1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (216 page)

The papaya tree, looking like a palm with even larger, fingerlike leaves, is something of a botanical curiosity, growing to its full height of twenty or so feet in less than two years. Nutritionally, papayas are a superfood, with digestive and stomach-soothing abilities; some even believe that they help treat ulcers. They contain the enzyme papain, which is useful in breaking down protein and thus is found in meat tenderizing products. This goes back to ancient times, when tropical cultures made a practice of wrapping papaya leaves around meat.

When choosing a papaya, pick one that is subtly soft and gives way to gentle pressure. Store papayas at room temperature (never in a refrigerator) until ripe, then cut them in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Peel and cut the fruit into manageable pieces, sprinkle them with lime juice, and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Or do as they do in Southeast Asia, where unripe, green papayas are used as vegetables, shredded or thinly sliced and seasoned with peppers and lime in crisp, refreshing salads.

Where:
In New York
, for papaya smoothies, Papaya King at two locations,
papayaking.com
; Jaiya at multiple locations,
jaiya.com
;
in Skokie, IL
, Tub Tim Thai, tel 847-675-8424,
tubtimthaiskokie.com
;
in Houston
, for salad, Thai Bistro, tel 713-669-9375,
txthaibistro.com
;
in San Francisco
, The Slanted Door, 416-861-8032,
slanteddoor.com
;
in Berkeley, CA
, for tropical fruit sherbet, Chez Panisse, tel 510-548-5525,
chezpanisse.com
.
Mail order:
Melissa’s Produce, tel 800-588-0151,
melissas.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Chez Panisse Fruit
by Alice Waters (2002);
Cracking the Coconut
by Su-Mei Yu (2000);
saveur.com
(search fruta bomba);
weheartfood.com
(search papaya salad).

Unripe papaya is necessary for this enticing salad.

Contrary to the usual advice about selecting fruit that is perfectly ripe, the papaya that does best in this tart, refreshing salad is one that is rock hard, immature, and very prettily lime green. The unripe fruit is refreshingly acidic and
crunchy and, because of its firmness, can easily be grated for this slawlike dish.

Intriguing versions of this salad exist in both Thailand and Vietnam, where papayas are abundant thanks to those nations’ tropical climates. In both, it is usually served as a first course that remains on the table throughout the meal to be dipped into as an occasional between-courses palate-cleanser.

In Vietnam, where the salad is called
goi du du
, it is a summery rainbow of shredded green papaya pulp tossed with sunny shreds of carrots, red peppers and, often, white daikon radish and scallions. In northern Vietnam, strips of spicy-sweet beef jerky are a most traditional ingredient, although paper-thin slices of grilled sirloin add a richer flavor and a desirable juiciness to the mix; in the south, the salad is more likely to include shrimp or pork. Finishing touches include cilantro and an extra-tangy dressing of rice vinegar, garlic, salt, sugar, black pepper, chile sauce, and lime or lemon juice.

The more elaborate Thai version,
som tam
, begins with the grated green fruit, enhanced with a range of flavorful and pungent additions, among which might be brined crab or fermented fish. At its most basic, though, the papaya is simply tossed with green beans or long beans (see
listing
) and tomatoes. The secret to this mix is the rather incendiary dressing, which begins with a paste of garlic, hot chiles, roasted peanuts, dried shrimp, and palm sugar and is then thinned with splashes of the ever-present fermented fish sauce,
nam pla
, and lime juice. To be considered authentic, the dressing must be pounded with mortar and pestle (the
tam
in som tam means “to pound”), never mixed in a food processor or blender. It is both permissible and traditional, however, to substitute unripe mango for the papaya, for a slightly fruitier but still tart and crunchy salad.

Where:
In Hanoi
, La Verticale, tel 84/4-3944-6316,
verticale-hanoi.com
;
in New York
, Kittichai, tel 212-925-2991,
kittichairestaurant.com
;
in Chicago
, Amarit Thai & Pan Asian Cuisine, tel 312-939-1179;
in Las Vegas
, Lotus of Siam, tel 702-735-3033,
saipinchutima.com
;
in San Gabriel, CA
, Phong Dinh Restaurant, tel 626-307-8868,
phongdinh.com
;
in Culver City and Costa Mesa, CA
, East Borough,
east-borough.com
;
in Manhattan Beach, CA
, Little Sister, tel 310-545-2096,
littlesistermb.com
.
Mail order:
For green papayas, Thai Supermarket Online, tel 888-618-8424,
importfood.com
.
Further information and recipes:
For the Vietnamese salad,
The Best of Nicole Routhier
by Nicole Routhier (1996); for the Thai salad,
Thai Food
by David Thompson (2002);
Simple Thai Food
by Leela Punyaratabandhu (2014);
Cracking the Coconut
by Su-mei Yu (2000);
Into the Vietnamese Kitchen
by Andrea Nguyen (2006);
thaitable.com
(search green papaya salad);
cookstr.com
(search som tum);
bonappetit.com
(search thai green papaya salad).
See also:
Papaya
.

