<p><b><b>A guide to bold, authentic Thai cooking from Andy Ricker, the chef and owner of the wildly popular and widely lauded Pok Pok restaurants.</b></b></p><p>After decades spent traveling throughout Thailand, Andy Ricker wanted to bring the country''s famed street food stateside. In 2005 he opened Pok Pok, so named for the sound a pestle makes when it strikes a clay mortar, in an old shack in a residential neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. Ricker''s traditional take on Thai food soon drew the notice of the <i>New York Times</i> and <i>Gourmet </i>magazine, establishing him as a culinary star. Now, with his first cookbook, Ricker tackles head-on the myths that keep people from making Thai food at home: that it''s too spicy for the American palate or too difficult to source ingredients.</p><p>Ricker shares more than fifty of the most popular recipes from Thailand and his Pok Pok restaurants—ranging from Khao Soi Kai (Northern Thai curry noodle soup with chicken) to Som