This story is part of our OUT OF ASIA feature. Click HERE to read more from our deep dive into Milwaukee’s Asian dining scene.
1.
Pad thai
THAILAND
The spicy, sour, sweet noodle dish, a popular street food in Thailand, was created during a 1930s competition to create a dish that would define the identity and culture of Thailand, which had formerly gone by the name Siam. The dish was among the then-prime minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram’s efforts to modernize (and westernize) Thailand.
2.
Peking duck
CHINA
The Chinese have roasted duck for many centuries, and this particular creation comes out of the imperial courts of the 1300s. It’s named after the city of Beijing (formerly romanized as Peking) and is denoted by its crispy skin – more skin than meat. The recipe calls for a specific breed of force-fed duck whose inactive life ensures tender meat.
3.
Ramen
JAPAN
One story posits that the dish was created in the early 1900s by Chinese cooks in Tokyo who added kansui (a sodium-carbonate mineral water) to their noodles, turning them yellow and elastic – in effect, making ramen noodles. Until the 1950s, the meat- or fish-based noodle soup was known by the name shina soba, which means Chinese soba.
4.
Pho
VIETNAM
The noodle-meat soup omnipresent in this Southeast Asian country dates to the late 19th century, a time of French colonization. The term pho is believed to come from the French feu (fire) and that Vietnamese cooks adapted pot au feu (French beef stew) to become the brothy, aromatic, delicately spiced soup it’s known as today.
5.
Adobo
PHILIPPINES
The Spanish adobo cooking process reached the Philippines in the late 16th century. But Filipino cooks made the meat stew their own by using a marinade with many ingredients native to Southeast Asia – vinegar, soy sauce, bay leaves. Usually made with pork or chicken, it has variations across the Philippines, including one that uses coconut milk.