Pho bo soup is being added to menus everywhere.

For the very best reasons, Vietnamese
pho
(rice noodle soup) and the cafés that serve it are sweeping the globe. Given that the sweetly spicy, warming beef noodle soup makes for an amazingly sustaining, inexpensive, and complete one-bowl meal (and that, apparently, the world can’t get enough noodle soup), its dedicated following is no surprise.

Hot, fragrant
pho bo
(the original and most-loved
pho
) mainly consists of a broth that is simmered slowly for anywhere from five to twelve hours, depending on how finicky, and patient, the cook is, and should include both oxtail and beef marrowbones. To achieve a clear broth, as is most desirable, the bones are blanched and rinsed before going into the pot, along with
nuoc mam
(fermented fish sauce) and a hefty spice bag that might contain cinnamon, star anise, clove, peppercorns, and charred ginger, among many other aromatics. Once simmered, a thin layer of fat is left on top of the soup; to skim it all off would be to sacrifice its twinkling golden glimmer and a whole lot of flavor.

The broth is bolstered by thin, silky white rice noodles; bouquets of sprightly green herbs such as sawtooth coriander, basil, chives, and fernlike cresses; chunks of softly cooked oxtail and brisket; and finally, paper-thin slices of raw beef that cook in the hot broth as you eat. In Vietnam, the more authentic and less touristic pho cafés might offer a range of much more exotic beef parts, from udder to tendons to every imaginable organ.

Pho bo really is the Vietnamese national dish, served at street stands all over the country, primarily between six and ten in the morning and then again late at night, although a few places catering to tourists serve it for lunch, usually substituting chicken for beef in those off hours. The correct pronunciation is something between “few” and “fuh,” very much like the French word
feu
(fire), as in
pot au feu
, which, in fact, turns out to be the origin of this dish. In the late nineteenth century, when the French occupied the country that was then called Tonkin, they cooked their traditional beef dishes, including the stew they called pot au feu. Beef was barely known in the country then—the Vietnamese ate chicken and pork primarily, saving cattle for farm work—so it is believed that pho emerged when Vietnamese cooks took the leavings from the French colonial kitchens and created their own version of pot au feu.

Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, is the recognized birthplace of pho bo, but regional variations have cropped up around the country, most especially in Saigon, to the south, where bean
sprouts and rock sugar are just two of the ingredients not usually found in the north.
Pho ga
, made from chicken and its broth, is a much lighter variation and is enriched with a raw egg yolk, which forms silky ribbons as it coddles in the hot broth. And as one might expect in this age of culinary inventiveness, there are haute phos to be found, made from salmon, duck, and even foie gras.

Where:
In Hanoi
, Pho Bat Dan; Spices Garden in Sofitel Metropole Hanoi Hotel, tel 84/4-3826-6919,
sofitel-legend.com
(click Hotel Metropol, then Bars and Restaurants); La Verticale, tel 84/4-3944-6316,
verticale-hanoi.com
;
in San Francisco
, The Slanted Door, tel 415-861-8032,
slanteddoor.com
; Turtle Tower at three locations,
turtletowersf.com
;
in San Gabriel, CA
, Phong Dinh Restaurant, tel 626-307-8868,
phongdinh.com
;
in Culver City, CA
, East Borough, tel 310-596-8266,
east-borough.com
;
in New York
, Nha Trang, tel 212-233-5948,
nhatrangone.com
; Le Colonial, tel 212-252-0808,
lecolonialnyc.com
;
in Boston
, Pho Pasteur, tel 617-482-7467,
phopasteurboston.net
;
in New Orleans
, Lilly’s Café, tel 504-599-9999;
in Houston
, Pho Danh No 2, tel 281-879-9940.
Mail order:
For Thai basil, rice noodles, and fish sauce, Grocery Thai, tel 818-469-9407,
grocerythai.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Into the Vietnamese Kitchen
by Andrea Nguyen (2006);
Authentic Vietnamese Cooking
by Corinne Trang (1999);
vietworldkitchen.com
(search beef pho);
cookingchanneltv.com
(search beef pho, pho ga);
cookstr.com
(search pho bo); the
splendidtable.com
(search pho ga).