rib

TH – ซี่โครงหมู – Si Khorng Moo

The ribs are a bone that curves around from the back to the chest. It’s the least meaty part of the meat chop. Thai cuisines use pork ribs than beef or lamb.

Pork Spine

TH – กระดูกสันหลังหมู – Gra Do Sanlung Moo

Pork spine or pork back-bone in Thai is called Leng. Thai people use pork pack-pone to make broth as a base for serving noodle soup for street vendors.

Prawn

TH – กุ้ง – Gung

The name “Shrimp” and “Prawn” are often used interchangeably. They are both crustaceans found in salt and fresh water, and the difference is biological, not culinary. Things labeled prawns are usually larger, but aren’t necessarily true prawns and plenty of shrimp aren’t shrimpy in size at all. Southern Thailand uses salt water shrimp or prawn, which is the most consumed in Thailand. Northern Thailand’s prawns and shrimp come from fresh water.”

Squid

TH – ปลาหมึก – Plaa Meuk

Calamari (the culinary name) or squid are cephalopods in the superorder Decapodiformes with elongated bodies, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles. The Squid is the most consumed seafood in Thailand, for stir-fry, BBQ, making soup, or even sundried it and make a snack.

Want to choose them yourself? Join the Morning Class with its fresh-market tour, where we walk the stalls together – from the butcher’s block to the herb baskets – before cooking back at the kitchen.

Trusted, independent references on Thai cooking ingredients – the herbs, spices, vegetables, and aromatics behind every dish – plus the Northern Thai and Akha food traditions of Chiang Mai, to help you understand the pantry before you cook with us: